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 →

Another slow travel journey – Europe 2019

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Rome

It’s just under three weeks until we embark on our next slow travel journey.

It has snuck up on us, as my favourite person has not been a hundred per cent, I’ve had a couple of health issues of my own, there has been my PhD and waiting for the EPL fixture list to come out. All have meant we could not settle our final plans.

However with the last unknown, the EPL season fixture out, our itinerary is complete.

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The Langley Schools Music Project

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As I sat at my desk reviewing my data and writing a one page precise for a possible book chapter in a family business publication my Spotify Music Stream produced an odd sound. It was a cover of the Eagles classic “Desperado”. I stopped what I was doing and listened closer, who was signing, why hadn’t I ever heard this version before?

The solo sent shivers down my spine — such an innocent sounding voice. My first thought was of a young voice, but little did I realise how young. The version I was listening to was from The Langley School Music Project, a collaboration of four Canadian elementary schools (the equivalent of a lower primary school in Australia) recorded in a school hall in two-track in the mid-1970s. Of course, the version I was listening to had been remastered, but the simplicity of the recording remained intact.

As I listened further, the school choir element became more obvious particularly with the simple music arrangement of “Band on the Run”. The tambourines and the symbols so reminiscent of school choirs of my era. But why should that be a surprise, it was recorded in my era!

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Lots of writing and genuine progress

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In early January I wrote the time for “just writing” was over and that I needed to get back to my PhD and that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing.

View from my study at our beach house. Much better view than my desk at home or at Uni!

More than 10,000 words written. My third of six or possibly seven case studies about family wine businesses now largely written, and the chapter on the first stage of my research completed, even in the eyes of my Supervisors!

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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 →