About Briar
Briar Jensen is a Sydney-based freelance travel writer. Her blog covers travel tips, reviews, insights and inspiration, travel accessories and gadgets.
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Love this sculpture called Waitukei, by Lyonel Grant in the Government Gardens @rotoruanz depicting the melding of Maori and European cultures. The male and female figures took over two years to craft from bronze. @purenewzealand @escapesnaps #rotoruanzMud volcanoes, sulphur pools, boiling water, bubbling mud and spitting lakes @hellsgatenz in @rotoruanz has it all. It’s not surprising it is named #hellsgate and it’s important to stay on the path. However, you can experience the ‘health-giving’ mud and healing waters at their Mud Spa. #rotoruanz #geothermal #astw_inc @escapesnapsWhen you fly to White Island, New Zealand with @volcanicairnz for an extra $100 you can include a stop on Mt Tarawera too. This mountain was split open in the 1886 eruption, leaving gaping wounds in the harsh, dry mountain top. Barren and beautiful, it is pretty windy up there! @rotoruanz #rotoruanz #mttaraweraWhite Island, off shore from New Zealand’s North Island, is an active volcano (apparently there were 183 earthquakes recorded in a 24 hour period last week) that you can visit by air or sea. Today I flew out to #whiteislandnz from #rotoruanz with @volcanicairnz in a helicopter. We landed on the island and spent about an hour wandering around the stark sulphur encrusted landscape and steaming crater lake. What an incredible trip, and remarkable topography. #activevolcano @rotoruanz @purenewzealand @escapesnaps #astw_incZip lining guides have a knack of pushing your boundaries. Here I am before the gorgeous girls at @rotoruacanopytours had me plunging backwards off this platform to zip backwards through the forest! (I look way calmer than I felt.) What I love about this tour is the conservation aspect. Between zipping through the trees they teach you about the forest and the native birds, along with their pest eradication program. An exhilarating and educational few hours. @escapesnaps @rotoruanz @purenewzealandWhat is this? Looks a bit like a flying saucer from a Sci-fi movie. But it is one of many art installations st @treewalknz in #rotoruanz Nightlights light up the redwoods for a magical experience in the forest after dark. If you don’t like heights, it’s a good time to visit, as you can’t see how high the suspended walkways are above the ground! @rotoruanz @escapesnaps #treewalknz- My Tweets
Category Archives: National Parks
Postcard of the week – Glorious gum trees
Sometimes nature blows me away with its beauty. Like this magnificent gum tree, whose subtle colours were given a vibrant makeover by summer rain (actually a summer downpour that turned our walking track in a mini riverbed). Rain gives the … Continue reading
Posted in National Parks, Postcards, Sydney, Travel
Tagged gum trees, Ku-ring-gai Chase NP
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Do Sydney’s Great North Walk one leg at a time
Fancy tackling the Great North Walk from Sydney to Newcastle, but don’t have the time to do the full 260km in one thru-hike and/or a bit nervous of getting lost along the way? That’s exactly how I felt. Billed as Australia’s … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Events, Great North Walk, Hawkesbury, National Parks, New South Wales, Travel, Walking
Tagged Day hikes, day walks Sydney, Great North Walk, national parks
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Postcard of the week – furry cuteness
I just love wombats. There is something about their short, squat shape, their waddling walk and their super cute faces that make me smile whenever I see them. So I was thrilled to see so many in the wild on … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Australia, National Parks, Postcards, Tasmania, Travel
Tagged Maria Island, Maria Island National Park, wildlife, wombat
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Postcard of the week – Hawkesbury
I was eagerly anticipating the television mini-series of Kate Grenville’s bestselling novel The Secret River, a story of conflict between the First Australians and early European settlers, which recently aired on the ABC, both to see how the story played out … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Hawkesbury, National Parks, Postcards, Sydney, Travel
Tagged Australia, Cowan Water, Hawkesbury, Hawkesbury River, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, sydney
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Postcard of the week – Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
With Parks Week starting on Monday 9th March this week’s photo is from Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, just 25km from the centre of Sydney. Covering 15,000 hectares the park offers both bush and water-based activities as it surrounds Cowan Water … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, National Parks, Postcards, Travel
Tagged boating, family fun, hiking, kayaking, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, national parks, New South Wales, Refuge Bay
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Connect with nature during Parks Week 9-15 March
The piercing call of whip birds penetrating the bush, the scuttle of an echidna fossicking in the undergrowth, the damp smell of leaf litter and the subtle fragrance of wildflowers. Fossils exposed in the desert, Aboriginal rock art by the sea, crabs scampering among … Continue reading
