For something completely different this year my sister Amy and I decided to embark on a little mini-adventure in December. The plan? A photographic, wine drinking, port tasting, many stopping, camping adventure. The trip? Nature’s Valley to Calitzdorp, Montagu, McGregor, De Hoop Nature Reserve and back to Nature’s Valley for New Year’s Eve. The result?…
Food I’ve eaten while travelling around
Food fascinates me and I always seem to be hungry enough to try everything I can while I travel. In fact one of my most favourite things to do is to go to a restaurant (roadside or five-star) and enjoy a meal. It is my one standard birthday requirement in fact. I also have a…
Is South Africa a voluntourism hotspot?
Can South Africa become to the new favourite volunteer travel destination? Check out my Matador blog… http://matadornetwork.com/community/colblaine
So, where are you from?
“So where are you from?” The question I always found so difficult to answer. The shortest answer I have rolls like a mini travel epilogue. Born in the heat of the Northern Cape, a childhood in the dust of Botswana, insolent puberty in a slushy Toronto, adolescent improvement in Zimbabwe’s perfect…
A memory in the sand
Inspiration, I need inspiration. I have been sitting at my desk for almost four hours without a break and the drumming of the rain on the roof is still louder than the drumming of my fingers. My story will not come to me. I stare out the window for the umpteenth time today and mutter…
Five publications that will publish my work soon
In the name of being positive and looking into the future here is a list of the five publications (print and digital) I would most like to see my byline appear in: Getaway Magazine/www.getaway.co.za This is a local glossy travel magazine in South Africa with an excellent reputation and an easy reading format. Their…
Useful tips for solo travelers
There are both pros and cons to travelling alone as I found out on a recent 3 month freedom searching mission. I was finished with claustrophobic air-conditioned offices, cramped shopping malls and the usual over committed lifestyle we tend to get caught up in. So without having anyone I could travel with, I packed up…
A swim of note
I love water. I love the sound of water, the way it looks, the way it tastes and mostly the way it feels when you dive in on a hot summer’s day. This time last year I was spending most of my day in and out of the aquamarine and sapphire waters the Indian Ocean…
A green glowing sea
To quote a cliché but true saying: “Life is not measured by the breaths you take but by the moments which take your breath away.” Living where I live I am one of the few blessed people that struggles to breathe because so much of my breath is constantly snatched away as I go about…
A poem written for two beautiful souls
For Ryan and Kirsty on your wedding day I wrote this but thought we should remember it a year later Take this day as a day that will last forever Watch the ocean breathe as it lifts your hearts across the moving sand Open your arms and embrace the wind for it brings a new…