The Volcano Diaries (Part 1)

My First Glimpses of Bulusan and Mayon

Mt Bulusan (right) and Mt Mayon (far right) in the late afternoon light

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had a minor obsession with volcanoes. I guess it all started with the eruption of Mt St. Helens in 1980, which regularly made the evening news.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Elections

Local and State Government elections are looming in Queensland, and this will be my first opportunity to vote as an Australian. I wish I was more excited about this, but frankly, the whole hullabaloo makes me want to run for the hills.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of democracy and I intend to participate in it, but I’m inclined to agree with the late, great, Douglas Adams –

“Well, I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I’m afraid where you begin to suspect that the entire multidimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. And if it comes to a choice between spending yet another ten million years finding that out, and on the other hand just taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise.”
~ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

A building to lift your spirit

Being such a nature lover, it takes a lot for me to get excited by a building… but the Sydney Opera House is truly exceptional. A building that lifts your spirit.

How to feel really good

Kisauni, Mombasa in 2003

Let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time, I was a volunteer in Mombasa, Kenya. Every day I squeezed into a matatu (a privately owned mini bus) and made my way into the city for work along with thousands of others. Every day I saw a disabled man pedalling a rickety little home-made cart (made of fruit boxes and pram wheels) across an insanely busy junction with his hands. Taking on the cars and the buses and chaos and the choking fumes of the morning rush hour… in a box. Every day I feared for his life, taking on the traffic in what seemed like a suicidal errand.

“Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

– Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

Playful Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. Taken at Sydney Botanic Gardens, 2011

Wangari Muta Maathai, 1940-2011

RIP Wangari Maathai

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There are people around the world who commit small acts of heroism every day. There are those who show great courage in pursuing what they know is right in the face of great intimidation. There are those who dedicate their lives to public good, whatever the personal cost to themselves.

Professor Wangari Maathai was all those things, and more, inspiring others to start “doing the best I can”.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

~ Lao-tzu (604-531 BC)

This journey starts with a single post!