Photo Friday: Vigelandsparken

Oslo, Norway; July 2006 Vigelandsparken, in Frogner Park in Oslo, is a park filled with fantastical sculptures such as this fountain. I had fun playing photographer and messing around with depth of field and shutter speed, to change the focus and appearance of the water spray. This is my submission for the week to Photo [...]

Photo Friday: Polar bears and penguins

Bicheno, Tasmania; February 2007 In Bicheno on the east coast of Tasmania, you might run into fairy penguins – also known as little penguins. When I was there on a family holiday in 2007, we watched them huddling on a little rocky island about 15 metres off shore. Longyearbyen, Svalbard; August 2006 Up in the [...]

Photo Friday: Perpetual twilight in the High Arctic

Svalbard, Arctic; August 2006 In 2006, for my 30th birthday, I took myself on a holiday to the Arctic. I wanted to see polar bears in their natural habitat while I still could. I did that and a lot more besides. I took an 11-day boat trip around the Svalbard archipelago in the High Arctic [...]

Arctic voyage for Australian Women’s Health

The November issue of Australian Women’s Health is out, with my article on kayaking in the Arctic in the travel section. The idea was to write a blog-style piece with plenty of humour focusing on the wildlife. The photographs (with the exception of the one that I’m in) are mine as well.

What’s hot for 2008?

The New York Times has published a list of 53 hot destinations for 2008. I have been to the following places on the list: Laos, Tunisia, Prague, Tuscany, Oslo, Lombok, San Francisco, Detroit, Kilimanjaro, London, Las Vegas, New York. There is only one Australian destination on the list – the Barossa Valley – and I [...]

Spitsbergen, Arctic

How to get there Scandinavian Airlines has flights to Longyearbyen from Oslo and Tromso several days a week. Flights can be booked at www.sas.no or www.braathens.no, with possible connections from other European cities. There is also a boat departing Tromsø once a week in summer, with a journey time of two or three days. Where [...]

Holiday on ice

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons The Arctic tern is the only bird that breeds in the Arctic and then migrates to Antarctica for the northern winter, flying roughly 35,000 kilometres per year. The journey begins in the tundra and rocky landscapes of the frozen north, the hunting ground of the mighty polar bear, and ends in the [...]

Kayaking in the Arctic

By Caitlin Fitzsimmons The ice cliffs gleamed platinum blue and towered above us as high as a 50-storey skyscraper. We floated in our kayaks, cold even in our drysuits but enthralled. Every few minutes, the glacier calved, sending newborn icebergs out into the fjord. A loud crack and a deep rumble, then a huge sheet [...]