The Party - Norfolk Island

Mark turns seven in a few weeks and with the perverse logic of a child he is determined to have a party. 

It is early November. We have lived on Norfolk Island for almost a year and our new life is not going well.  Just 8 kilometres long and 5 kilometres wide, Norfolk Island is a tiny volcanic outcrop perched in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. 

Chiloé - Land of Witches, Mermaids and Ghosts.

The volcano Osorno rises above the clouds; snow-capped, serene, quiet for now. It is March and we are on our way to Chiloé, an archipelago off the west coast of Chile in Northern Patagonia. Tomorrow we drive to Puerto Montt and take the ferry to La Isla Grande de Chiloé, but today we are treating ourselves to a touch of modern Chilean luxury before plunging into the labyrinth of myths and magic that is Chiloé.

Skiing in Oz - the NSW Snowy Mountains.

Our son has a Canadian friend who is in Sydney on a working holiday. She has lived and worked for the last few years in Whistler.  He is taking her to the NSW Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park next week because she wants to know what it is like to ski in Australia. He has tried to prepare her but I can't help thinking that no amount of preparation will ready her for the magnitude of the disappointment she is in for. In the best of years, Australia is hardly a country able to boast about the quality of it's skiing but this year the less said about the appalling snow conditions the better.