The suburb of Newtown in Wellington has gone through an unbelievable transformation over the last 10+ years. It was once a working class suburb with not a lot going for. It had a bad reputation as a run-down, derelict and dangerous …
Category: Bars
Donny’s, Dumplings, Dad & Dave’s – an alliterative combo
Back in the early days of Back of the Ferry, we wrote about a cool new bar in Manly. Almost four years later, as a symbol of Manly’s growth as a bar district, we are now writing about another new …
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Halong Bay and The Windmill
I was uncertain of what to expect in Halong Bay, Vietnam. On one hand, it is a de riguer destination for every tourist to Vietnam, so likely to be crowded and overdone. But on the other, the scenery is so …
A botf check in from Halong Bay, Vietnam
Always on the lookout for a ferry or similar watercraft to have a beer on the back of, your correspondent finds himself on a rather splendid vessel in possibly one of the most stunning locations on the planet. The vessel …
Bac Ha Markets and the Vietnamese beer story so far
Your correspondent may have mentioned in a previous missive his aversion to markets. There is an exception to this rule. The absolute highlight of my previous overseas travels has been weekend markets in far flung frontier areas in southern China …
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On the Back of a Cruiser
This correspondent is very fortunate to be spending his weekend on a cruise to nowhere. The Voyager of the Seas was, at the time of its launch, the largest cruise ship in the world. This floating behemoth is 137,000 tons …
Life on Vietnamese streets and Goldmalt Brauhaus
The activity on the streets of Vietnam’s cities is mind boggling. And this is not taking into account the interminable hoardes of motors scooters. It seems every door front and street corner is a business of some form. Many are …
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Bia Hoi – the Hanoi love affair continues
Your Vietnam correspondent’s post today combines both a Hanoi experience and the key botf focus – beer. There are many locally brewed beers available, Bia Hanoi, Beer Saigon, Viet Ha, for example. All are owned by large, mostly overseas conglomerates. …
Old Hanoi and Legend Beer
For this post your correspondent is going to put away his inner curmudgeon (to the disappointment of some I’m sure) and try and wax lyrical about old Hanoi. I have now decamped from Saigon to Hanoi and the cities could …
A Gympie pub crawl
Gympie is the nearest town of any substance to Rainbow Beach. New Years Day 2014 saw this correspondent looking to give his kids an air-conditioned distraction from the coastal heat. As appealing as Anchorman 2 was, an all to rare …
back of the ferry 