— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

Obviously it is on my list. And wherever I choose, you never know, it could be cloudy, and so I’d want an additional reason for being there… The weather aspect also means I should consider I will attend more than one…

2020: Argentina and Chile. There is nowhere along the path that interests me.
2021: The next one is in Antarctica, and 20 days cruises are $15K+. I’ll pass.
2023: Western Australia and East Timor. WA is so far away from Melbourne, and all accomodation is already booked out.
2024: It crosses the USA and Canada. And parts of Mexico that don’t interest me much. This is promising. I would like to visit Kentucky, Ohio, Maine or Montreal. Map
2026: This has great possibilities. Spanish cities, including Mallorca, and Reykjavik, Iceland. The weather is very risky for Iceland.
2027: The point of greatest eclipse, and the only part of the Middle East I want to be for it, is Luxor, Egypt. Almost as if Luxor was built for this occasion? It is also the longest eclipse anyone alive will see, lasting more than 6 minutes!
2028: Sydney (or Orange or Dubbo) and Queenstown, Wanaka, Dunedin. This will be my default if I miss all the others, very easy to achieve.

Last week in Kaikoura I paid $150 to go out on a boat to see a whale. Seeing one is not guaranteed, but happens 90%+ of the time and they give you most of your money back if the mission fails.

The trip is very professional, educational and entertaining. I learned a lot and was never bored. Highly recommended, unless the sea is rough and you don’t have sea legs. The spotting spots are 9 miles out but the boats are fast.

I got to see 2 sperm whales, one blue shark (not a fin, but looking directly down on it), some albatross and some seals doing yoga (on their back, wiggling their flippers).

If you divide a sperm whale into thirds (head, middle, tail), then you get to see their middle. After feeding they come up to the surface to rest. And that’s what you see – the middle of a whale, barely above the water, laying still. The only action is the blowhole pfffthing every 20 seconds or so.

And this is where things get weird. We are parked alongside this static whale for perhaps 15 minutes. Initially everyone is awestruck and excited. Then, well, nothing.

We are used to being entertained. After 5 minutes it got really boring, and people started staring off across the ocean, hoping for something else, anything else, to look at.

Reality Check – wildlife doesn’t exist for our entertainment. These huge (18 metres), old (40-50), intelligent beings who are very aware of our presence, don’t care about us at all.

When the whale decides to go feed again, they dive down and you get to see their tale. This is the money shot that everybody has their cameras ready for. Even though there are hundreds of whale tail photos out there much better than you can ever take, almost everyone experienced the tale through their camera. It was very quick, and OK.

(I bought 13 walks.com…)

So here’s today’s idea…

13 walks around the world that give you the best overview of the entire planet and its peoples (and animals, plants, etc…)

Do-able over one year or many.

Accessible to most.

My initial candidates, without trying too hard, are:

Africa
Kilimanjaro
Mountains of the Moon – Uganda
Trek to Petra
Hoerikwaggo Trail, Cape Town

Asia
Everest Base Camp
Hong Kong Trail, Hong Kong

North America
Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim – USA
Tonquin Valley – Canada
The Long Range Traverse – Canada

Australasia
Bay of Fires – Tasmania
Routeburn Track – NZ
Great Coastal Walk, Sydney
Coast to Coast Walk, Auckland

Pacific
Kalalau Trail – Hawaii

Europe
Laugavegurinn/Fimmvörðuháls Pass – Iceland
El Camino De Santiago – Spain
West Highland Way – UK
Thames Path, London
Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh

South America
La Ciudad Perdida – Colombia

I have less (full-time) responsibilities than I’ve had for more than a decade, and plenty of annual leave up my sleeve. Some ideas of where to go, but I doubt I’ll venture off on my own.

3 Nights in Sweden / $1500

Cook your own food, fetch your own water, and go on wilderness treks to spot elk, beavers and wolves. Three creatures I expect I’d never encounter otherwise.

Michoacán – Mexico

In November I can see the gazillion monarch butterflies, pyramids and the Night of the Dead.

Pantanal – Brazil

Caiman, toucans, marsh deer, giant river otters & jaguars, on horseback, near the Iguacu falls.

Astana, Kazakhstan

Egypt

There’s many ways of doing this, and I pretty much want to see every ancient thing. This tour is only $100/day and would be a good first visit.

Walk the West Highland Way.

Underground tunnels in Malta

Kumano Kodo – Japan

A pilgrimage walk.

Bangkok – Chiang Mai, by slow train

Ancient temples, villages, wilderness. Cheap! Look up Sukhothai.

 Tayrona National Park – Colombia

Jungle meets beautiful beaches. Remote enough to be cool, but I won’t be the only tourist.

Da Shuhua – China

…blacksmiths in the village of Nuanquan, located in the the Hebei province, tossed cupfuls of molten iron against the city gate, hard and cool in the winter air. The result was a spectacular shower of blooms resembling giant glowing flowers from which the festival (translating to mean “tree flower”) took its name.

Hiking in Jordan

What better way of understanding why people live in such a desolate place than walking it….

 La Gomera – Canary Islands

Hikes.

Einstok Brewing Company – Iceland

Beer.

Yangling Mausoleum and Maoling Mausoleum, Xian, China

Pyramids that tourists can visit. Others are seemingly able to be climbed by anyone? Yes, China has a lot of very big pyramids!

Catatumbo, Venezuela

Best lightning in the world. Or the Northern Territory of Australia during rainy season.

DONE Spitsbergen Island, Norway

Northern lights, or 24 hrs of sunshine, or their Octoberfest. Plus there is a ghost town, the doomsday seed vault and polar bears. Flights from Oslo are cheap.

Cherrapunjee, India

Virtually the wettest place on Earth. The record holder by a bare margin is a few miles away but has no hotels. Visit in July when it averages 128 inches per day (although I don’t know how I will get in and out…)

Dallol, Ethiopia

The hottest inhabited place on Earth. Looks like Mars, plus a volcano and sulphur hot pools. You can only get there by camel with armed guards.

Nyiragongo Volcano, Goma, Congo

Goma has a million people who could die next time this volcano erupts, if the poisonous gases (carbon dioxide and methane) don’t kill them first, or violent humans. You can take a 2-day hike to the lava lake at top of the volcano.

The Catacombs of Paris

The Dead Sea

Costa Rica

Isla Holbox
An island in Mexico, Mayan-named “black hole”. Flamingos and whale sharks. Cheap, hippie, golf buggies. Expensive but has hostels

Taiwan

Trek to Ciudad Perdida, Colombia
Visitors to the Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona in Northern Colombia can enjoy lounging around in lots of dense rainforest and beautiful sandy beaches. But those eager for an active adventure should look into the wild 5-day trek out to the ‘Lost City’, Ciudad Perdida.

Climb an active volcano in Pucón, Chile
Pucón lies 780km south of Santiago in Chile’s stunningly beautiful lake district.

St Augustine / Jacksonville, Florida
Seemingly little-known and under-appreciated. Up and coming cool spot.

Hunan Province, China
For the scenery, and only $500 return from Melbourne

Mount Kailash
Sacred to four religions, and nobody has climbed it. 3 day trek around the base, where some people take months to complete it because they crawl, prostrate themselves.

Kanyakumri, India. The southern tip of India where, amongst other things, you can see sunset and moonrise together at full moon, especially in April.

Adam’s Peak, Sri Lanka. Climb the sacred mountain. Butterflies just before monsoon season.

Mount Canigou, France. Bonfire festival at mid-summer in June.

Taputapuatea Marae, Raiatea Island, French Polynesia. Mysterious ancient site.

Externsteine, Germany. Limestone columns /  Christian hermits.

Almendres Cromlech, Portugal. Stone circle with 95 megaliths.

Hampi, India. Ancient ruins and a cool temple.

Ajanta and Ellora Caves, India. 30 carved temples, one 30 metres high.

Sri Meenakshi Temple and Mahabalipuram Temple, India. Both just really cool.

Jani, Latvia. They run naked at midsummer. They build bonfires in San Juan, Spain on the same day.

Noches de Brugas, Veracruz, Mexico. The night of the witches. First Friday of March.

Purim Parade, Tel Aviv, Israel. Basically a very drunken Jewish Halloween..

Pandharpur Temple Festival, India. June or July. A pilgrimage. A bit odd and different. 700K people turn up. 250K walk there.

Carnival week. New Orleans, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique – all look super cool. I miss Treme the TV series muchly.

Nemrut Dagi, Turkey. Very odd king burial site with a 50 metre tumulus and giant fallen heads.

Royal Mounds, Uppsala, Sweden. Kings buried in big mounds.

The Merry Cemetery, Romania. A graveyard where lives are celebrated.

Hal Saflieni, Malta. Underground temple, where 7,000 people are buried.

Shenzhen, China & Hong Kong. Right next to each other, and will be linked by high speed train in 2019 (continues to Beijing), or just catch the regular train or ferry. Shenzhen grew from a small town to 12 million people in just 3 decades. Good for a quick peak into China, but nothing there I am particularly keen on

Aeolian Islands, Italy. Basically the other Hawaii, with active volcanoes to climb

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, medieval capital with river and fortress

Dunajec River Gorge, between Poland and Slovakia, peaceful rafting

It’s true, because I presume nobody ever reads this, I sometimes use it as a place to store things I wish to remember. Here are two things I think William will like, and the other kids could tag along to:

Glow Golf

18 holes of “glow in the dark” golf. Looks pretty cool, and better than the numerous crap ones that are out there. It’s at Docklands, and they must be good, they have their own TV ad:

Wunderkammer

Sells skeletons, fossils, spiders and so on. At 439 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne – a shop that’s a bit different 😉