Reflections

Meerkats

I could watch this lot for hours, you get the distinct feeling that they view us as the captives just there for their amusment, that all their posing is a joke on us. Of course that had to be a Meerkats.com

Peacock

Noisy, over dressed and easily upset.....know any people like that ?

Looking at me?

There is a big debate about whether zoos should exist or not, I think there are good arguments on both sides, but either way this guy in undeniably cute.

Opera House

Lit blue for Police week, the famous Opera house.

A sister

This is one of the Three Sisters, in the Blue Mountains, near Katoomba. Tourists flock here to look out at the valley, "hanging" over the edge as you can see on Neverhappen blog. The plan was to just walk to the rock, but about a thousand steep steps down the rocks later we reached near the valley floor. A few kilometres walk through the forest leads to the Scenic World railway, the steepest in the world....so steep that you almost lie in the seats rather than sit. The Prince Henry Cliff Walk back has some great views across the valle. All three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' are below.

Jamison valley

Jamison valley in the Blue Mountains, after the mist has cleared. It is vast, it is beautiful.

Misty morning

After a small shower overnight the morning warmth sucks up the mosture in the trees of Jamison valley. The diagonal line is a cable car cable. It doesn't look like it here but Australia is in the grip of a 5 year drought. Global warming a future problem ?

For all those who love clouds you are not alone, join the Cloud Appreciation Society :-)

Hornby lighthouse

A lighthouse for Laurie. Hornby lighthouse at South Head by Watsons Bay. The wind speed was about 70mph the day we were these so suspect it is very much appreciated.

Bridge view

A glimpse through the railings of Sydney harbour bridge.

Bridge walk

I don't think they want anyone to jump, but if you were that desperate would barbed wire stop you ? You can walk over the top of the bridge if you are willing to pay, but you are not allowed to take your own camera so might as well take the footpath.

Webcams are great for a view of the world and this view is no slouch ..... bet the sun is shining too.

Taxi

Cab anyone ? Thought this was cool, bit like Bruce Willis's taxi in Fifth Element.

Cockatoo

Funny how one person's exotic pet is another person's local wildlife. This cockatoo was just sitting on a telegraph pole wire, ignoring people walking by on the path below.

I was going to crop the picture to the wires but that would have made the bird off centre so left it as taken, Ana is asking on her blog how others would have framed or focused the same subject so to crop or not to crop ?

Bondi art

Bondi Beach, one of the worlds most famous beaches, after hearing so much about it, it just seemed like a lot of other beaches, perhaps you have to be in your teens to get impressed. Having said that the sand and surf is pretty good.

On the wall that runs along the beach there is some great graffiti art, a lot of which commemorates the Australian victims of the 2002 Bali bombings. Some of the other art offers some useful advice for the many backpackers.

Rock

This rock reminded me of Roger Dean paintings. It really was this colour, a geologists delight.

Plant

No idea what it is but there was a tree full of these, about 6 to 9 inches long.

Harbour Bridge

One of the world's most famous bridges. A magnificent piece of engineering.

Central at night

To save crossing roads there are many walkways above the road in Hong Kong Central district. The light cross on the left is part of the lighting on the Bank of China building, every night the buildings put on a light show to music.

Hong Kong was just a stopover, to somewhere a lot bigger and a lot less populated.

Number 6

Two ICF, the sixth tallest skyscraper in the World. Hong Kong boasts 4 of the World's top 15 tallest skyscrapers.

Ngong Ping 360

Global wrming is in the news today, if our public transport was as cheap as it is in Hong Kong perhaps we would all use it more. We met a couple who lived on Lantau island, they had no car, they cycled around the island and commuted to work on the ferry. Quicker, cleaner and cheaper than travelling by car.

The Tai O bus leads back to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping, here you can catch a fantastic 30 minute cable car ride to Tung Chung where the railway links back to the rest of Hong Kong.

To the left of this picture is the new airport, which has the worlds largest terminal building (4 times London Heathrow and Ney York JFK put together apparently), it has won the award for best airport, it is so spacious it deserves it.

To the right of the picture is Tung Chung, which boasts an outlet mall, a favourite place for my daughter to visit :-)

Tai O lady

The people on Lantau work tirelessly in hot and humid conditions to keep the places clean. Tai O has quite a history (see wikipedia) . The weather here was around 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) and up to 90% humidity. A few of the metal houses had air conditioning but not many, although these houses did not seem typical of Lantau island. It is a popular place for tourists to visit but I don't think the locals make much money out of their visitors.

Stilt houses

Along the river in Tai O are stilt houses, while people are living in small metal buildings the public playgrounds and amenities are generally new and clean. This is the view on the other side of the bridge from yesterday's post. The smell of dried fish is strong here, the streets are lined with shops selling them.

Tai O

A world away from the sjyscrapers of Hong Kong Central is Tai O, somewhere that seems to have a more authentic feel than the Westernisd districts. Not sure I would eat anything out of that river though.

Drying fish

The smell of these fish drying in the sun will be with me always, have to admit I never tasted any.

Big Buddha

At Ngong Ping on Lantau island is the Big Buddha, 34 metres high, the worlds tallest sitting bronze Buddha. You can experience the 268 step climb without the heat and humidity at the Buddhism Depot. Is Buddhism the most peaceful of the major religions ?

Old and new

A symbol of old Hong Kong in front of the new buildings, taken from The Peak. The Peak Tram has been running since 1888 and never had an accident, at the top station is a new shopping mall, Hong Kong must be the shopping capital of the world.

Life in the Park

Walking through Hong Kong Park we came across a group of photographers with telephoto lenses crowded around a pond, this was their subject..unfortunately I only had a 200mm lens so could get no closer. Never did work out if they were on a photo lesson or just a bunch of individuals that knew these insects would be at this location at this time.

Architectural art

There are probably good functional reasons for designing these buildings like this but perhaps it is more art than function.....Terminator ? ... Robot legs ?.... ??

Roof

You can walk a long way in Hong Kong without coming out on to the street, hundreds or thousands of shops lining walkways, it has the longest covered outdoor escalator system in the world. Outside, looking down you would never guess.

Star ferry

Had the opportunity to visit our daughter and her boyfriend in Hong Kong where they are teaching English. Just had to take a trip on the Star Ferry where for 2.2 HKD (15p, 25 cents) you can step back in time and sail across from Central to Kowloon .

Saunton Sands

A typical English Sunday morning in October, grey skies, low cloud , dull and dreary, best thing to do is to stay in bed .... or get some sea air. The sun comes out and the day is transformed. I once worked with a guy from New Jersey, he told me that all the beaches in England where covered in rocks, he should have gone to Saunton Sands.

Pigeon

Flying off...see you soon

Palio flag

Flags out for the Palio horse race.

Alley

Torpedo

Crikey it's Kharki Friday

Australians wear Irwin's khaki

Piazza Del Campo

Get there early, beat the tourists.

Torre Del Mangia

Zigzag

Sienna

Lugano

Lugano from Monte San Salvatore, a beautiful town in Switzerland. Lucky Fabrizio of Photo-effe works there.

Monte San Salvatore

The previous post was the Casino at Cassin on Lago Di Lugano, taken from Monte San Salvatore, 912m high on the edge of Lugano. Have to admit that caught the two trains to the top, just did not have time to walk it :-)

Casino

Cars

Windows

Anne Frank