david ellis WE occasionally make decisions that in their wisdom surprise even ourselves. One such was deciding earlier this year to stretch a day trip from Paris to Strasbourg to an overnight. A particularly long and enjoyable dinner with several bottles of French whites helped it along. And had we not, we would never have […]
NOT for feint-hearts – Skywalks’ overhang platform for those above the rest. david ellis HOW’s that old song go? On a Clear Day You Can See Forever… And on a clear day from one of Sydney’s most-visited attractions, you can see forever. Well, almost. And even if it’s not a totally clear day, reach out […]
david ellis HOW’s that old song go: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever… And on a clear day from one of Sydney’s most-visited attractions, you can see forever. Well, almost. And even if it’s not a totally clear day, reach out and touch the clouds… We’ve talking about Skywalk, an exhilarating 45-minute open-air […]
david ellis BACK in 1961 Elvis Presley rocked his way through a musical blockbuster that had him playing the role of a tour guide for a group of giggling American school girls and their teacher holidaying around Hawaii. It was called Blue Hawaii and was the story of ex-GI Chad Gates coming home to a […]
david ellis with john crook IT’S a bit like the mystery of the one sock in the washing machine. There are signs everywhere warning of the presence of bears. And how dangerous bears can be. The friendly staff at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge constantly repeat the warnings, and fellow guests tell us of their […]
david ellis THE Mt Lyell Mining Company had good reason for the motto it affixed to the front of the first locomotive it ran from Tasmania’s western port of Strahan to it’s copper mine thirty-five tortuous kilometres away in the wild coastal hinterland. It read “Labour Omnia Vincit,” Latin for “We Find A Way Or […]
david ellis I’VE been trying to talk my mate Ron into writing a book. Because Ron was an ambassador. Not any old ambassador, but a special ambassador. For a hotel. His job was to look after the VIP of VIPs, people like royalty and business tycoons, and film stars and entertainers and, yes, visiting ambassadors. […]
david ellis & john crook IT had all the makings of a Hollywood block-buster: a wild and stormy night, a shipwreck and the captain going down with his vessel, and just two survivors – a beautiful young girl and a handsome young man washed ashore to the sanctuary of a cave on one of the […]
david ellis I ASK my wife to pinch me, drawing one of those long-suffering looks that can be conjured up only by long-suffering wives. “It’s just to know that I’ve not died and gone to heaven,” I tell her. We’re gazing across from breakfast on the deck of our little cruise ship to a minute […]
david ellis IT’s best known for St.Stephan’s Cathedral, the Schönbrunn Castle, it’s Boys’ Choir, the Danube, and something about Tales in its Woods. But David Ellis discovers there’s another side to Vienna: it’s the only capital city in the world with a thriving commercial wine industry within its city limits. It takes less than 20 […]