Category Archives: Travel

Masada and the Dead Sea: We opted for the bus

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We opted for the bus

Departing from our usual approach to Slow a Travel, we decided on taking a few tours in Israel. As much as anything this was because we wanted to see as much as possible in the time we had – so not really Slow Travel at all!

Rather than catching the train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem we used BeinHarim Tours to go to Bethlehem, thereby combining transit from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with sightseeing.

Overlooking Jerusalem from Mount Scopus

After stopping for a photo shot overlooking Jerusalem from Mount Scopus, we visited the cave where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It was touristy but as my favourite person said, we are tourists too. Our Bethlehem visit was conducted by a local Palestinian,apparently the requirement placed on Israeli tour companies for visits to the West Bank. As we walked around,the town.we were bombarded by locals wanting to sell us “stuff”. I succumbed after a rather uncomfortable moment with a local, buying quite possibly the most expensive fridge magnets ever!

Visiting Bethlehem requires you to look past the modern buildings and try to visualise what the place looked like in the year zero.

As we were sitting on the bus headed to our Jerusalem base we decided on a day tour to Masada and the Dead Sea for the next day using the same tour company.

As much as I like sorting out our own sightseeing, there is something to be said for a hotel pick-up and someone else sorting out the navigation and sights. This is particular so in a place such as Israel where there are so many places of significance.

Our trip took us past iconic Christian sights. Where the Good Samaritan performed his deed of service. As we crossed the Jordon River, we saw in the distance where’s Jesus was baptised and then where Moses had died. Continue reading →

Tel Aviv – not what I was expecting

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As I write this post sitting in a hotel in Jerusalem, I’ve finally worked out what to make of Tel Aviv!

Before we arrived I had done lots of reading about Israel. In my usual style, I’d googled travel sites and relied heavily on Douglas Duckett’s incredibly informative guidebook that I found via the Amateur Traveller podcast (episode 167).

We’d made some basic plans but I wasn’t sure. We booked a couple of tours ahead of time and put ourselves at the mercy of the hotel Concierge.

His first suggestion was that as its Shabbat, we should,do what most residents of Tel Aviv do and go to the beach. Continue reading →

A short trip to Victoria

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Tahbilk Wetlands Cafe

In the couple of weeks before we head to Europe I needed to conduct some further research interviews. It provided an opportunity to head to Melbourne and then to a couple of wine regions in Victoria.

We decided to fly and hire a car this time. This meant forgoing a stop in Nhill to see the talking horse and a stop for dinner at The Bridge Hotel in Bendigo, but did allow us to see family in Melbourne before driving onto country Victoria.

These days we stay near the Southern Cross Railway Station, making transport into the city easy on SkyBus. That end of town is a little less fashionable but has plenty of accommodation, some nice bars and restaurants. For us Higher Ground for breakfast and drinks at Kirks Wine Bar have both become favourites. Continue reading →

The Diary of a Slow Traveler – Amateur Traveler and other blogs

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As we start to plan our next trip I found myself immersed in travel books and searching the web for inspiration.

I love travel books, travel programs and just surfing the web about travel. I am watching Michael Portello’s train journeys at the moment. Even Escape to The Country and Escape to the Continent have provided useful travel trips. Travel books are fun, but more recently I have found that they are more useful to people planning their trips than to us!

So I thought I’d mention how we have used blogs and forums and some of the sources we have relied upon for inspiration and valuable information in our travel.

I found out about rail travel from the man in seat 61. Relying on Mark Smith’s advice I have graduated from having the travel agent book my train travel to being completely comfortable travelling through Europe, reading timetables and making my own bookings. Sure I have missed trains and misread timetables but that has led to some pretty amazing experiences like an unforgettable Bastille weekend in Paris when we should have been on the train to the Amalfi Coast!

As we plan our trips I type a country or place into the search engine and see what I can find.  Continue reading →

Lazy Summer Days

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Black Point, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

The Christmas New Year period provides a time for relaxing and resetting. Work, or in my case my PhD, is the last thing on people’s minds and it’s usually hot!

It’s a time to go to the beach and we were very lucky this year to be invited by our daughter, her partner and our new grandson to spend New Year with them at my daughter’s partner’s family shack at Black Point on the Yorke Peninsula.

Black Point is about a two-hour drive from Adelaide if the traffic isn’t too bad. We were lucky and the traffic was light.

Although Yorke Peninsula is one of South Australia’s favourite summer holiday spots, we don’t visit often. So it was delightful to be invited.

As kids, my favourite person and I had trips to Yorke Peninsula and my favourite person had lived there for a short time when she was little – the joys of being a minister’s daughter.  In my case, my last visit was to James Well for a Partner Retreat which proved to be the catalyst for a move to the firm that sustained me for the remainder of my working life, although through the raging argument that ensued at the retreat I certainly couldn’t have foreseen it.

The drive out of Adelaide took us through North Adelaide and onto Port Wakefield Road. The terrain is so different from our usual drive to our holiday house on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It’s a straight drive just a couple of turns at the top of the peninsula and then we were there. It’s flat and dry, quintessential Australian countryside.

Port Wakefield

Following the rule of not driving for too long in any one stint, we stopped at Port Wakefield to stretch our legs. It’s a typical country town. It’s just the right distance from Adelaide to stop and refuel both yourself and the car. It’s the staging point for trips north or west in the state and the turnoff to Yorke Peninsula just out of the town can bottleneck but we weren’t held up at all.

Through Port Wakefield, we headed down the other side of Yorke Peninsula past Ardrossan and then onto Black Point, which for most of the year would be described as sleepy. At this time of the year it’s a lively delightful little beachside town.

As we pulled into our accommodation we were greeted by the neighbours apologising for the noise they’d planned to make for New Year, and our daughter’s partner setting up the boiler so he could cook ups the crabs he’d caught in the morning.

Black Point used to just be shacks on the beachfront but today there is a little more development with more modern beach house built behind.  Our daughter’s partner’s family shack fronts straight onto the beach. It was once just one room and a verandah although today it’s been made a little more modern with separate bedrooms and an indoor bathroom and loo! It is the verandah that is the focal point. It’s right on the beach. I have photos of my daughter’s partner fishing off the verandah but the tide was out so there was no chance of that on this occasion.

What could be better for enjoying this lovely location?

Our view from the verandah

The beach and the ocean are the focus here. Continue reading →