Inherit The Earth
Australia & Oceania
Melbourne: The alley cats
FROM the 300-metre Eureka Sky Tower, I can see all of Melbourne spread out below me, shadowed by dark rain clouds sweeping in from the horizon. Neon-bright towers blazoned with the logos of insurance and accounting firms – Ernst & Young, Aon – dwarf those raised to the gods of earlier ages: a sturdy 1950s … Continue reading
Tasmania: Sympathy for the Devil
I’M face to face with a bunch of Tasmanian Devils but I am keeping my nerve. Partly because I’m just a tough hombre, of course. And partly because they look very cute frolicking over a guide in Bonorong Wildlife Centre and nuzzling gently at her fingers. Still, they are not the prettiest animals and their … Continue reading
New Zealand: Coromandel characters
IN 1820, HMS Coromandel, a British Admiralty supply ship moored off a remote peninsular in New Zealand. Its crew had the job of cutting down kauri trees, whose thick trunks and lack of branches made them perfect for ship’s masts and spars. After a year, the ship sailed for England, leaving her name behind for … Continue reading
Australia: Reef madness
THEY promised me millions of stars, here, on the Great Barrier Reef, many miles and an ecosystem away from the light pollution of land. They promised me the experience of a lifetime, spending the night on Reef Sleep, a pontoon moored on the edge of Earth’s biggest living organism. And they weren’t lying.
