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hong kong by night

As darkness falls this is how the skyline of Hong Kong looks, as seen from Kowloon. As you can see the buildings are illuminated with coloured lights and most evenings an amazing laser light show takes place.

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spider

This little beauty was staying in the same accommodation as us in the rainforest. Luckily for us it had already found it's meal for the day!

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a rock wallaby

At dusk every evening rock wallabies would come down from the rocky slopes (part of the MacDonnell Ranges), in search of food. We didn't, but you could buy food for them, and they were quite happy to be handfed!

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downtown Singapore

Most of the skyscrapers in Singapore can be found in the Central Business District. The maximum height that buildings may have in Singapore is 280 metres (919 feet), due to air traffic regulations.

Singapore has expanded by 20% of it's original size due to land reclaimation. More reclaimed land is to be built on, for many more new skyscrapers of all sizes, in front of the Central Business District area.

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a mcdonalds cappucchino

I loved the attention to detail with the cocoa dusted 'm' on the froth, so much so I took a photo. In Hong Kong they had McDonald's cafes, something we don't have in the area where we live in England.

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uluru ...

"This is Aboriginal land and you are welcome.
Look around and learn, in order to understand Aboriginal people and also understand that Aboriginal culture is strong and alive."
Nellie Patterson - traditional owner

See the path that leads up the rock, well this is the path you can take to the summit of Uluru more familiarly known as Ayres Rock. No one was climbing on the day we visited, probably a good thing, as they would have been climbing in 40 degree dry heat, only mad dogs, Englishmen and Aborigines would have taken it on!

Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area. The climb closes when weather conditions are predicted to exceed certain safety thresholds (temperature, rain, cloud, wind), during emergency situations, and occasionally for cultural reasons. The Uluru climb is the traditional route taken by ancestral Mala men upon their arrival to Uluru. Anangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance. Anangu have not closed the climb. They prefer that you, out of education and understanding, choose to respect their law and culture by not climbing. Remember that you are a guest on Anangu land.

Along this path you can see landmarks were climbers have fallen and died. Anangu traditionally have a duty to safeguard visitors to their land and feel great sadness when a person dies or is hurt.

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I should be so lucky

To see a Southern Cassowary, no not this one, although he/she is lovely, pictured here in Bird World in Kuranda, but seeing one in its natural territory up in the rainforest on the road to Daintree from Cape Tribulation. We had been out on a 4x4 tour through an area of the rainforest, and the guide had told us that we would be quite lucky to spot one of these birds, well it turned out he spotted one legging it through the forest, but we were too slow to respond, nothing unusual there!

Anyway, as luck would have it, on the last day on the bus back to Port Douglas, one ran across the road in front of us. Fortunately the driver had already seen it at the side and had already slowed down to let it cross! Luck must have been on his/her side that day too!



As you drive up into Cape Tribulation, there is a fantastic 'doctored' road sign warning of speed bumps ahead to slow you down to protect the cassowaries that live in the area. How funny is this?

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bondi beach

For getting around Sydney, we used the monorail system most of the time, as there were two stops close to where we were staying in Darling Harbour, making it really easy to reach everything happening around town. There is also a central station which can take you further afield if you want to. For Bondi beach we decided to catch a bus, the bus station being down by Circular Quays, it seemed to take quite a while getting there, but we had to see what this most famous stretch of sand was all about.

It was a sweltering hot day, so when we arrived we grabbed a couple of very expensive bottles of water, we then walked along the promenade for a while until we reached the section netted off for swimmers, a huge expanse of beach, but the rest being solely for surfers. J had a quick swim while I baked on the sand, and then we walked back along to a grass area, where we seeked shelter from the sun for a while, underneath some bushes!

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why won't my boomerang come back

The two chaps above did try to teach us how to throw a boomerang. Well, I had two pathetic attempts and I must admit to J doing a lot better than me, although it was made much more difficult knowing you had an audience watching behind you!

Click here to learn more about this indigenous community of Kuranda in the Australian highlands of the Atherton Tablelands.

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macaws

I have always loved macaws, maybe because when I was a kid we had a scarlet one called Mac, up until I was about seven years old. He died on April Fools Day in 1971. Funny how some dates stick in your mind isn't it!

This lovely pair were flying around Birdworld in Kuranda, a village near Cairns.