I remember the first time I heard of the Ice Cap (also called the South Patagonian Ice Field or the Continental Ice Cap), many years ago now as I was just getting into the mountain scene.  I was flicking through a Macpac outdoor gear catalog from NZ and they had a full double-page photo of their, Read More

I left Bishkek early in the morning and traveled an uneventful eight hours to Karakol, in the far east of the country.  The drive took us along some atrocious roads and along the northern shore of massive lake Issy-Kul.  Karakol is a very “nothing” town that has the feel of a border post.  I, Read More

With everyone at work during the weekdays I decided to pull the boots on and go for a day hike.  I originally planned to do a bunch of overnight hikes while I’m here but the weather has been absolutely shite.  Appears I missed summer by a day and it’s been cool, cloudy and rainy, Read More

From one of my fave places in Europe to another…  I spent a long 12-hour travel day on a EuroCity train from Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.  The train took me through the beautiful Central Alps of Austria and then into the Alps of eastern Slovenia.  I'd, Read More

I was orignially planning on getting to the Slovakian side of the High Tatra mountains, but the logistics of getting there from Krakow were too much of hassle, so I settled for a day in Zakopane (on the Polish side) instead.  I was up at the crack of dawn and as we drove further, Read More

For Mum and Dad’s last full day in the US I suggested we rent a car and drive to Yosemite National Park, a 3-4 hour drive from San Francisco.  We had an early start and were on the road by 7am.  We got caught up in some of the peak hour traffic, stopped off, Read More

This blog is still under construction and I’m slowly bringing my entries up-to-date.  Please come back again soon, when I should have the following pages up and running: More Swiss Alps: mountaineering, hiking, snowboarding Rugby: Rugby Club Zurich, Swiss Rugby, Berkeley RFC Trip summaries (text with a few select photos) from my travels around, Read More

This was the highlight of my trip to Belize!  The Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave is a river cave that was used by the Mayans centuries ago for human sacrifices and other ceremonies and rituals.  The government has limited the number of companies that can conduct the tour in order to preserve the site, Read More

Adri and I took a day trip to Muir Woods, a park just on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County (ie. not far from San Francisco).  Muir Woods contains a some of the largest coastal redwood trees in California – and they are HUGE!  After a short hike through, Read More

I received a week of annual leave while I was working at Deutsche Post/DHL over the summer – I couldn’t believe it either! – and so I took a week off work to travel around Sicily.         I flew into Catania on the east coast and made straight for Agrigento, a five, Read More