2013 - A SINGLE ORBIT

So the Earth has completed another graceful orbit of the Sun, something like 940 million kilometres at 30 or so a second. Goodness knows how many it's done in its time, or how many more it's got in it. A fair few, I'd say, Around and around, bathing the poles in long stretches of daylight and darkness, and painting the rest of this earthly canvas in seasonal colour and rubbing it out with ferocious moments of weather. I don't know how many sunrises or sets you saw this year. I saw a few. The tick-tock of the biggest timepiece in the solar system….sigh.

As the planet spun its way around, plenty of us zipped about a bit too. I followed the journeys of friends, family, colleagues here and there…daily reminders of the incredible opportunities and experiences available to anyone with the means to take advantage of them. With a passport, ticket and 24 hours you can get yourself just about anywhere. A golden age, indeed.

The travels of my year took in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Port Douglas, Smiths Lake, Bali, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai (twice) and Singapore. Not a bad set of passport stamps at all. Happy with that.


The 2014 crystal ball is still a bit cloudy. A few things are coming into view. There's talk of a white Christmas in the Japan - appropriately the Land of the Rising Sun. Wheels are turning. I'll keep you posted as pieces fall into place. I'd love to hear from anyone who's done it.

But for now, rather than look forward, let's take a quick look back at some of the things that caught my eye on this most recent journey around the solar system.

Happy New Year!