Dominic & Maria's Round-the-World Trip

The Story...

• Maria's version...
• Dominic's version, part 1
• Dominic's version, part 2

The Photos

The Departure (photos courtesy Ed & Angela)

• Bright eyed and bushy tailed... and so naive...
• Unloading the bags at the airport...
• Bottle of champagne in hand, and ready to go...
• A short movie of unloading the bags

Ireland

• The view from Bray Head back over the countryside
• Maria at the helm.
• Who's the guy that looks like a CIA man?
• Hanging out the side of a Dublin bound train.
• Looking up at Devil's Slide...
• ... and of course looking down from on top.
• Cycling Trip in County Clare
  • A busy city street scene in Ennis.
  • Part of the parade we caught on the first day.
  • A panorama of the Irish countryside.
  • The Cliffs of Moher (note how small the people are on top of the cliff!)
  • Dominic hanging on for dear life...
  • Maria flush with exercise
  • The bulk of our group
  • The bulk of our group again.
  • The Burren landscape
  • An impressive neolithic monument
  • A wild goat watching over his flock
  • The aforementioned "flock"

Scotland

• A view of the island of Islay.
• The sunset from the west coast of Islay, Scotland
• The distinctive Bowmore logo on one of the stills.
• A bigger shot of the Bowmore stills.
• The "spirit locker" where the distilled spirits get filtered one more time
• More coming...

Italy

• A view of the Dolomites from Passo Pordoi
• Ahhh, the colors of Venice on a sunny afternoon
• Typical Venice "street" scene...
• More coming...

Nepal

• Dominic on a rik-shaw
• The Swayambutha Temple (aka Monkey Temple) near Kathmandu
• The "airport" at the start of our trek in Juphal, Nepal.
• The camp kitchen preparing lunch
• Typical scene near a temple in Kathmandu
• The town of Dho Tarap and the Gompa (monastery) above it
• A stupa (Buddhist monument) in Dho Tarap
• Maria with some kids that whipped her butt at parchesei
• Proof that we made it over 5000 meters!
• The entrance to an ice cave below Norbu Kang
• The ice inside the cave
• The View from Numa La (5150 meters) -- that's Dhalaguri (8100m)
• The view from Baga La (5080 meters)
• The mighty Norbu Kang (6005m). A great place for a sunday afternoon walk
• Phoksundo Lake (it's actually much bluer & turquoise than this photo shows)
• Typical street chaos in Nepalgunj, Nepal
• A Gharial Crocodile in Bardia National Park, Nepal
• A leopard (note this isn't in a zoo!)
• Maria & pachyderm
• Everest from the air new
• Another shot of the big boy... new
• A shot of the Solo-Khumbu region from the air new
• Kathmandu market scene new
• Spices & chilis for sale in the maret new
• More market spices new
• An offering in front of a rich turquoise colored door new
• Languar monkey in Bardia National Park new
• A wild boar and piglets in Bardia new

Thailand

• On the street in Bangkok's China-town
• dbg posing with Colonel Sanders
• An 11 foot high solid gold Buddha!
• The business end of a Thai long boat
• Doorway framed shot of part of the Temple of the Dawn
• Temple of the Dawn: can you say ornate?
• A temple warrior
• A bowl of tropical fruits we bought (dragon fruit, mangosteens, etc)
• The beach in front of our resort near Krabi
• Some limestone karst islands in the Andaman Sea
• A closeup of one of the islands
• Another shot of the lumpy little islands
• Sunset over the Andaman Sea (that's the Phuket peninsula across the water)
• Not quite sunset over the Andaman Sea
• Strangely symmetric sand crab patterns

Bali

• Check out this bus windshield!
• Another crazy bus windshield
• Chicken curry before the curry
• The scene at a cock fight
• Gentlemen, please start your cocks!
• Chickens duking it out
• What happens to the loser.
• Time for the death match cage!
• Dominic in full Balinese temple regalia
• Offerings at a temple ceremony
• Some young girls at a temple ceremony
• Close up of the girls' offerings
• Temple priest praying (note the coke bottle)
• A "chicken" scooter
• Gamelan chime worker
• A carving done by Gantas
• Some lizards, ahem, doing it (not suitable for children)
• Offerings at Mcdonald's?!?
• dbg and Ronald Mcdonald

Australia

• Koalas in a tree (at a koala preserve near Brisbane)
• Maria holding a koala
• My shot of Maria holding a koala
• movie of Maria holding a koala
• Maria feeding the kangaroos
• A tasmanian devil charging!
• Kangaroos are not small (not recommended for children)
• A frilled lizard
• Loggerhead turtle digging her nest
• Aforementioned loggerhead turtle pooting out some eggs
• Sunrise, Grasstree Beach
• The jungle in Eungella (pronounced "young-eh-la")
• Colorful birds in Airlie Beach
• Sunset on the Great Barrier Reef
• It's Captain Underpants!
• The view from the crow's nest
• Divemaster Jai jumping from the crow's nest!
• A monitor lizard on Whitehaven island
• Silhouette of our boat, the Romance, at sunset
• The view from on top of Whitehaven island
• Whitehaven beach... it must be paradise
• Underwater photos taken while diving/snorkeling:
  • Two butterfly fish
  • The ever popular clown fish
  • Clown fish, take 2
  • Nice coral and butterfly fish
  • A colorful giant clam
  • Purple coral
  • A rather large sea cucumber and colorful coral
  • A white tip reef shark!
  • Staghorn coral
  • A funky colored & striped fish
  • Close up of a sea turtle.
• A nuclear sunset near Cardwell
• Same sunset, different shot
• A panorama of Hinchinbrook Island
• A strange orange bug I found on Hinchinbrook Island
• A nice waterfall on Hinchinbrook
• Maria doing her best mermaid impersonation
• The end of the trail in Hinchinbrook
• Another sunset (or is it sunrise)...
• A lonely fishing boat at sunset
• Maria's damaged shin..
• Maria preparing to go on deck and looking lovely...
• Yeah yeah, it's the Sydney Opera House
• The Blue Mountains (before they caught on fire)
• A house in Manly Beach in the late afternoon sun
• The scene at Manly Beach
• dbg posing with a plastic cow

New Zealand

• It's amazing what you can do with corrugated steel
• Boiling mud pot in full glory
• An explanation of the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal activity
• A geyser at Wai-O-Tapu (it would get about 3x this height)
• Sickly yellow pool of sulphurous water
• A scary big pool of greenish water...
• dbg trying to look like a scary native
• A panorama of the Hawkes Bay region
• The land & sky of Hawkes Bay
• A bizarre monochromatic sunset near Gisborne
• A Maori mask carving
• The view from up above Goats Pass
• Heading up to Lake Mavis (note Maria in the lower right of the photo)
• Looking down on Lake Mavis
• Where we crossed above Lake Mavis into Edwards Valley
• The view down into Edwards Valley (we had this entirely to ourselves)
• The West Coast of New Zealand (or is it Big Sur?)
• Pancake Rocks!
• Crazy one-lane-and-train bridge
• Sunset in Hokitika
• Sunset in Hokitika (take 2)
• Sunset in the town of Fox Glacier
• A panorama of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman
• On the helicopter ride up to Fox Glacier.
• Close up of Fox Glacier
• Dominic in an ice cave on Fox Glacier
• Ahhh, springtime (not suitable for children)
• The ever lovely Mt. Aspiring
• The Rob Roy Glacier and a 1,000 foot waterfall
• Global warming in progress: Rob Roy glacier calving off a chunk
• A sunrise in Te Anau
• A bright mushroom (of unknown toxicity)
• Mitre Peak rising 5,000+ feet straight out of Milford Sound

The Cook Islands

• Some boys fishing from a pier in Avarua harbor (Rarotonga)
• Dominic fetching a fresh coconut (Muri Beach)
• Some tasty focaccia we baked
• A pleasant church on Rarotonga
• Flying over the South Pacific
• The Aitutaki "airport"
• The bungalows at Are Tamanu on Aitutaki
• The pool and lagoon at Are Tamanu
• Fading sunlight, two shadows and swaying palms...
• Killer Aitutaki sunset, take 1
• Killer Aitutaki sunset, take 2
• Killer Aitutaki sunset, take 3
• Killer Aitutaki sunset, take 4
• Killer Aitutaki sunset, take 5
• Maria basking in paradise
• dbg trying to be a native...
• Sunrise panorama on Aitutaki

The End.

The luggage we got home with... (the brown bag fits in the red one)

These photos and stories are copyright Dominic Giampaolo and Maria Hutchins, January 2002. Use without our permission is prohibited.