NomadGirl Travels

In 2009 I decided it was time to return to England. I had not been there in ten years and it was time to go back and see what lay beyond London. That said, I did want to spend a few days in London and that is why I decided to research filming locations for the Harry Potter movies and create my own Harry Potter tour. At the time, filming was taking place at Leavesden Studios, just outside of London, for the final Harry Potter film. I could have gone and stood outside the fence, but that seemed like a waste of time to me. Now, since March 2012, tours of Leavesden Studios are available to the public. I hope to return one day and do a tour.   http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ After spending four days in London doing and seeing everything I missed the first time, I started the Harry Potter portion of my trip. First stop - Gloucester Cathedral. Scenes from the first film and more recently Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince were filmed at the cathedral. I had booked a tour bef

"Not all those who wander are lost." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien I tend to get lost when I travel. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. One place where it is very easy to get lost by accident is Bath, England. In North America, our towns and cities are designed on a square grid that is easy to follow. Bath is another matter entirely. The roads follow no set design, they twist and turn and to add to the confusion, there are traffic circles! One famous traffic circle in Bath is the Circus. Just beyond the Circus is the Royal Palace on the Royal Crescent.  On a map, these roads look like a question mark. After that though, the roads flow off in various directions and it is very confusing. I had to find landmarks to have a vague idea of where I was and how to get back to my hostel! Royal Palace The Roman Bath Houses are a good landmark for reference. These are located in the centre of the main tourist area of Bath and they have the famous Thermae Bath Spa located abov

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien Wellington, New Zealand is where Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor live and work.  Richard Taylor owns and runs Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. I took a Lord of the Rings tour of Wellington and the surrounding area. It was a very good tour, both for the fan in me, but also of the city itself and the area around Wellington. We started where the movies were first filmed - at Mount Victoria. This is a large hill (not a mountain by my standards) that has forests and lots of pathways. This is a public area, which caused a few problems while the movies were filming. We went to the spot where the hobbits fall off the cliff onto the path after being chased by the farmer through the Shire. This is where the "Get off the path!" scene and the woods befor

Coral in the Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is so amazing, I snorkeled it twice! The first time I went to the Southern Great Barrier Reef, out of Airlie Beach. It was really neat to see the coral. I was a bit scared, though, because the waves were really strong out in the ocean like that. The second time I went, it was out of Cairns. This was better. The water is clearer in the Northern Great Barrier Reef. My tour took us to two different places. The first was Michaelmas Cay ( http://www.cairnsattractions.com.au/michaelmas-cay.php ). This was really cool. It is another world under the sea. Very peaceful. It is really neat to see all the fish. I saw lots of different types of colourful fish, and the coral is so pretty! Michaelmas Cay is a bird sanctuary, so when I put my head above water, it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". It was very noisy above water! The second place the tour took us to was again, out in the middle