weekly photo challenge: threshold
A threshold is a point of entering: that point just before a new beginning.
Krista Stevens at The Daily Post set the challenge this week: THRESHOLD.
We’ve chosen the Great Torii for this week’s theme – found at Miyajima Island, Japan.
This iconic Japanese gateway marks the boundary between the spirit and human world.
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the giant’s causeway: a natural unesco
Before we actually travelled, we would pseudo-travel: after work, as we channel surfed, we would always end up watching travel shows. And it was on one of those shows when we first saw and heard about the Giant’s Causeway. So when we were in Europe back in 2006, we added Northern Ireland to our list of countries to visit – and we didn’t regret it one bit.
There are 6 km of this unusual geological formation; polygon-shaped rocks piled on top of one another into columns. Formed following volcanic activity many million years ago, there are similar formations as well on the coast of Scotland – just across the body of water.
As the myths and legends go, Finn McCool, the giant had something to do with this hence the name. 😉
Admission gives you access to the visitor’s centre and pedestrian access to the Causeway. There are regular shuttles down to the Causeway but there is a small additional charge. There was the option to see the rocks from “bird’s eye” view by walking along the cliff track up above. Beware on windy days!!
The Giant’s Causeway is about an hour’s drive out of Belfast. And not far from it is Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The day we went it was so crazy windy, that we were not allowed to cross the bridge.
Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast were UNESCO Heritage listed in 1986.
To see the other UNESCO sites we have visited, visit our unofficial bucket list
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weekend walks: lake parramatta reserve
After what seemed like an extraordinarily long week, the weekend was finally here. This week’s walk was just a relatively short one compared to last week.
Lake Parramatta is about 20 minutes west of Sydney. The Lake Circuit is about 4½ km and took us about 2 hours – there were two easier, shorter walks but we opted for this one to break in our new hiking boots 🙂 It wasn’t a hard walk, it was just that we wandered off track occasionally for photo opportunities or just for the mere exploration factor.
We were graced with the presence of plenty of birds, insects and reptiles, fortunately none of the reptiles were snakes. And we saw mushrooms – lots and lots of mushrooms: from brown ones to yellow ones to bright fluoro orange ones.
This was the first of our weekend walks where we had to cross creeks or streams – really putting the new shoes to the test!
Although immersed in nature on this walk, the sounds of humankind is not far off. Competing with the trees rustling and birds squawking are the loud rumbles of planes overhead or the engines of cars passing on the main road nearby. Sadly, the sound of nature does get drowned out often. There is a spell of silence about half way in the walk where the tracks goes a little further from the main roads which made the walk much more pleasant!
Despite our ears not really feeling like we had escaped the city, our eyes were fortunate enough to enjoy the view of our surrounds.
Wishing everyone a happy Sunday!
Hope you have a great week ahead 🙂
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weekly photo challenge: street life
Taken on the back of the Andean Explorer as we pass through the towns of Peru.
Imagining the sounds of the street markets by the train tracks? Witness the hustle bustle?
Hope you like our entry into the The Daily Post photo challenge this week.
wise monkeys abroad 