As the 2016 Travel Highlights Competition draws to a close, it is a great pleasure to welcome back Elizabeth Moore with two brand new highlights. You may remember her earlier entry Apricot Sunshine, which is #7 on the Travel Highlights page.
I hope you enjoy Elizabeth's latest entries as much as I have.
I hope you enjoy Elizabeth's latest entries as much as I have.
Niagara
As we near the falls, the air is heavy with spray. I expect a salty taste but it is fresh. My face is sodden, my plastic attire barely able to withstand the watery assault, but I am oblivious. These are the Horseshoe Falls and they are mesmerising. Instantly I understand the foolhardy barrel riding and fateful canoe attempts. This watery Everest demands to be conquered, but success is denied to most comers. When the full thrust of our motors attains equilibrium with the oncoming torrent, we pause in silent salute to this moment and then turn back to the pier.
Notes from a Small Island
I love Guam. I love the torrential warm rains that leave the earth steaming and impromptu waterfalls careening down cliffs. I love the diving in Apra Harbor where war machinery and wrecks skulk amid colourful sealife and coral. I love red rice and local fish steamed in coconut milk. I love the palms and breadfruit trees growing in profusion. I love the colourful painted statues of the carabao – the island’s huge water buffalo -scattered across the landscape. I even love the smell of jungle decay and leaf litter on the forest floor.
Elizabeth Moore
Elizabeth has lived in Australia all her life. She is happily married, a mother of two, grandmother of four and devoted assistant to one very bossy tortoiseshell cat named Lucy. Her working career began as a speech pathologist and later morphed into the totally unrelated field of retail manager in a university science centre and planetarium.
Travel has always been a focus and yes – there has always been a bucket list. This was brought into stark relief when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and following treatment, a travel timetable began to take shape. Guam was first, followed quickly by European and North American adventures. Illness nudged another long-held interest to the fore and Elizabeth began chronicling her trips with extensive photography, promising herself she would also write about her exploits.
