Australia
weekly photo challenge: work of art
Speak no evil, Hear no evil and particularly for this challenge: see no evil! Because everything can be seen as a work of art!
Why do we collect the 3 wise monkeys? One of the main reasons is that we like to see the different interpretations and techniques used to create the little statues. Some of the statues are so cleverly formed that they almost have personalities of their own. To be able to create that is a work of art 🙂
Our latest 3 wise monkeys purchase was from our long weekend in Port Macquarie at the beginning of the year. Purchased from a Fair Trade shop, these pottery monkeys were made South Africa. The colours, the facial expressions, the style: they are so unique. They have to be one of our favourites from our collection.
Have a great weekend, everyone!!
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should wi-fi be free?
Apologies in advance for this wi-fi rant that we are about to unleash. We don’t like complaining or whinging but there was a moment of weakness when this was written and so we thought we best post it anyway 🙂
After only recently returning from a trip to Singapore and a trip to Melbourne, we are reminded of one noticeably different aspect between hotels overseas and hotels within Australia. We simply can’t help but compare….
Free wi-fi connectivity seems to be a rarity in hotels within Australia – to find one is like finding a gold mine. We experience these issues with connecting no matter where in Australia we are. But worse yet, the charges for wi-fi are astronomical if one is to pay. The recent price we saw was $40 AUD for a maximum 1GB download over 3 days – how utterly unreasonable.
And when there is complimentary wi-fi, there are all these restrictions such as half an hour access, available only in the lobby, up to 500MB download per day.
We think back to our hotel in Singapore, we not only got a smart phone with unlimited internet access but we also had complimentary in-room wi-fi. So maybe it was a recent experience that is making us feel a little precious about free wi-fi?
Nope, that’s not it, because we have travelled to developing countries where free wi-fi is much more accessible and readily available in hotels than it is in Australia.
Anyway, we just wish Australian hotels have the heart and offer free (or at least reasonably priced) wi-fi, help keep us connected with our loved ones and our blogging community without costing us an arm and leg.
Maybe you disagree and think wi-fi shouldn’t be free – would love to hear your thoughts.
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weekend walks: inside jenolan caves
Weekend walk took us indoors this week, inside caves! Actually, the initial plan was to do the Jenolan River Walk and see the Blue Lake in the Greater Blue Mountains region (which is a UNESCO Heritage Site). So after driving 2.5 hours, we arrive to find that the walk is closed for maintenance. The most of the Blue Lake we got to see was up above from the road.
Luckily, Plan B was not a bad plan at all. Plan B was to visit Jenolan Caves themselves. The tours of the caves last about 1.5 hours and range in levels of fitness/difficulty. We elected to join the Orient Cave tour which is considered one of the top 10 most beautiful caves in the world! There was no way, we were missing that one. Not that we have seen the other top 10 contenders, but we certainly rate this one incredible!
Inside the caves, there are crystals: millions and millions of crystals. There were stalactites (those formed from the ceiling down), there was stalagmites (those formed from the ground up) and there were helictites (those that changed directions as they form). It was a crash course for us in basic geology and cave formation.
An extremely fascinating (and almost unfathomable) fact was that sometimes 1 cubic centrimetre of these formations can take up to 300 years to form, so…. given “that” and after some calculations, the Jenolan Caves are about 340 million years old, making them the world’s oldest caves! (Well, actually, we didn’t do the maths, it was already done).
As we pass through the caves, the water overhead drips, we can hear it and see it. Crystal is forming as we walk! From the photos, the surfaces looks almost waxy. We also managed to see a flowing stone as we entered.
The Orient Caves contained a Persian Chamber, an Egyptian Chamber and an Indian Chamber. Looking around, it felt like we were in another dimension or on another world. It is so utterly unusual and intriguing. Some of the formations are given names or descriptions for orientation.
(1) Example of “shawls” – these are two alongside one another. The one on the right is what crystal looks likes after water over times flows over the limestone: it is white, translucent white. The one on the left is crystal formed from dirty/contaminated water.
In general, the brown streaks through the formations are from iron in the water.
(2) Pillar of Hercules – found in the Persian Chamber, stands at about 8 metres tall.
(3) The Dome – found in the Persian Chamber, approximately 40 metres high
(4) The pilgrims – found in the Persian Chamber, “walking” up a hill
(5) Little crystals formed in water
(6) Egyptian Blanket and curtains – found in the Egyptian Chambers
(7) The Frozen Nile – also found in the Egyptian Chambers. The white dots on the far right of the picture are the sparkles of the light hitting the crystals.
(8) Elephant Headress, found in the Indian Chamber.
(9) Medusa, looking down with a headful of snakes.
Jenolan Caves are such a delight to visit. We are curious and keen to go back – more so as with each ticketed tour purchased, the visitor receives a ticket which entitles them to get 50% off any other cave tours that they do with the year (BONUS 🙂 )
We really do take our hats off for those explorers who were so brave in venturing into such unknown territories (with only candles and naked flame as their source of light) to discover such beauty and even more so to those in 1867, who gazetted the area as a reserve! Thank you to those people with such foresight to protect such beauty so we can enjoy it today!
Greater Blue Mountains were UNESCO Heritage listed in 2000. To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited, visit our unofficial bucket list
NB: This was not a sponsored post – we visited on our own accord.
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weekend walks: centennial parklands
We woke up early on Sunday morning to get to Centennial Parklands for a quick walk around the ponds. And to all bird lovers out there, it was sensational.
The air was really crisp, the sky was cloudy and there were a few people out for the morning run. But what blew us away was that there were birds everywhere! In fact, the first birds we came across were a brace of ducks crossing the road in front of us.
As we walked, we saw a walking track amongst some trees and decided to detour. Looking up and all we saw were bats overhead. Yikes, all hanging upside down in the trees or swooping overhead.
Hope you enjoy our photos for this weekend walk.
Disclaimer: We only took our compact camera (as per usual for our walks) so shutter speed and zoom was not the best for capturing birds 🙂
We wish you all a lovely week ahead!
wise monkeys abroad 