42 DEGREES SOUTH

Earlier in October, I took a short trip to the bracing south, on my first ever trip to Tasmania. Despite the inclement weather that always takes some getting used to after too long in Darwin, it was a wonderful relief to get away from the soupy hot buildup of the north. With five days up my sleeve I tackled the usual tourist haunts of Salamanca, MONA, the botanic gardens, Mt. Wellington, Richmond and Runnymede, as well as a few lesser known locales such as the Sandy Bay Twilight Markets. However the main purpose of my holiday was seeing if Hobart was a good fit as a new home town.

ROAD TRIPPING THE BARKLY

In a rare turn of events I was let out of the office last week for a work related trip down to the wide open spaces of the Territory's Barkly Tablelands region. It's been an embarrassing number of years since I've been down this way.

ONE STEP BEYOND

It's likely you're all familiar with the eco-conscious jingle 'reduce, reuse, recycle' - aka 'the three R's', but how about my personal favourite - upcycling?

More creative planter ideas here 

LOCAL TOURISM

It's a pretty common experience for many of us - but playing tourist closer to home is something a lot of people don't always get around to doing. For people who like travelling, the allure of the unfamiliar is often far more tempting than poking around the corners of our own back yard.

INDEPENDENCE

A couple of weeks ago, the Northern Territory has its annual Territory Day celebrations. Much like the similarly timed Independence Day in the USA, the Northern Territory has developed its own tradition of celebrating self governance through the detonation of fireworks (somehow the standard total fire ban that's in place around this time always gets waived). Personally, I've always found it kinda strange how DIY explosive devices have become synonymous with declarations of geo-political autonomy.

OF WINE AND SUNSETS

I'm the first to admit that while Darwin beaches are quite lovely from an aesthetic point of view, they're a bit of a let down in the recreational sense. It's not that it's completely impossible - I've certainly indulged in the odd dry season paddle - it's just restricted in seasons (from October to May we have some rather nasty poisonous box jellyfish lurking in our seas) and generally considered to be a calculated risk with all those crocodiles swimming about looking for some human hors d'oeuvres.

DECKED OUT

If you had to ask me to list the top 5 best things about Darwin they would have to be (in no particular order); the sunsets, the bird life, the weekend markets, the foreshore bike path and the Deckchair cinema (oh, and the evening smell of flowering milkwood - which makes 6...but hey, who's counting?..anyway I can't blog about a smell so, whatever). As the dry season is back again (and I'm still here. How am I still here? I was meant to be not here by now but the interstate job offers are doing a remarkable impression of chirping crickets).

THE PINOT GRIS FILES - NORTH ISLAND

And now onto the bit of Aotearoa that I know a lot better. I decided to visit one of the spots I've neglected in my last couple of visits - the geologically hyperactive region around Rotorua (known mostly to my childhood self as 'that town that smells like rotten eggs').

THE PINOT GRIS FILES - SOUTH ISLAND

For the third time in a year I found myself stepping onto New Zealand soil, though via a different port of entry for once. The flight into Queenstown airport is said to be one of the prettiest landings you'll experience and although my early autumn arrival meant the Southern Alps were lacking most of their snowy caps, I'd have to agree that it beats most urban sprawl introductions to a new land.

GREEN TRAVEL

I've got another trip over the Tasman coming up in a couple of weeks. Every time I click 'confirm and pay' during online checkout, my eco-conscience has a little wobble. No matter how hard I try to manage my carbon footprint, I often make certain lifestyle choices that make me wonder if a handful of large footprint actions aren't blowing my credentials out of the water. For me, this mostly boils down to driving a car to work, air travel and mostly unavoidable food miles.

CLEAN GREEN - IN THE HOUSE

I live in a little studio space that opens out directly into a well-established garden. Living in the tropics, this basically means one thing; being prepared to share my space with critters - the good, the bad and the ugly. Despite my open air, open door and barefoot approach to living, the bug situation isn't as bad as you might suspect, especially with my crack team of house geckos on patrol 24/7. There are also at least 5 resident frogs hanging around my bathroom and laundry (with countless more in the garden).

DECLUTTER BLITZ, THE CRAFTERMATH

Up until recently I've enjoyed the luxury of either living in a fairly decent sized house or, if not, I've had access to the free service known as 'parental house storage'. Either singly or in combination, this has meant not having to really face the problem of what to do with my worldly goods...ALL my worldly goods. After I moved back to Australia in 2012 - well, there it was. All my other stuff. Waiting for me. In a poignant Toy Story 3 kind of way...

SOUTHERN SHORES

Happy 2015!

I saw in this new year in proper holiday mode. As expected, by the time Christmas rolled around I'd had about as much of the endless buildup heat as I could take, so I gave myself a little break and headed down to Melbourne to tick another experience off my personal bucket-list - driving the Great Ocean Road.

ECO FREAK

Don't stop now, this is hipster country

One of the things I love about Melbourne is the splendid abundance of earth friendly shops. From supermarkets that stock nothing but organic, fair trade, cruelty free, free range and low packaging to stores that specialise in products for sustainable living, in some of the trendier Melbourne burbs it seems you can't go more than 10 paces without stumbling across a shop bursting with a downright Scandinavian level of eco-friendly merchandise. Not to mention every possible configuration of kale and quinoa you could imagine.