The Ivory Curl trees were in full bloom the day we drove to the mountains. Other than Milano's on the Mall after work on a Friday, the loose scattering of odd-shaped volcanic plugs called the Glasshouse Mountains are one of my favourite places in Queensland. Driving up to the Sunshine Coast these past few weekends, Mt. Tibrogargan always catches me… Continue reading The Mountains on the Way Up
Author: Ralph Lavelle
Web developer by trade. Married to Tina. 2 kids, Alexander and Eoin. I'm from Ireland, but we (usually) live in Australia. Off to Europe in June and July.
Sunday morning, Alexandra Headland
Walking over the rocks that separate Alexandra Headland from Mooloolaba I nearly stood on a sea snake. I made sure it was dead before inspecting it closely. It was silver, with dark bands, and up close you could see it had non-overlapping hexagonal scales. They weren't perfect, however; it was as if they came from the… Continue reading Sunday morning, Alexandra Headland
On the good ship Gráinne Mhaol
The Mooloolah river flows into the Coral Sea just south of the seaside town of Mooloolaba. In its final half kilometre it wraps around a spit, enveloping the boats anchored in Mooloolaba Marina that stick out into it on hundred-metre-long arms. On arm C of the Marina is a thirty-five-or-so foot yacht called the Gráinne… Continue reading On the good ship Gráinne Mhaol
The end of a long road
It’s nearly time to leave Zákynthos. Our year-and-a-half-long odyssey to Europe is nigh-on over. What a time we’ve had! And yes, I can feel another book about Zákynthos, or better, about the whole trip, coming on. View of Ναύαγιο When we got back here, after leaving Ireland, and spending six weeks in France and Italy, people… Continue reading The end of a long road
From Dublin to Nîmes
This guy got up from his seat two rows behind us on the Toulouse-Nîmes TGV to have a go at the family in the four-seater space opposite us, whose kids were - fair enough - being a bit noisy, albeit harmlessly so, I felt, since they looked like nice people, and you could tell the kids were smart, and while naturally I couldn't catch everything… Continue reading From Dublin to Nîmes
The Queen’s walk on Mayday, London
At the end of a raw spring week sleet and windy, Sunday turned the corner into May, ready to make amends. That morning we stepped out of our Theseus Walk Airbnb pied-à-terre and caught the number 38 bus to Charing Cross Road, ready to take it on foot from there. Leicester Square Maybe I'd been listening to too… Continue reading The Queen’s walk on Mayday, London
A little piece of Greece in Bloomsbury
Our travels took us to London this past weekend, and to a part of town we weren't at all familiar with: Angel. Sandwiched between the City Road and Regent's Canal, our Airbnb place at Theseus Place took us along the calm waters of the canal with its colourfully inhabited barges each time we came and went to Angel tube… Continue reading A little piece of Greece in Bloomsbury
St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2016
This year's parade was our first St. Patrick's Day Parade here in Dublin. Of course, having grown up here, I've been to my fair share of Dublin parades, but not for a long time. Not for twenty years or so. Looking up the east side of Parnell Square towards the Abbey Presbyterian Church. Well, I… Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2016
The road to the sunny south-east
We’re on a mission to see more of Ireland, to go to the sorts of places, which, if we ever thought about at all when last we lived here over ten years ago, we would have dismissed as the sorts of places tourists went to. Places with castles and visitor centres, or interpretive centres, whatever they're called. Back then the new Ireland we… Continue reading The road to the sunny south-east
Feliz Nuevo Año, de Seville
With only a few hours until midnight on la Nochevieja, as New Year's Eve is called in Spain, you'd think it would be easy to find a suitable restaurant in the packed alleyways around Seville Cathedral, but it wasn't. Even when we found one with an available table, we were usually disappointed to discover once… Continue reading Feliz Nuevo Año, de Seville
