Welcome to Elwyn's blog! Torres del Paine National ParkTorres del Paine National Park

This contains a selection of my writing and photos from a number of trips I've made around the world.

Iceland 2022

December 22, 2022  •  Leave a Comment

A road trip along the south coast of Iceland in September 2022. Such an incredible place, it really does feel like the edge of the world!

Photos from our trip: https://elly.net.au/iceland-2022

Jökulsárlón Glacier LagoonJökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

 


Darwin to Broome, Gibb River Road 2021

December 22, 2022  •  Leave a Comment

June/July 2021

The Western Australian state border was opened for a short while. We ventured into another state, the Northern Territory in June/July 2021.

A great road trip East to Broome over a few weeks. We hired a 4wd and enjoyed camping under big skies in the dry season. Highlights included Kakadu National Park, the Bungle Bungles, the Gibb River Road and the famous Horizontal Falls.

Here's our photos: https://elly.net.au/darwin-to-broome-2021

Bungle BunglesBungle Bungles El Questro, Gibb River RoadEl Questro, Gibb River Road


Pilbara (North West Australia) 2020

December 22, 2022  •  Leave a Comment

September 2020

During the Covid global pandemic, the Australian national and Western Australian borders were closed. What else to do but a 5000km road trip to the remote north west of Australia. Good thing we live in a big state. 

Plenty of red dust, flies and an early season heatwave. Great to really get away from it all. 

Here's our photo album: https://elly.net.au/pilbara-2020
 

 

 


New Zealand

October 30, 2021  •  Leave a Comment

March 2020

We managed a 2 week trip to New Zealand's South Island just before the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic descended and restricted our international travel.

Here's the photos from our trip: https://elly.net.au/new-zealand-2020

Kepler Track - South FiordKepler Track - South Fiord
 


Southwest USA Road Trip

April 25, 2021  •  Leave a Comment

June 2019

We had a fabulous 3 week honeymoon to the southwest USA! It was a great adventure to share.

Photo Gallery: https://elly.net.au/usa-honeymoon

Our time in the USA previously was limited. We got out a map, and figured out what we could do for 3 weeks. Rather than spend time flying between USA highlights, we wanted to get outside the cities and enjoy a road trip. We managed to independently plan and book a mixture of driving and hiking days. We brought our camping gear on the plane so we were prepared for some camping trips during our road trip.

We flew in to LA and were lucky enough to get an upgrade to premium economy which really helped us arrive relatively refreshed. We were also very lucky as we flew through fog at Sydney airport that:
(a) our flight from Perth landed
(b) the only A380 that landed in Sydney from London was rerouted on our flight to LA, all other A380s were diverted
Universal StudiosUniversal Studios
After a bumpy flight across the Pacific, we navigated our way through LAX. We pick up the hire car and figured out how to drive on the wrong side of the road whilst attempting to navigate on the 6 lane interstate 😱. We had a few days in an Airbnb in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills while we got over the jet lag. This was a great central location while being relatively quiet from the bustle of LA. We saw Griffith Observatory, the Peterson Car Museum and Nakatomi Plaza (of Die Hard fame). A full day at Universal Studios was awesome. 


A few days in LA was enough, and we were looking forward to getting out of the big city. An early start to beat the notorious LA traffic. While stopping for fuel we were surrounded by 4 news helicopters, standard around LA traffic. We drove east to our second state, Arizona, and to the Grand Canyon for a few days. A full day driving east mostly on the classic Route 66. This was a mixture of interstate and country road driving. Our Mitsubishi Outlander was one of the smallest cars around, but it suited us well on the way. We stayed in a Teepee found on AirBnb, about 30 minutes south of the Grand Canyon South Rim. 

It was height of summer so it was rather hot. Therefore we started early which meant it was both cooler and a lot less crowds. There was hardly anyone around  the South Rim when we arrived around 7.30am. We did a couple of hikes down into the canyon: the Bright Angel trail and the appropriately-named Ooh-Aah point. It was all very easy walking downhill and also very deceptive of just how far down it is to the floor. Add a bit of heat and altitude into the mix and we were very wary of not going too far. That proved correct after we were all cowering in the shade for some cool as we hiked back up to the rim! 

Grand CanyonGrand Canyon

We could see the north rim of the Grand Canyon which was only about 11 miles but actually a 200 mile drive away. We took a day to drive from the South Rim to the North Rim on the Grand Canyon through some great variations in the landscape. We diverted to the north on the way to see the classic Horseshoe Bend, a popular lookout further up the Colorado River. The sheer scale of it was mind boggling, offset by the rafts below which themselves were very large. 

Horseshoe bend on the Colorado RiverHorseshoe bend on the Colorado River
 

 

 


It was a lot cooler at the north rim as it’s at a higher altitude, surrounded by alpine meadows and larger trees. We stayed in a log cabin right on the North Rim which offered great views throughout the day, right until sunset. We did another hike along Widforss Trail on the north rim which  offered great views back to the south.

We drove into Utah to the north, heading for Bryce Canyon National Park. We were a little confused by the time and then realised that Utah is actually an hour ahead of Arizona. Bryce Canyon is at a high altitude, at about 9000 feet the lack of oxygen is noticeable. We stayed just outside the National Park and did a couple of walks in the National Park to see the "hoodoos", rocks which had been sculpted by the weathering and freezing/melting over thousands of years. 

Han and Leia at Bryce CanyonHan and Leia at Bryce Canyon

Zion National Park

Next was west to Zion National Park. Again, this offered great changes in scenery as we drove between different valleys. The road we entered on was spectacular, through a long one-way tunnel into the main Zion Canyon. 

Zion National ParkZion National Park Accommodation was difficult to book in Zion even months before our trip. We found a single camp site in an "RV Park" which proved a useful location for exploring Zion Canyon. Limited parking in Zion Canyon means it's best to catch a park bus. We caught the bus up to the top of the valley to the famous Narrows.  In normal times, this is a waded walk up the river. Thanks to a very wet spring, the water level was too high so this walk was closed. We enjoyed walking around the top of the Canyon and enjoyed the awesome surroundings.

Zion National ParkZion National Park

 

Some research on the National Park "permit" system. There are limited hiking permits available with pre-booking, plus there are "walk in" permits, available within 24 hours of the intended camping date. We visited the Zion National Park office, and were fortunate enough to find a permit for a private campsite high up on the West Rim trail in the national park. Limited buses to the start of this one-way walk meant that we were up at 5am for the 6am bus to take us to the walk start. We left our car at the National Park office and got the bus. We were at the start of the trail by 7am. 

Our campsite was the first one on the trail, so we were there by 10am! We set up camp and enjoyed the little valley to ourselves for the whole day. It was on a site-track to a spring so we only saw 2 other hikers for the day. Quite a contrast to the crowds in the main Zion Canyon. We saw some rustling in the bushes which turned out to be a turkey. That was while we were careful to string up our food as the resident squirrel was keen to help itself to our food. We were enjoying a quiet late afternoon when all of a sudden a large black cloud had built up. Next were flashes of lightning and loud thunder. Quickly we cooked our dinner and finished it inside the tent as it started to rain. All cleaned up and back inside the tent while there were large claps of thunder all around us which is a little disconcerting when we were relatively high up. Torrential rain continued all night. Fortunately we were dry and safe in our trusty Macpac tent. It cleared up the next morning for the walk down to Angels Landing and into Zion Canyon to finish the walk. This day was 26km of "undulating" walking which was challenging as it got hotter. Plus there was some particularly muddy parts after the wet sprint. However it was spectacular scenery and we hardly saw anyone else until we neared Angels Landing which is a popular day trip from the valley below. We didn't have time to complete the Angels Landing climb but got a great view of the spectacular Ridgeline from our descent. 

Zion National Park - West Rim Trail - Angels LandingZion National Park - West Rim Trail - Angels LandingNear the end of the trail next to Angels Landing, a popular climb for day walkers from the valley.
Getting very hot in the day. Some thunderstorms in the distance.

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty more descending and we were happy to reach the end of the trail and the Zion Canyon floor after a challenging but awesome hike. We caught the bus back to the base of the valley, a brief tidy up and drove down to Las Vegas, 3 hours away. 

Las Vegas

Vegas is a sight to behold. Most noticeable is all the signs advertising for lawyers on the interstate on the way in. Then all those huge builds on "the strip". We navigated our way along to our hotel and smiled at the crazy cars and people around. Such a different world from the peaceful hiking trip we'd just finished. We checked into the Bellagio still dirty from our overnight Zion hiking trip and with mud on our legs. After a tidy up of ourselves and our gear (the giant bathtub was great for cleaning all the hiking gear!) we ventured down to the ground level through the casino. This was quite overwhelming and we found our way to the buffet. Unfortunately it was full and we were rather hungry after all our exercise so we headed elsewhere. We found Walburgers and had the best. burgers. ever. Then we slept very well that night!

Up by 9am and we found a buffet that was open (nothing shuts in Vegas...). The breakfast buffet was great and quiet since it was "early" for Vegas. The Eiffel Tower opened at 10am and we were one of the first people up there so again had a great view almost to ourselves. We looked through various casinos and walked the strip. 

Grand Canyon Helicopter FlightGrand Canyon Helicopter Flight
Grand Canyon Helicopter FlightGrand Canyon Helicopter Flight
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a Grand Canyon helicopter trip leaving in the afternoon. This flight landed in the canyon itself and we enjoyed Champagne as we took in the awesome surroundings.  Vegas Beer ParkVegas Beer Park
 

Landed back at Vegas and we headed for dinner followed by the "Beer Park" which had a great view over the fountains of the Bellagio.

Death Valley

Yosemite

San Francisco

LA / Disneyland

 

To be continued.

 

 

Here's some statistics for the whole trip:

  • 3,000+ miles on the hire car (Mitsubishi Outlander)
  • 4 states: California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada
  • 6 national parks

 

 

 

 

 



 


 


Southern African Cycling Epic

May 02, 2020  •  Leave a Comment

June 2017

A 3 week cycling trip across Southern Africa. Starting at Victoria Falls, through Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa into Cape Town

Photo gallery: https://elly.net.au/african-cycling-epic
 


Larapinta Trail

May 02, 2020  •  Leave a Comment

August 2016

A 14 day end-to-end walk on the epic Larapinta Trail in the heart of the Australian desert. Starting from Alice Springs, clear days and amazing views of the starts during our adventure. 

Photo gallery: https://elly.net.au/larapinta-trail

Waterfall GullyWaterfall Gully


Vancouver Sailing

May 02, 2020  •  Leave a Comment

September 2015

An excellent 10-day adventure with the London Corinthian Sailing Club. We charted a number of yachts from Vancouver and cruised north along the coastline of the vast wilderness of British Columbia.

Photo gallery: https://elly.net.au/vancouver-sailing

Snug CoveSnug Cove Smuggler CoveSmuggler Cove Roscoe Bay, Desolation SoundRoscoe Bay, Desolation Sound


Our Dams Adventure

June 21, 2016  •  2 Comments

I’ve been cycling semi-regularly since I was about three. Depending on how far my commute was, I’d cycle when I could. I even survived cycling to work in London as it was much nicer than crowded, unreliable public transport.

I moved back to Perth a couple of years ago after almost a decade in the UK and really appreciated the Australian climate which allowed me to cycle more regularly. I was keen to join a group so I could improve my cycling fitness. I’d seen a number of cycling groups around Perth around but felt quite intimidated to find myself out of my depth.

I’d seen a handful of “She Rides” cycling course ads on Facebook. I signed up for the “She Rides Together” course which suited my cycling ability. I could learn about riding in a group in a friendly environment. Our Kings Park She Rides Together group were quiet as we got to know each other. That quickly changed as we went for a few rides.

During our “She Rides Together” course, I quickly learned the techniques and benefits of cycling in a group. Our group of ladies were a terrific bunch. We often stayed for coffee after our She Rides sessions, talking for longer than we actually rode!

Our She Rides group kept in touch after the completion of the course and organised our own rides. We entered the 40km Armadale Grand Fondo the week after our She Rides course finished. Sally and I found ourselves up ahead of the group at a good speed while we were chatting.

I’d heard of the “Dams Challenge”, a single-day cycling event in the Perth hills. I mentioned to it Sally who promptly signed both of us up as a pair before we knew too much about what was involved. At that time, a “big” ride for us would be about 40km. The 3 Dams Challenge is 145km with about 1,800m of climbing. It was only three months away.

The first month of our training was consistently riding for at least an hour, three times per week, climbing hills where possible. We were very excited to complete hills ride of over 30km at the end of January with about 400m of ascent.

We intensified our training effort in February, mixing hills with flat rides to increase distance and time on the bike. Our first “big” climb was up Welshpool Road, around 250m of climbing taking about 30 minutes. We knew it was getting hard as we had to stop talking to breathe enough to complete the climb.

Sally’s partner, Adrian, completed the 3 Dams Challenge last year and took us on some tough weekend training rides he’d done to prepare himself for the event. We ensured we were out for at least four hours in different conditions. We experimented with what to eat, drink and wear for a long time on the bike. It was the height of summer so we’d be up before dawn to ride in cooler temperatures. Sally and I had our individual ups and downs during these longer rides but we worked very well as a team to help each other.

We also needed to manage rest time. We were honest with each other when we weren’t feeling well on a tough ride. We managed our training load to ensure that we didn’t get run down. Leg massages and were required to keep the legs relatively fresh along with the foam roller every day. We both have active lifestyles and made adjustments to our exercise routines to ensure cycling was our priority.

Adrian lead us on the “2 Dams” ride, our last big training ride, a few weeks before the 3 Dams event itself. A 5.30am start, and we managed 110km with 1,300m of climbing. Strava rated it as “Extreme”. It was hot towards the end so we jumped into the river in all our cycling gear to cool off!

The day of the 3 Dams Challenge finally arrived. Our aim was to enjoy it and finish comfortably. The first big climb was Greenmount Hill. We hadn’t actually climbed Greenmount Hill in our training but we felt good on the climb. Several other competitors commented that we weren’t trying hard enough as we were talking too much!

 

It was a great boost to see some of our She Rides friends supporting us along the route, especially at the top of the first climb. It was the hottest day for a few weeks. I was overheating so much that I felt cold. We pulled over to a service station, bought some cold water and poured some over our heads to cool off. I was seriously considering standing in the beer fridge for a while!

After that break we agreed to back off on the pace a little so we wouldn’t overheat. We continued the slog towards Canning Dam, where the road gets very rough. The “2 Dams” training ride had taken us on that route before so we knew what was coming and continued to successfully negotiate each climb. A lot of competitors were suffering in the heat and we saw a number of cyclists lying under trees to cool off.

We finished our last climb out of Wungong Dam and we were thrilled to reach Albany Highway and the descent into Armadale. Only 40km to go! The ride got really hard, it was early afternoon and we could feel the heat coming off the tarmac even more. We knew it was hard as weren’t talking much now apart from swapping the lead rider. We powered on. We had one last stop on the Kwinana Freeway and welcomed some ice and cold water poured over us.

Finally, we made it to the finish at Curtin University. We were elated to cross the finish line and all the pain disappeared with the adrenaline rush. Our supporters took a few photos with our well-earned medals and celebrated with us. It was a fantastic achievement.

Sally and I have enjoyed the journey of our training and the Dams Challenge itself which has cemented our friendship. Our experience of the She Rides Together course a year ago and completing the Dams Challenge has given us a terrific platform to take our cycling further. However, I’m not sure we’ll be signing up for the 3 Dams Challenge next year!


View from the top of St Pauls Cathedral

October 30, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

View from the top of St Pauls CathedralView from the top of St Pauls CathedralLooking south across the city towards the River Thames

 

I finally did a tour of St Pauls Cathedral when I visited London on a recent holiday. This is after I never toured St Pauls during my time living near London for many years!

This panorama is from the top of the cathedral to the south towards the River Thames.

 

Subscribe
RSS
Archive
January February March April May June July August September October (2) November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February (2) March April (1) May June (1) July August September (1) October (1) November December
January February March April May June (1) July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May (3) June July August September October November December
January February March April (1) May June July August September October (1) November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December (3)
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December

Zenfolio 10% discount code:

EPT-3N6-KUZ

Save 10% on a Zenfolio site