Creepy Crawlies

In response to Thursday's post, Francie asked me if I'd happened to get shots of any Australian spiders. Thankfully, I didn't stumble across any...! I did however, spot this spider's web on the side of a rock face when we were at Huka Falls in NZ. This opening was a good 8 inches across. At the time, I turned to the lady beside me and asked how much I'd have to pay her to stick her finger in the hole!

I was actually much more horrified (& transfixed) by this colony of giant ants on display at the Sydney Wild Life exhibit. These are Bull Ants (Myrmecia) and can grow up to 1.6 inches in length.

(If you expand these pics, you'll see they are actually quite beautiful.)

They appeared to move incredibly fast on those long legs - I wouldn't want to have to outrun them. Their vision is superior and they can track and follow intruders from a distance of 1 metre.

Well known in Australia for their aggressive behaviour and powerful stings, 

the venom of these ants has the potential to induce anaphylactic shock.

I'm glad he's running the other way!

They Melted When Their Eyes Met Mine

When I was in Sydney, I managed to meet up with a few of my close & personal friends...

Angelina had her back turned, so I made my move!

Johnny's so hard to read - I wasn't sure if he was annoyed or constipated...

Keith was kind of busy, so I just admired him from the sidelines.

Leo told me his heart could go on - now that he'd finally met me :)

I was very surprised to bump into Heath!

Even JJ Hubby was a little star-struck :)

Sydney Australia, Part 2

Yesterday was our 28th wedding anniversary. JJ Hubby surprised me with this beautiful bouquet - he picked out the vase as well. I love getting flowers more and more with each passing year. Believe it or not, there was a time that I considered fresh flowers to be a complete waste of money - but I've slowly begun to appreciate them in a whole new way - they are fragile, beautiful works of art to be enjoyed - like our lives.

The afternoon portion of our Sydney tour took us to more lookouts, the famous Bondi and Manly Beaches and through a number of very posh neighbourhoods. The above bluff (which I had as my header pic a few days last week) is a popular site where many have unfortunately chosen to end their lives. In fact, an emergency Help Line has been installed along the main walking path in case some lost soul is having second thoughts. Finding this out certainly took away some of it's raw beauty for me.

 When we first arrived at Bondi Beach, this adorable couple immediately caught my eye! 

Totally mesmerizing. I could have stood at the water's edge for hours just taking pics. 

(All of these are definitely worth expanding :)

 Each scene is so transitory and unique.

 Love the layers :)

 Needless to say, I took a ton of shots!

This is Bondi Pavilion, which we had to walk through to get to the beach. It's a very interesting building with a colourful history dating back to the early 1900's when it was known as the "Playground of the Pacific". People bathed in the Turkish and 'Hot Sea Water Baths', danced in the ballroom and it was even used as an officer's club at one point. Nowadays, with a theatre, a gallery, music, art and pottery studios to name a few, it is the cultural hub of Bondi.

 Back on the bus, we headed over to Manly Beach.

The Macquarie Lighthouse was Australia's first lighthouse. First erected in 1818, by Francis Greenway (the famous convict architect, responsible for many significant buildings in early Sydney), the tower soon began to deteriorate and several large stones fell away as early as 1823. When it was commissioned, Greenway had correctly predicted the poor quality of the sandstone being used would result in rapid deterioration - and the tower had to be rebuilt in 1883!

 As we passed by, our tour guide pointed out a neighbourhood with a definite New Orleans flair to it.

 Not great pics, but I think you can get the idea :)

This is what's known as 'Federation' architecture and prevalent from around 1890 - 1915.

 A quick pit stop. We were pretty parched by the time we arrived at Manly Beach...!

There are over 200 stores concentrated in this area, from eclectic to high-end and everything in between; I sure wish we'd had more time there to explore them.

 The clouds that had hung around off and on all day now mysteriously vaporized.

The perfect end to a fabulous day.

 This beach seemed to have a colder, wilder feel to it.

 A last look...

Well, that was our nine hour tour - I hope you enjoyed it! I apologize for the heavy picture load... but if it's any consolation, I've only shown you a fraction of the pics I took :)

Sydney, Australia

Our time in Sydney, Australia was nothing short of wonderful. This scene was right around the corner from where we were staying - our hotel is just to my right on the same side of the street. Seeing the Sydney Opera House in person was definitely a dream come true. Above me spans the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge - this is where the fireworks are let off every New Year's Eve.

 Sydney is an exciting cosmopolitan city; and like all big cities, a cornucopia of very modern... 

and historical buildings.

Our nine hour tour included stops along a number of harbours and bays - this fabulous tree sits atop the bluff I am pictured by below.

 I really loved this particular spot - you can just see the bridge and opera house off in the distance.

 Here's one example of the many parks we drove by in the downtown core. 

At noon we exited the bus and boarded a boat for a luncheon cruise in the Sydney Harbour. 

We had a few drinkie-poos in celebration :) Oh, and the food was great as well!

Next post I'll show you the afternoon portion of our tour.

The National Dish

Both Australia and New Zealand are famous for their meat pies. You see them every where you go. They're the perfect meal-size portion, with a delicious crust thick enough to eat out-of-hand (but pretty messy if you do), and filled with every imaginable combination possible: lamb, steak & potato, bacon & egg. My favourite was the butter chicken, followed by curry chicken.

I saved you a piece... I hope you like butter chicken!

As The Crow Flies

Monday greetings, I trust your weekend was enjoyable - it was a long weekend here and a lot of people are still off work today - hopefully you're one of them :) I thought I'd share a few more pics today from our recent trip. When we were on our flight out of Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand, I was able to quickly snap these. 

These next eight are from when we were approaching New Zealand. 

Needless to say, I was pretty excited (& overtired) by this point!  

The scenery was truly magnificent.

This grassy mound (about 5 kilometres from downtown Auckland) caught my eye at the time. I've since found out that it is Mt. Eden, a dormant volcanic cinder cone whose summit (196 metres above sea level) is the highest natural point on the Auckland isthmus (narrow strip of land with water on both sides). A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep conical hill of tephra (volcanic debris) that accumulates around and downwind from a volcanic vent. The bowl-like crater is 50 metres deep. This volcano last erupted some 28,000 years ago.

Mt. Eden (one of about 50 volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field), is one of Auckland's most famous landmarks and is a great viewpoint for 360* views arond the city. Apparently because of the type of volcanoes in the this volcanic field, Mt Eden and any of the other existing volcanoes in the area will not likely erupt again.

Mt Eden, or Maunga-whau (the 'Mountain of the Whau tree' in Māori) was one of the most important Māori sites in the Auckland area. They lived here from about 800 years ago, building a pa (fortified village site) which was eventually abandoned in the 1700s. The cone and crater of Mt Eden are protected by law and visitors are asked to respect the sacredness and geological significance of the area by not climbing down into the crater.