Author: Franco

Arrival in Melbourne

We touched down approaching 10:00 on a fine, sunny morning after our 9-hour overnight flight from Hong Kong. Amazingly, I seemed to have managed to sleep a little. This is just as well since there was a 3-hour drive ahead

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Typhoon Sunday

[Sounds like an ice cream. ;-)] Tonight we fly out of Hong Kong bound for Melbourne. Or, at least, we’re supposed to fly out of Hong Kong. Now, here’s the thing: we’ve known that this Sunday has been forecast to

Posted in 2017 Hong Kong, 2017 The Antipodes

Around Hong Kong

Arriving yesterday [Friday] afternoon and leaving tomorrow [Sunday] evening, today was to be our one full day in Hong Kong and we were keen to make the most of it playing tourist. Rather than waste time searching for breakfast on

Posted in 2017 Hong Kong, 2017 The Antipodes

Enter the Dragon

After a 12-hour flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong, we’d landed somewhat heavily shortly after midday. We began our route march towards HK immigration where the single line looked depressingly long with 6 snaking coils, though maybe in this neck

Posted in 2017 Hong Kong, 2017 The Antipodes

Seven Years Late

Seven years ago, we had been planning a long trip to the Antipodes, mainly to do a campervan trip around New Zealand. Medical issues for Franco caused it to be delayed. We thought about it again a few years later

Posted in 2017 Hong Kong, 2017 The Antipodes

The Sun Returns

With the unsettled weather of the early weekend over, we wandered along the Jalón river to meet a couple for coffee in the Lliber village square. More accurately, we wandered along beside the dry river bed that marks the occasional

Posted in 2017-09 Spain

Solar Interruption

As forecast, Friday and Saturday proved unsettled, not to say very wet indeed. Rain stopped play. Saturday was actually acceptable so we went investigating the market at Denia. We needed something for dinner on Sunday and we lashed out on

Posted in Uncategorised

Another Old Habitat

There is apparently some unsettled weather forecast for the weekend so it makes sense to get some Odo-hunting in while conditions are favourable. Today, though, might be considered a little warm for some hitting the low 30s Centigrade. Nonetheless, it

Posted in 2017-09 Spain

A New Species

One thing that almost matches visiting new habitats is visiting old habitats at a new time of year; the species are likely to be different. In August 2016 we had been delighted to discover Northern Banded Groundlings (Brachythemis impartita) at

Posted in 2017-09 Spain

Wrong Country

We’re supposed to be in La Belle France. We were to be going with Guillaume for three weeks. However, as our departure date got perilously close, just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. So, France got delayed

Posted in 2017-09 Spain