Top Travel Experiences – A visit to the Grand Canyon

Continuing on the topic of the seven natural wonders of the world, also among this list is the prestigious Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. As a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, the Grand Canyon National Park showcases the earth’s history through its geological make-up which dates back a couple of billion years. I find it quite difficult to really comprehend how old this is, but can see its history through the naturally carved multicoloured layered rock faces.

Guano Point – Grand Canyon

It is estimated that over five million people a year visit the Grand Canyon. I too have been one of those people many years back and again more recently. Extending over a large area many many miles long and wide, it requires separate visits to see and experience the sights, most commonly from the South and West rims.

My first trip to the Grand Canyon was part of a tour around the south-western part of the United States. A two night stay at the national park gave me the chance to see, hike and fly around the canyon’s South rim, all of which provided its own unique experience. From watching beautiful colourful sunsets standing at the rim on a warm evening, lunching in a shady spot as I soaked up the sweeping vistas, to looking back up the rocky walls as I made my way down a narrow path. Taking in its sheer size and different rock formations from up above in a helicopter flight was absolutely exhilarating.

More recently a trip to Las Vegas gave me the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon again. This time I took a short scenic flight out to the West rim which is home to the Hualapai tribe. At Eagle Point is the famous glass skywalk bridge, while at Guano Point a short and easy walk along the rim led me into the canyon and better views of the Colorado river. Standing at the edge of the canyon taking in the breathtaking view with very few people around in the early morning leaves me with no doubt that the Grand Canyon is special.

Colorado River – Grand Canyon

Remembering how much I enjoyed the helicopter experience during my last visit, I decided to take a scenic helicopter flight again. This time at the West rim, our pilot took us down deep into the canyon landing near the Colorado river. While it was a nice feeling standing inside this deep gorge surrounded by the colourful striped cliffs, as a city girl I was also excited to see cactus plants growing in their natural desert environment.

California Barrel Cactus – Grand Canyon

So after two visits to different parts of the Grand Canyon I’ve asked myself would I come here again? Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s a truly beautiful and peaceful place and certainly worthy of its title as a natural wonder. I hope you too have had the opportunity to see and experience this iconic place for yourselves or will do so one day.

Happy sightseeing fellow travellers!

Georgia

Top Travel Experiences – Seeing an Aurora

If you’re familiar with the seven natural wonders of the world, you’ll know that among this list is the aurora borealis based in the northern arctic circle or the less common aurora australis for the folks down south.  Natures own dancing light show which lights up the night sky with beams of light among a colourful backdrop, often seen as a green ray of light raising up from the horizon. Aurora displays are absolutely breathtaking and mesmerising to watch. Not easily visible with the naked eye, but certainly a photographers dream.

Aurora Australis

Aurora Australis over The Hazards, Coles Bay, Tasmania.

Triggered by solar changes outside the earths atmosphere, auroras are unpredictable. While there are websites and apps you can check for possible sightings at certain times of the year (www.spaceweather.com) there are no guarantees with nature. Nonetheless I have always been hopeful to see this.

So you’ll understand my luck and absolute excitement when I got to see an aurora by chance during a photography workshop in Tasmania. One of our guides, Luke, who is an aurora enthusiast, received an alert indicating that a sighting might be possible that evening. With great enthusiasm among the group, our friendly and accommodating photography tour guides agreed we stay out later after our sunset shoot in Coles Bay, and so we waited with bated breath as the night set in. It was just as well because we were rewarded with a spectacular light display after the clouds moved on. The colours we captured in the sky changed from red, purple and pink with a lime green shimmer low along the horizon. We could see the moving beams of light with the naked eye as if someone was pointing a large torch from the mountain range into the sky.  Just as breathtaking were the sheer number of stars we could see in the darkness alongside the cluster of the milky way. Words cannot even begin to describe how incredible an experience this was, so hopefully these photos do.

Aurora Australis and the Milky Way over Coles Bay, Tasmania.

The photography workshop I was on during this special time was the 7 day Tasmanian Experience Photography Tour run by Michael Snedic at Trekabout Photography Workshops and Luke O’Brien Photography. While aurora displays are unpredictable, heightened activity in the last couple of years as led to a few recent sightings. If you love night photography then this is something you’ll definitely want to experience for yourself, luck permitting.

Various tours featuring the northern lights are also offered in the months around Sep/Oct and Mar/Apr in countries such as Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Alaska to name a few. I know I’m hoping to go on one of these tours one day too.

 

Good luck with your aurora hunting!

Georgia

Top Travel Experiences – Snorkelling in Lord Howe Island

Watching a performance recently by George Michael at the Palais Garnier Paris left me thinking about all the wonderful places I’ve seen in my travels with this special venue being one of them. Some of these are iconic and known world-wide while others not so much. Being an enthusiastic photographer, I have taken many photos I can look back on fondly and reminisce. This has prompted me to put together a list of my top travel experiences. By sharing these with you, I hope you will find inspiration to experience them too or encourage you to think about what you’d love see and do for yourself.

Snorkelling in Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe Island

One of the seven natural wonders of the world is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to have visited North Queensland a couple of times and of course have headed out to the reef to see the amazing marine life underwater. The photos I snapped on a disposable underwater camera at the time didn’t do it the justice it deserves. Late last year though, I joined a photography workshop with Trekabout Photography Workshops to Lord Howe Island, the home of the most southern coral reef in the world.

With the determination to take some nice photos while snorkelling, I invested in an underwater camera. I would have loved to have used my DSLR but after a bit of research, I decided on a little blue Lumix FT5. I particularly liked this camera because while it’s a small compact camera, it still allows you to adjust some settings in manual mode. So here are some of my favourite photos which I took while snorkelling in the clear warm shallow waters while enjoying the peace and tranquility of this special place. I hope it encourages you to get out there and see the wonderful marine life we have in our oceans.

Lord Howe Island

 

Lord Howe Island

Bon Voyage!

Georgia

 

Welcome!

A place of…

INSPIRATION – BEAUTY – TIPS – TECHNIQUES – PASSION – ART

Feeding the Body, Mind & Soul.

 

Every day we feed our bodies. Not only do we do this with the foods we eat and drink, thinking more broadly we feed our bodies with air, sunshine, touch and movement. Here you’ll find some of my favourite ways in which I feed my body. Literally. Juices and smoothies I like to make, easy meals and snacks along with a few sweet treats. Some healthy and some not so much. I’ll also touch on some of the metaphorical ways I feed my body.

When it comes to how we feed the mind, all day we take in lots of information and new things we learn. Whether it’s through something were reading or watching or perhaps it’s what’s were chatting to others about. So what do I like to read and talk about which feeds my mind? You’ll see I love reading books, magazines and articles about topics I’m passionate about, along with the occasional novel. This leads to me feeding the soul.

I believe we feed our soul by spending time doing activities which fill our heart with happiness and joy. Some people have one or two special hobbies or interests they particularly love.  As for me, well there are lots of different things which feed my soul. My passion for arts and crafts particularly photography, travel and sight-seeing, cooking and baking, along with overall health and wellbeing.

Although I’ve tried to cover the three areas separately, in reality we all know they’re interlinked.

So that’s my little introduction to this personal blog I’ve started. I hope you enjoy what’s to come as I share with you how I feed my body, mind and soul.

 

Cheers, Georgia