Moses got it wrong when he chose the Promised Land.... I cant believe after 40 years of wandering in the desert he didnt find find this place. Or, if he did, why he didnt settle here! But thank goodness he didnt or it would be this magnificent place destroyed by thousands of years of conflict. Dawn over Wadi Rum is sublime. Im watching the mountains change from blue to blazing orange to gold. The sun, very considerately, has risen between a gully outting in a ...

Indiana Jones didnt prepare me for Petra! It is a revelation! To stand in front of The Treasury was surreal. But I get ahead of myself. The entry into Petra is through The Siq, a gorge over a kilometre long. It is breathtaking in its own right, resplendant with natural formations, eroded carvings of statues and a roman aqueduct bringing "stormwater" from outside the complex several kilometres into it. But nothing prepares you for the sight of th...

Bye Bye Dubai, and Amman....Oh man!! My very first day in Jordan was confronting from the get-go. In Amman traffic is a contact sport; indicators are purely optional and line-markings are more like "guidelines" than boundaries; speed is entirely arbitrary; and, although they are meant to drive on the opposite side of the road to us - its not really all that clear. I wish I had something nice to say about the hotel - other than Im glad its "on...

They say its the journey... ...not the destination that counts. Well I think the first leg of this journey has been the metaphor for my life of late. Timing has not been my friend. The trip started with the flight from Adelaide to Melbourne, for my international connection, delayed by an hour. Thankfully I was still able to catch up with Tam, who made the trek up from Geelong to see me off on the "big plane". Once I walked through those doors...