Dear friends, Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Chatham Islands and spent three very full and fascinating days with a 'Women in Photography' group - six of us under our expert leader Lesley Whyte. Not only was she the photographic guru, never tiring of reminding us of shutter speed, aperture [...]
Dear friends, My journey to Türkiye began and ended in Istanbul, so to finish off this series, here is a glimpse of this fabulous city and the treats within. There is so much to see and enjoy and we merely scratched the surface, so maybe another visit is in order to experience and learn [...]
Dear friends, One of the most famous sights in Cappadocia is the scores of hot-air balloons rising at dawn, a treat not to be missed. And what a wonderful way to start the day, although undoubtedly it was very early and very cold! Many already up and away when we arrived for our flight [...]
Dear friends, This last episode from the Turquoise Coast takes us on a long hike with beautiful views, meeting a nomadic family, a visit to the ancient city of Kaunos, and the winding river through the marsh and reeds for a brief stop in Dalyan. After a rainstorm in the night, it was lovely [...]
Dear friends, I will cover a couple more days of action and fun in this episode and include an ancient city or two, a delicious lunch, and a walk through a little village high on a plateau above the coast, an island monastery, a deserted village, and a museum. Never a dull moment, that's [...]
Dear Friends, As we made our way along the Turquoise Coast, enjoying the coves and harbours and hikes up into the mountains, it was fascinating and most enjoyable to visit more historic sites, and learn of each place's unique history through the ruins. First up in this story is Phaselis. Early morning, anchored in [...]
Dear friends, For the first of several Joanna's Journal stories about my recent travel to Türkiye, I would like to give a short introduction to the parts of this fascinating country my trip took me and a brief note on the remarkable history and geography about which I am now determined to learn and [...]
Dear friends, There is no doubt that the Thai kitchen is one of the world's most recognized and appreciated cuisines. Over the years living here in Chiang May, I have sent many visitors to cooking classes although have neglected to do one myself. However, this has been rectified as last weekend I had the opportunity [...]
Dear friends, North, south, east, west .... this last post about our great New Zealand Road trip, is to share some highlights, make some observations and thank all my friends and family who made it such a fun, fascinating and fabulous trip. We travelled through both the South and North Islands and covered some 10,000 [...]