Come fly with me

Tough tides: the sea reclaims its own at Byron Bay

2011-10-12T15:51:00.000+11:00

Low tide at Cronulla (a Sydney suburb) ocean pool

Ocean tides: they do exactly as they please and we can only watch.

Sometimes ocean tides appear to do our bidding. Here is my photo of a tide keeping itself nice, being at a low ebb with waves lapping a respectful distance from the shore.

The photo below shows the same pool but the tide is in and waves are making a frenzied takeover bid.

But - mostly - waves lose momentum at the next low tide, and peace is declared.

High tide at same pool while it gets a thorough rinsing

To another beach, this one being Byron Bay, a seaside town in the far-north eastern corner of NSW, 772 kilometres north of Sydney and 165 kilometres south of Brisbane.

These photos were taken in 1996, after a cyclone tore away sections of beach.

After the cyclone.

Rogue waves stripped away sand and exposed what had been buried underneath 24 years earlier.
And it was not a trunk full of gold bars or a lost city.

In an attempt to slow erosion of the escarpment in 1972, old car bodies had been buried under the sand. The cyclone uncovered a demolition derby rusted to a halt.

Old car bodies trying to upholster the beaches

A beached steering wheel

Subsequent cyclones reclaimed more of Byron Bay's beaches, and home owners within reach of these waves shored up their slopes with straw.

Bundles of straw protecting a beachside home from rogue tides

And if this is starting to sound like the story of the three little pigs, one of whom built his house of straw, the second of sticks...here are the sticks.

More sticks

And, as cyclones continued to huff and puff and blow their beaches down, Byron Bay tried harmony and love...

Carvings into the rock face along Byron Bay's beach front

Another carving on a rock topped with sand

Putting a good face on it

New Year's Eve: Sydney Harbour Bridge

2011-10-07T08:30:00.002+11:00

Midnight 2010: Sydney Harbour Bridge ready to party

Sydney Harbour Bridge welcomes 2011

I have more of these photos. Let me know if I should load them.

The last word: tombstones from around the world

2011-10-06T11:28:00.000+11:00

When the dying's done, the dead are not silent.

They are remembered long after they are gone, bookmarked with tombstones, plaques - and our own personal memories.

Here are a few ways that we have given the dead a voice.

But first, let me set the mood:

Funeral weather

Now you are suitably chilled, your tour of the dead starts in New Zealand, with Jack's seat.

It recalls a dearly loved grandfather who lived long (1904-1991) and left behind a seat with this plaque which looks across valley near Queenstown.

It concludes 'as the family march ahead please look back as we the ancestors follow'.

Jack's seat

The view from Jack's seat

Jack opted for a view and offered a seat to the passers by.

Other people choose a less solitary style with community living (so to speak) in the cemetery, there to rest among their fellow dead away from the chatter of daily life.

Sunlight and shadow

Such cemeteries are where we find history. This Boston cemetery is the resting place for Paul Revere.

Boston

Paul Revere's plaque

Pompeii

This was one monumental burial. When the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, it buried the entire town in ash and pumice. It stayed buried for 1,700 years, yet the dead were still able to speak to us when they were unearthed.

Here are the preserved remains of two.

These figures are distressing: their last moments are frozen and we get to watch. They were buried before their time, so to speak.

The Titanic

This heart breaking tragedy, just beyond our living memory, was the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. Over 1,500 people went down with her, and many of the dead went unburied.

Only 329 bodies were recovered, and 119 were buried at sea. Many could not be identified so they were given a number.

Later, using such clues as clothing, some of the dead could be claimed by their relatives. Others had be buried with a number alone. Ultimately, 150 Titanic victims were buried in Halifax, 44 of whom were never identified.

(My thanks to Rodger who made the expedition to the Halifax Cemetery to take these photos.)

An Australian, one of Titanic's victims: Arthur Gordon McCrae, BE University of New South Wales

A line up of Titanic grave stones

No. 179 - an unidentified passenger on the Titanic

Anne of Green Gables

One of my favourite dead people is Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the book Anne of Green Gables.

Resting place of L.M. Montgomery at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island

Despite the fact that Anne of Green Gables was a fiction, she was far more real to me than Lucy Maud.

I thank Lucy Maud for creating Anne, but she was not Anne. There was no gravestone for my Anne, so I am declaring her not dead.

And as such, Anne lives on today, speaking through her books.

World Trade Centre, New York

So many unburied here. These photos were taken in 2006.

Air space where the towers once stood

This is a timeline of the events of September 11, 2001

Timeline part two

World Trade Centre Station

Photos of that day: note the police presence

A cemetery near Gavle in Sweden

In Sweden, they not only bury their dead, but put them into deep freeze.

The photos of this cemetery are not black and white stills. These are full colour photos of a winter's day in Sweden, taken in late December. The scene was black and white - and bitterly cold.

In Sweden, the winter sun hangs reluctantly just above the horizon for only a few hours, so the day is half lit with a sun about to set. This photo was taken in the middle of the day.

The dead lie under a blanket of snow and in the windless chill, the silence is almost a presence.

The Port Arthur Massacre (Tasmania)

This single cross speaks of the 35 lives lost when Martin Bryant went on a killing spree in Tasmania's Port Arthur prison colony on 28 April 1996. It was - and still is - a popular tourist site. It was Australia's deadliest killing spree.

Port Arthur, Tasmania

Last but not least: Salzburg

Salzburg does a most decorative cemetery, lush with flowers, shrubs and statues.

The dead seem incidental.

(Note: you can also tour my version of the spectacular Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. You'll find it in the post called 'Buenos Aires' in this blog.)

Rest in peace.

The Moon: Sydney, Adelaide, New York

2011-09-27T16:23:00.000+10:00

You can't go anywhere without the moon. It follows you whenever you travel, so that you always have a souvenir of home. Wherever we are it shines on us. It connects us all.
And it couldn't care less about us.
Despite its remoteness, it is always well groomed and indeed a scene stealer. Here are a few moons I've collected over the years.

A partial eclipse

A bite taken out of the full moon

Mood shot

I love this one: it is so chocolate box

More of the same: you can't waste a pale pink sky with TV aerials

As it rises further, it is no longer an orange, more a cheesecake

Last pink sky, I promise

Light show on the Sydney Opera House sails - with an upstaged moon

Sydney Opera House sails - new pattern

Swirls

The moon, aloft, aloof...

A low key outfit for the Opera House sails

The moon in veiled attendance to Adelaide's light show

The moon caught up in the action

Red moon over New York (you've seen this in my New York post, but I had to include it in my moon-themed post)

Northern Lights: Adelaide's light show

2011-09-22T14:49:00.000+10:00

North Terrace is Adelaide's showcase of fine colonial buildings and includes the city's art gallery and state library.

Most of the time, it leads a life of quiet sandstone dignity, except when South Australians have a festival of the arts.

Then they romp.

This light show - called Northern Lights - on North Terrace coincided with Adelaide's Writers' Festival in February 2010.

Projections cast on the buildings drew attention to their design, bringing out their finest features.

Each projection lasted about three minutes, then would fade - to reveal a disappointed facade. After a theatrical pause, a new projection would sweep across the building, and all would be well again.

Moon over Adelaide's North Terrace


The light caught the leaves out

Elder Hall: all frocked up.

Same building, new frock

....ditto..

Close up of South Australia's state floral emblem: Sturt's desert pea

Bonython Hall: one minute a vine-covered castle, then ...

...a pink palace...

...a red fort.

The moon cast a sober light on such frivolity

Will this building EVER live down its pink pillars?

Unfamiliar Customs: a light show

2011-09-22T11:27:00.001+10:00

Unfamiliar Customs is how this light show is described. It throws a large scale image on a traditional sandstone building called Customs House on Sydney's harbour edge.

It was part of the Vivid Festival, a light show after dark in Sydney's winter, in June 2011.

During the day, our city buildings went about their business with quiet dignity. At night, they romped, and all without moving from the spot.

The light animations turned them into surreal cartoons of themselves, and when it was over, the light show left no trace and the buildings denied it ever happened.

All that remains of this event are the Youtube uploads: take a guided tour of the event with google, it's awesome.

This my first Youtube upload, so be kind to me.

Bronte surfers

2011-08-10T15:32:00.004+10:00


A winter's day at Bronte beach. A storm out to sea had sent power waves to the shore.

South America for beginners

2011-06-23T13:25:00.006+10:00

A tour to South America, Panama Canal and Cuba requires three things.

1. A plane

2. A flight crew

3. A map:

4. Passengers

And, having checked everything is in good working order...

Let's go!

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2011-06-23T12:01:00.009+10:00

Date: Monday 9 May 2011.

Time: 1410

QF 6034

Sydney/Buenos Aires

Flight time 13hrs 20 minutes.

BUENOS AIRES...

There's 220 of us. En masse, we are a force of nature. A fleet of seven sightseeing buses take us on tour, and we see the streets where Buenos Aireans set up house - but not all houses are for the living. We visit the Boca district and its vibrant colours, the sombre tombs of Recoleta Cemetery...and everywhere, there is the tango.

(Please note: I take responsibility for all photographs, spelling mistakes and opinions.)

The Buenos Aires signature dance

A professional dog walker

Christ the Redeemer is everywhere

School bus

The Boca District

The story goes that this is what you do with left over paint.

We stroll along the main street of the Boca District, La Caminto.

The Boca District is for tourists. The slums are not...

Seen from the bus window: Mile after mile of Buenos Aires Leggoland slums. They compete for the same air space as the hi rise office towers, but look as if they might blow over with the first brisk breeze.

People actually live here

Electricals

Recoleta Cemetery, where we visit the dead of Buenos Aires in their ornate tombs.

Mourning in concrete

Mourning in a rather nice terracotta brick

I feel these plants are not showing proper respect for the dead

Cleaning day

Lovely art deco door

Having driven by the cram of Buenos Aires' slums, I feel that the dead in Buenos Aires have a better standard of accommodation than the city's poor.

Eva Peron's plaque

Even now, over 50 years after death, Eva's tomb is festooned with flowers

Historic building in pink - I believe Eva lived here

More electricals

Electricals and vegetation

The sun flower sign

Isn't this tops! It opens to the sun and closes at night.

Metal stamens

Can you see the bird? It is sitting on the 'engine' at the centre of the flower.

The flower is made from the outer metal of a Fokker Friendship.

We cruise along canals of the Tigre Delta

Inside our river boat

The Tigre Delta is a waterway of shifting sands. Islands are easily formed and, in an endless cycle, they are just as easily washed away. For those people who have not learned from recent history, a new island is fresh real estate. On this pile of unstable silt, they build holidays homes. Some are shacks, others are mansions, but all are at the mercy of wash from passing ferries (such as ours), and moods of the delta.
If they do not buttress the shores with a stout breakwater, the waterway sucks away the sand, crumbling the shore like wet cake. The house foundations are next, followed by the house itself.

Slow mo demolition

The corner shop

Check out the industrial strength breakwater. This mansion is here to stay.

Such an ordinary house, such extraordinary protection!

Is it sinking?

Our room in Park Tower, Buenos Aires.

Hotel foyer

Classy vases

Iguassu Falls (Brazil)

2011-06-23T11:17:00.004+10:00

Wednesday 11 May 2011
Time 0900
QF6034
Buenos Aires - Iguassu Falls
Flight time 1hr 50 minutes
No time change

Bus transfer to Iguassu Falls, then I am up up and away in the helicopter.

Only as we take off do I see there is no floor!

Proof I was there: I can produce that very shoe

This is a most thrilling walkway over tons of water thundering to the falls' edge.

This rainbow followed me as I walked along the walkway. Conclusion: I was the pot of gold

Bird's eye view of boats on the river

These butterflies were everywhere, and so tame. They wanted to come home with me.

Photo below: Computer translation: Sign in Spanish with English subtitles.
And speaking of translation: at dinner in a Buenos Aires restaurant the menu offered tomoto soup with embezzled egg. When we asked the waiter what was an 'embezzled egg', we were told it was a poached egg. 'Poached'. Got it? Stolen. Embezzled.

Computer translating Spanish to English.

Rio: watching a plane landing on a very short runway

2011-06-23T10:42:00.002+10:00

The runway comes into view...

Captured in living colour by your Rio correspondent: a plane landing among mountains, over water, on a very small target: a short runway with no margin for error.

Taking aim...

Screech of tyres as it veers left

...still on course...

100...50...

10!

Hand brake on!

Full reverse thrust!

Rio's cablecar to Sugarloaf Mountain

2011-06-22T16:22:00.004+10:00

Ground to first landing level

Iguassu Falls - Rio de Janeiro
12 May 2011
Time: 1800
Flight time 1 hr 45 mins

Abseiling: if you can't build a favella on it, you climb it.

Evening cablecar ride up Sugarloaf Mountain. It rained.

We have lift-off

View from Sugarloaf

Wet Australians on Sugarloaf

Christ the Redeemer seen from Sugarloaf

A halo of light in the clouds, the Redeemer stands anchored while mists and winds swirl around it ... a steadfast symbol in a restless world...

My camera loved this view.

This, you have to agree, is my masterpiece. Feel free to leave compliments.

Rio de Janeiro

2011-06-22T16:06:00.009+10:00

Rio at sunset - setting the scene.

Sandcastles

Copacabana - view from our hotel window

Hotel pool

Copacabana in the distance

Copacabana close up


Ipanema

Catedral Metropolitana: completed in 1976. It is 83 metres high.

Cathedral interior

Truly awesome

Cathedral ceiling

Brazilian Churrascaria-style meat on skewers

The cobblestone road up to Christ the Redeemer

Himself

fading...

...fading...

The face and hands, very art deco, were made in France in 1931.

We visit a favella, a hillside shanty town. There are 1,200 favellas in Rio. In general, the affluent live on the low lying areas, and the poor cling to the sides of its many mountains. Brazil has 190 million people, and 80 per cent are designated poor, 15 per cent somewhere in the middle, and 5 per cent rich.
The favella offers low rents, lots of stairs and a great view of Rio. It also nurtures crime, drugs being the specialty. However the government is trying to change this. It offers a trade-off: ditch the drugs, and it will install water, electricity and satellite dishes.

We visited a favella with all three.

Favella motif

Favella colours

Electricals

Michael Jackson visited this favella.

Narrow passageways are the main thoroughfare

Favella security

Views from the favella

more electricals

Cabin crew

Manaus

2011-06-21T17:04:00.005+10:00

Rio de Janeiro - Manaus 15 May 2011 Time: 1100 Flight time: 3 hrs 50 mins Our buses take us to Manaus, a city in the middle of the jungle. Manaus is 1,600km inland up the Amazon and is only accessible by air or by river. Manaus Opera House constructed by rubber barons.

On reflection ...

Inside the opera house

Every opera House should have cherubs

Our Amazon River Boat

Our river cruiser contact details

Along the Amazon shores

Slums on stilts

The dunny out the back

Washing day

Meeting of the waters, where the Rio Negro meets the Amazon

The floating world

A long long bridge over the Amazon, not yet complete

These are the biggest lily pads in the world

They are also the prickliest.

The Tropical Hotel, Manaus. Its corridors stretch to a vanishing point.

Hotel Nacional, Havana

2011-06-20T13:16:00.002+10:00

Hotel Nacional de Cuba circa 1930

Manaus-Havana (Cuba)

16 May 2011

Time: 1615

Flight time: 4hrs 50mins

Part of our bus fleet

Havana art

2011-06-20T13:05:00.005+10:00

Pottery mural on a courtyard wall

Me and my camera fell in love with Havana. It has style. Here is some of its art.

Art for sale

Ditto

Pineapple with attitude

Ceramic on hotel wall

Souvenirs of Havana - made of very light paper mache

Not art at all: it is a section of construction hoarding

ditto

same

Sunlight on a hotel wall


Isn't he the best!

The Monk sculpture...

Seriously, as a work of art, what is it saying?

Does it mean that there's no one home?

Or that clothes maketh the man?

Or that religion is but a hollow promise?

As he sits in the entrance to a restaurant (formerly a monastery), perhaps his message is more mundane: he is merely adding up your bill.

A hotel restored to its former glory

The hotel lobby

Security with style

Nice stained glass entrance

She remembers the former glory of Cuba

Hotel lobby

A knife-and-fork horse in a souvenir shop at the airport

Havana's public spaces

2011-06-20T11:58:00.004+10:00

Plaza de La Revolution

Havana.
Hot in the sun, around 33 degrees celsuis. Humid

Plaza de La Revolution where millions gathered to hear Fidel Castro speak. This is the pride of our tour guide, tho it seems to the passing tourist as merely a massive open space of bitumen, waiting to be filled again.

Just as Cuba is waiting for its next dance partner, having been dumped by Russia and ostracised by the US.

Plaza de La Revolution

Havana's natural harbour with narrow entrance guarded by old Spanish forts.

Cracked bell

Historic church

Historic church detail

Inside historic church

Bless one and all

Fossils of shells in church wall

Restoring Old Havana

2011-06-20T11:43:00.003+10:00

The UNESCO protected area of Old Havana is a work in progress. Its historic buildings dating from 1800s/early 1900s and left to their own devices since the 1960s, are now being restored to their former elegance.

Havana skipped the hi rise era - more by mismanagement than good luck - and its town squares offer low rise charm, with balconies, archways, pillars and human scale.

This building is the 'After' in the 'Before and after' sign below.

....Before.....After

Lovely restored details

She's not going anywhere!

Work in progress

Old Havana buildings, awaiting their turn to be restored

Havana is the city of scaffolds

Havana street life

2011-06-20T10:37:00.006+10:00

Check out the feet - she's wearing thongs


She's come of age, and she wants everyone to know it

Photo op: for a small fee

Domestic scene

Fruit shop - politics an optional extra

The castanet, drum and panama hat shop

If I were to organise a tour of Havana, I would include a mechanic's yard so I could learn how they maintain old American cars left over from the 50s and 60s. Despite their age, these cars still take to the road tho many lost their gloss long ago. Some are crudely hand painted, while others are show ponies with gleaming chrome and shiny coats - so they can be rented to tourists.

We pass a car yard with about 50 old cars in various stages of decay. They appear to be restoring some, perhaps gutting the less promising ones to patch together others.

The original engines, I hear, have been replaced with Russian ones.

A 50-year old car, carrying her age well

Move over purple dress

The books are as dated as the politics

This tree, appropriately named flambouyant, blooms in May

Street corner protector

Havana kiss

Dangling shoes mean that you can buy your drugs here.

My mum and dad had a Holden just like this one

Street musicians

Artistic shot

Black and white Havana

Havana street scape

Traffic lights in Havana do a count down

TV aerials

No Hills Hoists in Havana

Panama canal: its ships and locks

2011-06-18T16:56:00.006+10:00

An unlikely couple: a container ship on a date with a tug.

Havana - Panama City (Panama)

Thursday 19 May 2011
Time 1130
Flight time 2hrs 25mins

We join a chartered cruise ship for our transit of the Panama Canal. We enter the Gatun Lake, then sail into the canal itself through the Galliad Cut, one of the narrowest parts of the Canal.

A container ship for cars, or, as one wag said: a floating car park

Our tiny cruise ship is made all the more tiny by passing traffic of massive container ships which loom like floating mountains, complete with their own weather systems. They gently giant by us, intent on their mission to cross from one ocean to the other.

Our chartered cruiser

Panama cranes - at attention

Canal traffic is one way only. Until noon, it is in one direction and then, noon until 6pm, it is the opposite direction. If your ship does not make it through in time, you wait your turn. Entry is first-come, first-served.

Some cargos, such as perishables (eg bananas) or people (cruise ships) are given priority - at a price. They must book a year ahead and pay a hefty fee in advance, which is forfeit if they do not turn up on the day.

On an ordinary day, ordinary container ships have to hang around between locks, allowing them time to polish the fo'c'sle and vacuum the containers.

Once inside a lock, the bigger container ships have only 30cm to spare on each side. They squeeze in like toothpaste in a tube and are instructed to keep very very still as the waters rise.

By comparison, our tiny cruise ship rattles around our lock with room to spare, so we share it with three yachts, two of which fly Australian flags.

They are tethered together, then tethered to the wall of the lock, as is our cruise ship.

The Panama Canal has operated since 1914, and is, I feel, an engineering wonder.

A lock, full to the brim

We keep our distance

The water level drops...

...and drops...

and drops

like a giant bathtub...

when someone pulls the plug

the gates swing open

They are massive steel constructions with rivets from a past era

These gates, and indeed the entire system of locks, are enormously over-engineered.

They fold into the wall of the lock.

The ship in the adjacent lock rises as we fall

...looming larger and larger.

These yachts shared our lock, and two were Australian.

Around Panama City

2011-06-18T16:12:00.002+10:00

They call Panama City the city of 1,000 balconies

Tidal movements in the Panama gulf are impressive: up to six metres difference between low and high tide. This mud, I hear, is actually quicksand.

Just another balcony

Panama Viejo: what's left of the original Panama City founded in 1519

ditto

Panama City: building for the future

2011-06-18T15:46:00.002+10:00

Cloudscape with city

The more modern areas of Panama City are in a hi rise building frenzy. Right now, more than 110 hi rise projects are under construction, with 127 already built.

Under construction - or under collapse? Frank Gerhy's Museo de la Biodiversidad.

A neat building

Amazingly dense cityscape

Hi rise slum

At a glance - and a single day's tour of a city is just a glance - Panama City appears to be bulldozing their waterfront slum areas and reclaiming the foreshore for hi rise holiday apartments. The plan is to sell these to overseas buyers, especially from the US and Europe. Our guide tells us that we could be eligible to buy property and live in Panama City if we pass one small asset test: prove that we have earnings of over $US800 a month.

Screwdriver

Living on right the edge of global warming

Peak hour traffic jam

Cuzco, Peru (3,400m above sea level)

2011-06-18T15:21:00.002+10:00

Panama City-Lima

21 May 2011

Time: 0830

Flight time: 3hrs 20 minutes

Lima-Cuzco with LAN Airbus A319

Time: 1400

Flight time: 1hr 15mins

Cuzco

Sunset

Libertador Hotel lobby

Hotel door

We visit the Temple of the Sun which is the remains of an Inca palace inside a Dominican convent.

Long ago, Incas constructed a palace that was small, square-jawed, extremely strong and easy to clean. With good reason, they favoured the earthquake-proof trapeziod-shape and mortor-less masonry, fitting the blocks of stone together with jigsaw puzzle precision.

Along come the Spanish, who put the Incas in their place by using their palace as a foothold for their own building which was bigger, wider, bluntly colonial and over-decorated with architectural fripperies and pointy bits. The Inca palace was out of sight, crushed under baroque foundations until it re-emerged in 1953, when an earthquake shook things up.
Both buildings were restored, and now the Inca palace is enclosed - indeed swallowed - by the temple of its conquerer. Nevertheless, it is the clean lines and common sense of the Inca construction which seems to stick in the craw of the convent.

Dome over the cloisters of Santo Domingo Convent

Courtyard

The Convent's pointy bits

Sunset on ceramic

Sunset on the courtyard

Tub in courtyard

Can't leave this ceramic alone...

Note the outward lean (creating a trapeziod shape) of the Inca wall.

Gold plate depicting Mother Earth and the Incas

It says: 'Long live glorious Peru', being on mountain slopes overlooking Cuzco. The lettering is achieved by mowing down the vegetation.

Cuzco in the morning

A llama keeping the grass down at Sacsayhuaman, the remains of an Inca fortress overlooking Cuzco

Mortarless Sacsayhuaman wall and gum trees

Cuzco's Christ the Redeemer (not a patch on Rio's)

Zigzag Sacsayhuaman walls of granite monoliths

Can't leave these monoliths alone

View with souvenirs

Mountainside farming

A town mural snapped from the bus window

A village squeezed up against a mountain

Art in the restaurant where we had lunch

May I show you the menu?

Your table is this way...

Dressage...

Can I get you the bill?

Aguas Caliente - the village near Machu Picchu

2011-06-18T14:09:00.001+10:00

Travel time by train from Cusco to Aguas Caliente, a town at the foot of Machu Picchu, is four hours, plus a 25-minute bus ride from Cusco to the station.

The railway track follows the river through the valley. The steep and commanding slopes of the Andes rise on both sides, and I can't help but feel mere and mortal.

Many backpackers do the four-day hike along the Inca trail to Aguas Caliente, and sometimes we can see them on the narrow track carved into the valley wall on the other side of the river. One side of the trail is a sheer drop into the white waters of the river below.

Above them - and for that matter, those of us in the train - are mountain slopes that are inclined to mud slides in wet weather.

Our train

Aguas Caliente repairing damage from mudslides in 2010

Our hotel in Aguas Caliente

Amazingly, you walk across the railway track to the hotel entrance. You look both ways first.

It reminds me of a song from my youth, and it goes like this:

The railroad comes through the middle of the house

The trains all come through the middle of the house

Since the company bought the land

They let us live in the front of the house

They let us live in the back

But there ain't no livin' in the middle of the house

'Cause that's the railroad track

The railway shares the entrance to the hotel lobby.

Aguas Caliente residents

Our hotel cottage

Hotel garden

Hotel orchid

Hotel banana to feed the birds

Machu Picchu

2011-06-18T13:36:00.001+10:00

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Latin America, attracting more than 400,000 visitors a year. The 15th-century Inca citadel is located on a high mountain ridge 70 kilometers from Cusco.

The classic Machu Picchu shot

Stand clear!

The river carving its way through the valley

llamas are a decorative touch

Hi altitude orchid

Mists

Tiers

Walls clambering over boulders

Get a load of the size of that lintel

Mist over roofless cottages

A meeting place? A look-out?

The quarry that supplied the stone to build Machu Picchu

How many people have looked through this window?

Lichen

A room with a view

This boulder reflects the shape of the distant mountain

Stunning!

The river continues to deepen the valley.

Our bus drove up this narrow road to Machu Picchu

Moss like a crocheted doiley

Photo shoot: 220 passengers pose in front of 747

2011-06-16T16:35:00.003+10:00

The director of photography

Move that 747 a little to the left

There, right there...

....no - to the right...

now bunch up

There's one more person to come.

When everyone's ready...

Hold it right there...

Easter Island

2011-06-16T13:30:00.000+10:00

Easter Island's runway is long enough to allow a 747 to land. The runway extends from one side of the island to the other.

Easter Island's only village

Island view

Easter Island's tiny companions

Petroglyphs of the Birdman cult

No blog is complete without a sunset

A mile-wide cauldron - the island's water supply trapped in an extinct volcano crater

Detail of crater lake: a patchwork of reed islands

A statue in progress, being carved from surrounding stone

Rano Raraku, a small extinct volcano. Its slopes host about 400 statues in various stages of completion.

A chorus line of 15 big moai.

Make that 17 moai...

Lunch with our hosts

Moai come to Bondi

The Missing Passenger: a true story

2011-06-16T11:39:00.000+10:00

This is a true story. Only the names have been changed to protect theinefficient.

Place: Aninternational airport somewhere in Australia.

Date: In thelast week or so.

Airline: Timbuktoo Airlines*, Flight 600 to Llasa*.

Time: 1415

A passenger is missing. Flight 600 has just been given clearance to take off in 15minutes, but one of the 312 passengers is missing.

The cabin crew count again. 311. Accordingto the computer, his bags have been loaded into the hold, and he should be inhis seat. But he is not.

The plane cannot take off. Airlines take the view that if passengers choose not totravel with their bags, it is not a fear of flying that stops them. It is more likely a fear of explodingbaggage.

Airlines take a grim view of missing passengers.

The passengers are deplaned. The baggage containers are taken from the plane's hold andunloaded, and the 311 passengers are asked to identify their bags.

Some time is saved because there is noneed to search the bags, because this had been done when the passengers firstchecked in.

Finally, all bags areaccounted for, except one: a Mancester Airlines bag destined for BuenosAires. It had been loaded onto the Llasa flight by mistake. It is rescued from itsunscheduled trip to Llasa - there's always a silver lining, isn't there?

With no unclaimed bags in the hold, the crew assume it was a computer glitch, despite the fact that the passenger is still missing. But so is his baggage, which is now not a problem.

The baggage containers can now be reloaded.

Time: 1700

The passengers reboard, and to pass the time while thecontainers are reloaded, they are served a meal. They are eating a hot main course when the message comesthrough. Deplane urgently. An anonoymous phone call has beenreceived: there's a bomb on Flight600.

The passengers wait in the terminal, and the airportstaff try to save the flight. Thebaggage containers have already been searched. If they remove the cargo and mail containers, which have notbeen searched, then the plane can still leave.

The cargo and mail containers are behind the baggagecontainers. These are now onboard. The cargo and mailcontainers cannot be removed until the baggage containers are out of the plane.

The long-suffering loaders are calledback.

Time: 1900

At this point, the flight crew run out of hours. Being an airline which is not based inAustralia, there is no fresh crew to replace them, and they must have a 14 hourbreak before they are allowed to fly a plane.

They go to a hotel for the night and, of course, so dotheir passengers.

Time: 1200the next day

The passengers check in, and discover that 150 of theirnumber now have incorrect papers.

Because of the delay, they will miss their connection in Llasa.

Yesterday, the transit time betweenconnecting flights was four hours so there had been no need for a visa. Today, their next connection is in fourdays time.

They must fill out visaforms, so they can stay the extra time without being considered illegalimmigrants.

Moreover, the airline has been unable to locate five ofits passengers. Findingthemselves, unexpectedly, in a hotel in the middle of the city, these passengers take theopportunity to do a little sightseeing, and they don't leave a forwardingaddress.

In the midst of this chaos, the missing passenger turnsup. He checks in, confident hisplane is waiting for him - and it is! He has no idea that he caused its delay in the first place.

In fact, it turns out he had checked in for the flightyesterday, and his ticketing details had been keyed into the computer. That was why it had insisted his bagwas in the hold.

After this, therehad been a break-down in communication, partly because english was not the passenger'snative language.

The check-in clerk had inspected his passport, as iscustomary, and had pointed out that he would need 24 hours in Llasa to get anentry visa into his next port.

Hemisheard. He thought she said theplane was delayed 24 hours, and without ado, he wandered off with his bags andmuttered over his shoulder - the check-in clerk now recalls - 'Well, I'll seeyou tomorrow'.

Time: 1430

Flight 600 leaves 24 hours late. The crew is rested. The cargo and mail containers are bombfree. The five missing touristsnever turn up, and by departure time, nobody cares. The passenger who triggered this chain of events sitsblameless in his seat, having caught the plane only by accident.

But, make no mistake. His bags are in the hold.

*Fictional airline and fictional destination.

The New York City Theatre Study Seminar - 2010

2010-10-03T15:07:00.000+11:00

The 2010 New York Theatre Study Seminar

Dates: 3 September 2010 – 17 September 2010.

Convenor: Charlie, with assistance from Abbie.

Delegates:

Alwyne, Barry, Di, Dianna, Elaine, Fran, Helen, Jan, Jenny, Loloma, Margaret, Margaret, Margaret, Marjorie, Robin, Trish.

Minutes Secretary: Robin.

(NOTE: Minutes Secretary takes sole responsibility for all spelling mistakes, photographs and opinions.)

Agenda for the seminar was to investigate the current state of indoors New York, examples being theatre, jazz venues, art galleries, restaurants, plus the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt mansions.

Outdoor activities included the Brooklyn Bridge, Coney Island and Greenwich Village.

Shopping was an optional extra.

Delegates gathered at the Warwick Hotel, 65 West 54^th Street, New York City, New York 10019 USA, being the venue for the next 14 days (breakfast included).

INDOORS: The seminar attended eight live performances, including the opening of the New York City Ballet. (See Note 1 for more details).

The art galleries included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick’s private collection, MoMa and the Cloisters. (Note 2).

Jazz/cabaret venues included Village Vanguard, Birdland, Café Carlyle and the Canaan Baptist Church choir. (Note 3)

Red moon over New York City

2010-10-03T15:02:00.000+11:00

Street scenes

2010-10-03T14:58:00.000+11:00

Telephone box

Lost handbag

A stitch in time

If the shoe hurts...

Sharing with the pigeons

New York City Library

No comment

Lost

Outdoors New York

2010-10-03T14:43:00.000+11:00

New York's hi rise towers glitter in the sun, like diamonds which scream money - but not necessarily their own.

The once proud Chrysler building, now overshadowed by its neighbours

Atlas

Leggo Atlas

A church sunning itself

A fractured building

Hi rise tower with lamp post

Reflections

Reflections with sun spots

We visited the High Line, a New York City park, which is built on an elevated 1930s freight rail structure on Manhattan’s west side. Built to remove freight trains from Manhattan’s streets, the High Line delivered milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods into upper floor loading docks of factories and ware houses. The last train ran on the High Line in 1980 carrying a trainload of frozen turkeys.

High Line

Brooklyn Bridge walkway - the traffic is underneath

Note 1: The stage: musicals, dramas and ballet

2010-10-03T14:14:00.000+11:00

1. ‘Promises Promises’: A musical set in 1962 with music by Burt Bacharach. We could all sing along, because our group had been there, done that.

2. A preview of Edward Albee’s latest play, ‘Me, Myself and I’ was worthy of respect, as the author, an icon of American theatre, is now in his 80s. But, respect for the play was not forthcoming from New York critics. To quote the New York Post: ‘Newcomers to the playwright may be turned off his work forever; long time fans will feel let down because they know how much better he can be.’

3. Moving right along, our next play, ‘Trust’ was an edgy and funny four-hander.

4. ‘La Cage Aux Folles’ with Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge accompanied by a corp de ballet of six leggy transvestites in wilting plumage. The New York Times called it a ‘warm, winning production’.

So did we...tho it took us some time to realise that Douglas Hodge in his girlie wig was the actor from ‘Spooks’ and ‘Mansfield Park’.

5. Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’: no stage, no scenery: just fine writing, fine acting. I saw it as theatre of the mind, where the audience is an unwitting part of the play. We see the imaginary moon, the town, its streets, as narrated by the 'stage manager'. And in the final scenes, from the graveyard, I feel that the audience has been among those who have gone before: our role has been to be silent witnesses to the living, knowing that they too will join us…

6. Moving right along…to a mind blowing (yes, pun intended) musical called ‘Next to Normal’. The family is in deep denial, and the medical profession is all too ready to intervene.

The music is soft rock, superbly sung, well written lyrics that drill deep into the emotions. No holds barred, tough stuff.

7. ‘The 39 Steps’, featuring Australian actor Jamie Jackson, is an acrobatic spoof of the film. We had supper with Jamie after the show. He tells us that the role are so physically demanding, he has lost 14 lb. He has signed up for the role for another six months, taking him through quieter months of Christmas. So, it seems, he won’t be coming home any time soon.

8. Opening night of the New York City Ballet. Superb. We wear our diamonds.

Note 2: Moma, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters

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The interior of New York’s MoMa and, to a lesser extent, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, derives its sense of indoor grandeur from the US natural wonders, examples being the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Valley and Grand Central Station.

MoMa's interior hi rise

Jackson Pollack's shorthand

In some galleries, the ceiling is so high, it has its own climate.

But these galleries must accommodate huge art works, such as the abstract canvasses of Jackson Pollack whose hieroglyphics are simply Pitmans shorthand writ large.

By contrast, the Cloisters keeps a modest profile, medieval architecture which folds into itself, as if in meditation.

The Cloisters

An embroidered dog

You gotta feel for the donkey

Note 3: Birdland and Steve Ross

2010-10-03T13:42:00.000+11:00

At Birdland we saw a line-up of talent which, on a sliding scale of excellence, started with the best.

One of the first performers, Jonathan Russell a 15-year-old curly haired schoolboy, played an Olympian version of ‘Just one of those things’ on his violin.

Thirteen-year-old Ruby, currently performing in ‘Billy Elliott’, belted out a song with a sophistication beyond her years. Her dad, who was sitting near us, was bald, except for a fringe of hair tied in a tiny ponytail.

Jim Rochu (spelling?), a white bearded performer, had this to say about the younger performers: ‘I have frozen food that’s older than them.’

His cats are named Ethel and Judy, and he sang ‘How do you fall back in love?’

We visit Steve Ross’ apartment: his piano occupies a third of his living room. We fill the rest, and he croons to us over his keyboard.

Steve Ross' pad