Tag Archives: travel

The earthquake in Nepal in April 2015 killed more than 8,800 people in that country, injured nearly three times that many, and left nearly 3.5 million homeless. As a further blow to the national psyche, numerous precious historical religious buildings were damaged or destroyed. Many of these were contributors to the 1979 UNESCO World-Heritage listing […]

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I love Bluesfest! Byron Bay Bluesfest, the annual five-day Easter long-weekend festival of blues and roots music from around the world, always includes a line-up of interesting international visitors. Some are big names that take me back to my youth (see, for example: Bring on the Big Names; The Soundtrack of my Youth Musical Name-Dropping; […]

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There are places where you can truly “get away from it all” – away from the trappings of modern life: phone and internet coverage, electricity and running water, roads and basic infrastructure … Of course, you have to get there; and then, unless you are hardy enough to stay in the wilds forever, you have […]

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There is nothing quite like a Māori haka to get your festival day started! (Double click for: Māmā Mihirangi & The Māreikura – E-Te-Ariki) The music clip attached is a prayer: E te Ariki – “Lord”, but the Aotearoa (NZ) Māori artists and activists Māmā Mihirangi & The Māreikura had started the set – first up on the […]

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“And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.” – 1 Kings 10:13 Ethiopia – and its capital Addis Ababa – is the quintessential paradox. […]

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