In a little patch of shale, continually flaking onto the road near Bannockburn (central South Island, New Zealand), there are the unmistakable fossils like Australian ‘hoop pine’ shoots. Hoop pines are members of the tree family which includes ‘monkey puzzles’, ‘bunyas’ and the ‘Norfolk Island Pines’. The… Read more
Monthly archives of “February 2016”
Tim Flannery and Megafaunal Extinction Shuffle-puck
Are Australian lives and property being burnt as a result of something that happened tends of thousands of years ago? In 1994 an influential book, ‘The Future Eaters’, was published by the Australian paleontologist Tim Flannery. One of the goals of the book was to… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 14 – All You Can Eat – and Drink!
Not really one of the cheapest – by local standards, but hear me out….. This place is called Jinfushan, it’s an all you can eat buffet for 60 RMB (US$ 9.20). There’s fruits, fresh fruit juice, vegetables, fries, crabs, salads, dumplings, desserts, ice cream. But… Read more
New Zealand: The Jurassic fossil forest at Curio Bay
If you make your way down to almost the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island, you can walk among the stumps of a petrified Jurassic forest (that’s about 170 million years old). It’s a gem of New Zealand’s fossil plant history, and because of its complete preservation… Read more
The Honey Trees of Kalimantan
I was sitting in a ger in Mongolia when I put up my hand to go to Indonesia. My ulterior motive was to get a chance to get into the Indonesian rainforests. Back in 1988 I had read Eric Hansen’s book “Stranger in the forest:… Read more
Turkey/Armenia: Ani – capital on the wrong side of a border
I’ve seen two cities that look like they were comprehensively destroyed. I don’t mean just ruins, but places where someone seems to have made a comprehensive, and successful attempt to wipe the place out. Warsaw may come to mind – it was practically obliterated in the… Read more
Cheap Eats Nanjing 13 – Savoury Pancakes
This place is part of a chain called Huiwei. I first came across them elsewhere in Nanjing and for a couple of visits, I bought a bowl of noodles and had a savoury pancake as well. Now, for a light dinner, I just have the… Read more