Antipodean Adventures – “Forest Bathing” in the Blue Mountains
In 1839, Charles Darwin spent two weeks on the Blue Mountains which are about 100 kilometers west of Sydney. He traveled by boat and then horseback. When he got to this view he wrote: (Works of Chas. Darwin, vol. 3) “An immense gulf is unexpectedly seen through the trees… This kind view was to me […]
Antipodean Adventures – Sydney : Tap-on, Tap-off
The Opal card brings you Sydney! Just “top up” and then “tap on” when you get into a bus or train or ferry. At the end of the trip, “tap off” when you leave. In our first adventure, we didn’t “tap on”. At the end of the short ferry ride, we had to “tap off”, […]
Antipodean Adventures – Sailing in the Whitsunday Islands
Eight stalwart folk have flown to the opposite side of the earth to sail for 10 days among the Whitsunday Islands that are inside The Great Barrier Reef National Park in northeast Australia. Four of us (Val and Leslie and Mark P. and Cinda of San Juan Island , plus Ron and Kathy and Mark E. […]
Cheetahs and farmers –What should be done?
Our last days in Namibia were spent considering the future for cheetahs. The big cats are the fastest animal on earth, being able to run in bursts as much as 120 km/hr. They can reach such speeds for 20-30 seconds. Then they have to capture their prey, often fleeing antelope, or stop as they quickly […]
On to Etosha – A wildlife haven
Etosha National Park is in northern Namibia near the border with Angola and is centered around a 5,000 square km salt flat called Etosha Pan. Along the southern edge of the pan, there is a necklace of water holes connected by dusty roads. Some are natural and some are supported by solar-powered pumps. Driving on […]
Hints of our past in Damaraland
Leaving Swakapomund by car, we travel north and east over a featureless plain until, after some hours, the most mountainous region in Namibia slowly comes over the horizon. Hardly a car meets us and no one overtakes us. In the mountains we see more and more groups of the sleek Springbok antelope. Eventually small scattered […]
Swakopmund Extremes
Quad bikes roaring over the desert is so not Veirs-Reese, but here in the adventure capital of Namibia, we have to give them a try. Leslie prudently declines and heads downtown in search of Namibian art and artifacts, even though she had gone through all the work to put this activity into our schedule. So, […]
SEA to Swakopmund
Leslie, Val and grandson Liam (almost 14 years old) left Seattle in the early evening, and 8 hours later it was afternoon in London. We had a 9 hour layover which gave us enough time to ‘do’ London! We took the fast (i.e. expensive) train to Paddington and then the tube to Trafalgar Square. We […]
Leslie & Val Veirs
Here you will find photographs and writings from our adventures here and aboard.
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Latest blog posts
Antipodean Adventures – “Forest Bathing” in the Blue Mountains
In 1839, Charles Darwin spent two weeks on the Blue Mountains which are about 100 kilometers west of Sydney. He traveled by boat and then horseback. When he got to this view he wrote: (Works of Chas. Darwin, vol. 3) “An immense gulf is unexpectedly seen through the trees… This kind view was to me […]
Antipodean Adventures – Sydney : Tap-on, Tap-off
The Opal card brings you Sydney! Just “top up” and then “tap on” when you get into a bus or train or ferry. At the end of the trip, “tap off” when you leave. In our first adventure, we didn’t “tap on”. At the end of the short ferry ride, we had to “tap off”, […]
Antipodean Adventures – Sailing in the Whitsunday Islands
Eight stalwart folk have flown to the opposite side of the earth to sail for 10 days among the Whitsunday Islands that are inside The Great Barrier Reef National Park in northeast Australia. Four of us (Val and Leslie and Mark P. and Cinda of San Juan Island , plus Ron and Kathy and Mark E. […]
Cheetahs and farmers –What should be done?
Our last days in Namibia were spent considering the future for cheetahs. The big cats are the fastest animal on earth, being able to run in bursts as much as 120 km/hr. They can reach such speeds for 20-30 seconds. Then they have to capture their prey, often fleeing antelope, or stop as they quickly […]
On to Etosha – A wildlife haven
Etosha National Park is in northern Namibia near the border with Angola and is centered around a 5,000 square km salt flat called Etosha Pan. Along the southern edge of the pan, there is a necklace of water holes connected by dusty roads. Some are natural and some are supported by solar-powered pumps. Driving on […]
Hints of our past in Damaraland
Leaving Swakapomund by car, we travel north and east over a featureless plain until, after some hours, the most mountainous region in Namibia slowly comes over the horizon. Hardly a car meets us and no one overtakes us. In the mountains we see more and more groups of the sleek Springbok antelope. Eventually small scattered […]
Swakopmund Extremes
Quad bikes roaring over the desert is so not Veirs-Reese, but here in the adventure capital of Namibia, we have to give them a try. Leslie prudently declines and heads downtown in search of Namibian art and artifacts, even though she had gone through all the work to put this activity into our schedule. So, […]
SEA to Swakopmund
Leslie, Val and grandson Liam (almost 14 years old) left Seattle in the early evening, and 8 hours later it was afternoon in London. We had a 9 hour layover which gave us enough time to ‘do’ London! We took the fast (i.e. expensive) train to Paddington and then the tube to Trafalgar Square. We […]
Tent Camping with Grand Kids
For 5 days last week we camped in Beacon Rock State Park with Laura and Tucker’s kids. Tennessee is 7 and Oz is 4 and the four of us piled our camping gear into the Prius and headed out for some unstructured play time in the woods. We found Beacon Rock State Park on the […]
Friday Harbor Sailing Club cruise to Barkley Sound and the Broken Islands
On May 15, 2017, Leslie and Val on Cat’s Cradle headed ‘out to sea’ to visit a complex archipelago on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island. This is a diverse group of islands within which there is good protection from the prevailing northwest winds and swell from the northeast Pacific Ocean. But, to get there […]
