Euro Trip: Part Two – Heidelberg and Mannheim

October 26, 2013 by Brad

I spent my first weekend in Germany in the area around Heidelberg and Mannheim.

After spending the day walking around Frankfurt with random friends, I caught the train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg. After checking into my hotel, I went for a walk around the city while waiting for my friends to arrive from Munich.

The town of Heidelberg is incredibly pedestrian friendly. The core area is one long narrow street that runs from the centre of town through to the base of the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle. Once my friends arrived, we had dinner at a local pub.

Euro Trip: Part One – 24 hours in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main

October 25, 2013 by Brad

In September I went to Europe primarily to present some of my doctoral research at a conference in Germany. The next few blog posts are compiled from notes I wrote while away and will feature highlights of the trip.

Rangitoto

February 11, 2013 by Brad

I spent today climbing up Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

This is the first time I have been on Rangitoto in almost 15 years – I last went up as kid.

The island is a great day out and depite our slow walking pace we explored the summit, lava caves, and ferns and still had an hour left to wait for the return ferry.

North American Adventure: Part Five – Montreal

September 30, 2012 by Brad

The train goes through that very narrow gap in the rock

The final city visited in my North American adventure was Montreal, Quebec, Canada. And this part of the adventure turned out to be most unexpectedly different from everywhere else.

North American Adventure: Part Four – Baltimore and Washington D.C.

September 29, 2012 by Brad

After spending three days in New York with two other colleagues we parted ways and I caught the Amtrak from Penn Station to Baltimore. The train ride down was a highlight of the trip. On the three hour journey we passed through five states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. I was a little disappointed to not get off the train in Philadelphia as in early planning for the trip I was going to spend a few days there but as it turned out I saw more than enough other places in my adventures.

North America Adventure: Part Three – New York City

September 2, 2012 by Brad

After AAAI finished two friends and I travelled from Toronto for a few days visiting New York City.

We flew into La Guardia at midday on Saturday and caught the bus from the airport to Manhattan. Our first bit of fun came when, in a little bit of traveller confusion, we failed to get off the bus at the right spot to change to the subway. So before we know it we are a little bit lost in the middle of Harlem.

North America Adventure: Part Two – Niagara Falls

August 5, 2012 by Brad

I spent the last day in Toronto visiting Niagara Falls which is about two hours south-west of the city.

After some debate about how to get there we settled on catching the train – which is what I wanted as I love trains.

The train from Toronto was very impressive. Double deck, nice seats, and power outlets for every seat. After about an hour we had to change to a bus to complete the journey – which again was double deck and very impressive for public transport.

North America Adventure: Part One – AAAI-12 in Toronto

August 3, 2012 by Brad

Last week I was in Toronto, Canada attending the 26th Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference. Toronto was a great experience and is a rather interesting city.

I flew out of Sydney on Air Canada direct to Toronto with a very small layover in Vancouver. This is my first trip outside of Australia/New Zealand and I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect. It turns out a 13.5 hour flight, 1 hour layover, 4.5 hour flight is a very long time.

Adventures in Tāmaki Makaurau and the Waitakere Ranges

February 25, 2012 by Brad

I have recently returned from a visit to Auckland. While I was there I went on a few planned – and a few unplanned – adventures. The photos below are from tramping at Fairy Falls in the Waitakere Ranges, visiting Piha Beach, tramping above Mercer Bay also in the Waitakeres, visiting Karekare Beach, walking around One Tree Hill, visiting friends in Albany, and going to Western Springs Speedway.

Perth to Geraldton Roadtrip

December 16, 2011 by Brad

While we were in Perth we spent two days travelling on a quick two day road trip up the coast to Geraldton.

On the trip up we stuck to the coast and drove up Indian Ocean Drive, and we returned via Highway 1.

As the photos below show we stopped at many cool and random places and had a great time.