“We’ll follow these guys – they’re three local hoodlums”, This from my local guide on Omatepe Island, Nicaragua. I was sitting behind him on his trail bike, and we were burning down the road after walking up Volcan Maderas, the smaller of the two volcanoes… Read more
One Night in San Salvador (El Salvador)
The first Salvadorean who I asked about visiting his country advised me to avoid its capital, San Salvador, entirely. “I love my country, but….” He urged that I get a bus direct from Guatemala (where I was based) to a beach town, chill there, and… Read more
Yes – Go to Nicaragua now
The news coming out of Nicaragua back in October 2018, was uncertain. Violence from the political situation seemed to have abated, but various travelers and locals were reporting that the tourism infrastructure was in chaos. Hostels had closed down, buses weren’t running, etc. I went… Read more
The Return from Mexico – the Joys of Modern Travel
There’s nothing to focus a man’s mind like an execution in the morning – or the knowledge that it will cost $500 to “change” your air ticket. I’m just back home after about two and a half months in Central America. When I was first… Read more
Academic Misconduct at Otago University – what Misconduct?
What happens when you make the serious charge of Academic Misconduct at the University of Otago? I decided to find out. In 2015 a doctoral thesis was awarded to one Tammo Reichgelt, under the senior supervision of Associate Professor Daphne Lee of the University of… Read more
Ready in Teotihuacan Player One? (Mexico)
I’m no gamer, but….. ***** Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology is simply stunning. It’s task is to somehow present the bewildering range of peoples, cultures, languages which are, and have been, in this huge country. It does this in the range of usual ways:… Read more
A Short Walk in the Lamington Kush – The Stintson plane wreck, Australia
“If I had a camera I could take a photo and show guests what my uncle’s legs looked like after he found the Stintson”. ****** Between teaching my groups of American students ecology up at the rainforested O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, and in the adjacent Lamington… Read more
Australia’s Bunya Mountains and Alternate World Histories
Could the Bunya Mountains be the one place to turn your preconceptions of human nature on its head? *** I recently finished Bruce Pascoe’s book ‘Dark Emu’. It’s an accumulation of the abundant evidence that Australian Aboriginals practised what was, by any objection definition, agriculture… Read more
Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
A camp-fire, such a simple pleasure, second-nature to a lot of us, and yet a whole new experience for some people. Our Emu Run tour arrived in their private camp site near Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park, towards sunset. We had driven from Uluru for… Read more
Caterpillar Dreaming – Hiking Australia’s Larapinta Trail
The 220 km Larapinta Trail is a bit of a con…. ________________ It’s a funny thing, despite the Larapinta Trail being regarded as something of a toughie, just about any one I mentioned it to had either done it, or done part of it. Officially,… Read more