New Year's Eve
Sun Dec 31 23:36:11 2006
We are perfectly placed to view both the 9.15pm fireworks, and the 'proper' midnight fireworks. This picture is of the early fireworks. It was taken from the balcony of our 18th-floor flat, probably the best location from which to view the Central Pier fireworks.
Still recovering from yesterday's mountain bike crash. New Year's resolution: Don't do that again...
Eris
Fri Dec 29 17:15:57 2006
The Geek has acquired a new top-of-the-range laptop and called it Eris, as in Greek goddess of Chaos. Shiny. That's the last I'll see of him for a while...
Not envious at all, me.
Computer Games
Thu Dec 28 21:53:36 2006
How days fly by when one has the very latest computer games to play with. Wii Sports -- very spiffy. Sometimes I beat the More Competitive Golfer by not hitting the ball into the water several times in a row. I also have not yet managed to break the securing wrist strap during violent movements with the Wii-mote, potentially causing the requirement for a new TV.
But what is really taking up all my evenings is World of Warcraft. ADSL2+ is great for online-only gaming. I already have a Level6 character. Inevitably achieving this takes a bit of a toll on blogging...
The weather is slowly warming up a tiny bit. It may be possible to switch the central heating off for New Year.
Christmas Day
Mon Dec 25 17:15:59 2006
This is the picture that greeted us this morning. It has been like this ever since: Heavy rain, monster winds, some hail, 10C. This is quite possibly the most miserable weather I've ever had on Christmas Day, and that includes both the UK and Germany. At least if it's cold, wet and windy at Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere one isn't surprised. Here, it's meant to be the middle of summer and the weather is absolutely appalling.
Still, Santa brought lots of presents, fortunately many of them with distinct indoor characteristics, including the latest games console and an on-line computer game. Santa also brought a cycling computer but we only went out for five minutes, it is that cold. In fact, we have the central heating on. In the equivalent of end-June. Don't think I ever had to do that in Europe.
Merry Christmas!
Sun Dec 24 16:03:27 2006
What with one thing or another I haven't blogged in a bit. So this entry is to catch up, and to wish both of my readers a happy Christmas. It's a little early for the anglophone world but for me, Christmas still starts on Christmas Eve. We shall be having presents later.
Meanwhile, let's get on with catching up. We went to New South Wales for a long weekend, revisiting the Hunter Valley and naturally sampling the excellent wine on offer. It was very windy. This horse was desperately trying to stay upright.
Having procured such necessities as a case of wine in the Hunter Valley we proceeded back towards Sydney. We spotted this heron and the white ibis when breaking our journey near Toronto.
For the very first time ever we managed successfully to photograph a platypus. Sydney Aquarium is great. It has lots of sharks, too.
Walking through Sydney Botanical Gardens, a lawnmower startled the sleeping bats in the trees, allowing us plenty of time to get some good shots of them in flight.
We caught these cormorants in flight during a walk towards the mouth of the River Yarra near Port Melbourne.
This seaplane was taking off right behind our ferry.
The full moon and Sydney Opera House at dusk.
These pelicans were forming a pretty group with Melbourne CBD in the background. The flying seagull was fortuitous.
This picture was taken at sunset. The extra moon / planet in the sky is a lens artifact. I think the effect is very pretty.
Picture of the Month
Sun Dec 24 15:35:45 2006
We managed to photograph this ibis in flight in Sydney Botanical Gardens.
