The Great Ocean Walk
Sure, you may have heard of Australia’s Great Ocean Drive (if you haven’t, please see my previous blog: http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com/2010/11/12/the-great-ocean-drive-photo-valhalla/), but have you heard of its Great Ocean Walk? Every so often I come up with a travel venue that I just love and want to share with my readers. This is one of them.
Various Aussie government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private landowners have created a fascinating, seven-day walk along the Pacific Ocean that meanders through scenery that defies description; along seaside cliffs, through cow pastures and verdant …

The Great Ocean Drive
There are just a handful of iconic scenic drives in this world. One, of course, is Highway 1 along California’s northern coast. Others include Ocean Drive in Acadia National Park, and the spectacular Road to Hana on the island of Maui. Add to that Australia’s Great Ocean Road, a jaw-dropping drive starting southwest of Melbourne and continuing west to Port Campbell and beyond.
As part of my current photo adventure (future photo travel workshop anyone?), I got to spend several days along Australia’s Great Ocean Road. It’s …

Sydney is an amazing city, as much for its vitality and friendly residents as it is for the scads of things to see, do and taste. In my last blog I described the character of the city. Today I’ll suggest some places to visit.
Sydney is a city of iconic locations, the most famous of which is undoubtedly the Sydney Opera House, an immense complex of theaters and exhibition halls nestled under what is arguably the most famous roof- actually series of roofs- in the world. No matter from what part …

The past three days have been wonderful, as we toured Sydney about as hard as any travel photojournalist could. My tendency is to try out-of-the-way venues to add value to my readers’ experience, and this visit was no exception. First, some impressions. Sydney is as high energy as Manhattan, and I don’t say that idly, since I am a native New Yawkah. Sydney is every bit as frenetic and cosmopolitan, but in a wholly different way. We’re here in late October (spring) and it is sunny and bright, …

Okay, so the Australia-Fiji-New Zealand trip and assignment is exactly 15 days off and I’m feeling rattled. A few items in the itinerary have been nailed down since my last blog post, but there’s a heckuva lot more to go.
So far I have the flights to and from Australia and New Zealand finalized, as well as one flight within Australia. Getting to Fiji has been set for months. I’ve got two car rentals arranged and a couple of nice lodging properties lined up and almost finalized, a good thing since …