i love haggis

twice, and over ten years apart, i did an almost identical 3 day minibus tour from edinburgh up through the highlands and lochs to the isle of skye then back down returning to edinburgh. why? because i loved it so much the first time round! in 1996, it was love at first sight, making scotland my favourite country in europe. then in returning to scotland over a decade later i couldn't resist doing pretty much the same route again, and why not with the same company 'haggis adventures'. the tour again passed through the truly breathtaking sight of glencoe. driving into the start of this massive valley, with two misty massive mountain ridges towering up on both sides, you feel like you are instantly transformed into an ant - you literally feel so small in comparison. this photo gives some idea of this perspective, if you look carefully you can see a teeny tiny itty bitty yellow line in the bottom right hand corner of the photo, this is the haggis bus. it is an amazing place.

four seasons in one day

one time when mands and i were down in hobart visiting my family, we thought we'd go for a drive up the mountain. as in mountain wellington featured in the previous post. the weather was lovely and clear when we set out but of course when we got up the mountain the clouds rolled in and my god the wind!!!! it was freeeeeeeezing. so windy and cold. we only lasted a few minutes out of the car then it was abandon all ye hope as we jumped back in to bolt back down into some semblance of warmth, and as we started out on our descent there was this beautiful sight of the sun valliantly bursting through the clouds far off on the horizon. i didn't get out of the car to take the photo :)

my mountain

i am from tasmania, as my profile states. i go back there a lot because far and away all of my immediate and most of my extended family still lives there while i rebelliously reside on 'the mainland' (this is what tasmanians call the rest of australia, why bother with individual state and territory names when you can just use 2 words to describe the lot!). tasmania is a beautiful state, with tons of natural beauty. indeed about a fifth of the state is world heritage listed. mount wellington, which features in this photo and, i would dare say, in every photo of hobart known to man, is not world heritage listed but it is spectacular in its domination of tasmania's capital. it seems to have its own extremely volatile weather system as well, and whatever mood takes it effects the entirety of hobart town. it is not unusual to see snow on it in the middle of summer. i took this picture in 2003, i think it might have been mands' first visit to tasmania - whether it was or not, i recall my mum took us to show her the 'best place in hobart to take a photo of the mountain'. for your reference and future photo-taking, this location is at the end of newcastle street in battery point.

day 2 inca trail

with the mists clearing to reveal clear blue skies, it was a fresh and breath-taking start to day 2 of the inca trail, looking up at the mountain peaks towering over us, and of which we had slept in the shadows the night preceding, our campsite halfway up the main incline to dead woman's pass. we were informed by our guide, wearing a sly love-scaring-the-tourists smile, that several hikers die every year attempting to walk over the pass. i loved every minute and every metre of the 45 kilometres of the inca trail, and would do it all again in a heartbeat.