The Blue Mountains – Katoomba New South Wales

Burrabarroo Lookout at sunset

In the garden – Katoomba New South Wales

Back verandah

‘Ladies Lace’ hydrangea

‘The Gregory Rose’

Holocaust Memorial Day

The first official Holocaust Memorial Day, based on the anniversary of the Soviet army's liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz on January 27 1945, was initiated by the Labour government in 2001.

The day aims to remind the world not only of the events leading up to and during World War II, but of subsequent genocides too.

Worlds rarest birds – An international competition

The Red-crowned Crane, Grus japonensis This amazing photo was captured by Huajin Sun, in Yancheng, Jiangsuin China. Cranes dance when looking for a mate, as part of an elaborate courtship ritual. Breeding in China and wintering in Japan, it is an iconic bird in the culture of both nations, featuring prominently in their art and poetry. The world population now numbers only 1,700 mature birds and is continuing to decrease, due to the loss and degradation of wetlands through conversion to agriculture and industrial development.

Orange Bellied parrots in Australia - photo by David Boyd

A Kakapo, a flightless parrot from New Zealand - photo by Shane McInnes

A Marvellous Spatuletail taken in Peru – photo by Daniel Rosengren

A Brazilian Merganser with ducklings, which can only be found on fast-flowing rivers in central Brazil – photo by Savio Freire Bruno

An Asian Crested Ibis, now only found in Shaanxi province in China - TheWorldsRarest.com

More New Gallery art – Auckland NZ 24-01-11

Thomas Gulliver Pied Fantail (Piwakawaka) 1919 coloured lithograph

A civil engineer by profession, Thomas Gulliver was a founding member of the Quion club, an association of amateur printmakers that flourished in Auckland between 1916 and 1926

Gulliver’s interest in making woodcuts was hampered by the scarcity of hardwood blocks in Auckland, although he was sometimes able to trade whiskey for discarded blocks from the local newspaper works.

New Gallery art in Auckland 23-01-11

Ian Scott, Sky Dash, 1969-1970, Auckland Art Gallery

Exhibition- Local Revolutionaries: Art and Change 1965-1986

Rangitoto Island Auckland NZ 21-01-11

Rangitoto volcano crater in the far distance. Exposed volcanic ‘rubble’ in the foreground.

Plant method for retaining moisture, since this island is both warm and dry.

Typical flora on the island. The oldest trees are about 200 years old and the island approx 600 years, the youngest in the Hauraki Gulf.

Pohutakawa tree still in flower, unfortunately we missed these spectacular forest trees in full bloom!

There are some 40 species of native ferns on the island.

Tiny silver grey butterfly or moth?

On the rim and looking down into the crater

View from the summit

Pohutakawa tree within the crater

We think that this might be a Bullfinch? Many British birds were introduced during the 1880’s by The Acclimatisation Society!

White-eye after a crumb

Typical ‘bache’ on the island – There are very few of these left now that Rangitoto is a botanical reserve.

The Ferry pier on the right

Auckland – North Island New Zealand 20-01-11

The magnificent Old Auckland Railway Station – now an apartment block!

Ceiling detail – main entrance hall

Interior tile details in the railway station waiting area

Corner detail in the Ladies Waiting Room

The Ladies Waiting Room

Floor mosaic in the railway entrance hall and booking office

‘Desert Country’ art exhibition - a must see!

Tjungkara Ken My Country 2010, Amata South Australia Polymer paint on linen

Art Gallery of South Australia - Desert Country exhibition 29 October 2010 – 26 January 2011 Touring Nationally 2011
Drawn entirely from the extensive holdings of Aboriginal art from the Art Gallery of South Australia’s pioneering collection, Desert Country is the first exhibition to chart the forty year evolution of the internationally acclaimed Australian desert painting movement, and to demonstrate the unstoppable reaches of this remarkable art movement.
Beginning with the exquisite watercolours of Albert Namatjira and his contemporaries, followed with rare examples of the first experimental paintings by its ground-breaking masters in 1971, Desert Country highlights the cultural fluidity between the principal Aboriginal art producing regions of the desert in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It culminates with powerful paintings from Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands of far northwest South Australia by some of Australia’s most outstanding contemporary artists such as Maringka Baker, Nura Rupert, Kunmanara Jimmy Baker and Tjungkara Ken.

In the air to ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’ 19-01-11

Resting in the Blue Mountains ! - Katoomba New South Wales

Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election –Greater Manchester UK 13-01-2011

Debbie Abrahams (Labour candidate) won with a majority of 3,558 over the LIb-Dems in second place

January 14 coincides with the anniversary of the conference, held in Bradford 14–16 January 1893, that proved to be the foundation of the Independent Labour Party. ‘That’s appropriate, Abrahams says, since the ILP was formed when working people decided that the Liberals could not be trusted to represent their interests.’

Tucson Arizona

Aftermath of the shooting - at a makeshift memorial in front of the University Medical Centre, Tucson, Arizona

AP Photo

Katoomba walk after the rains - New South Wales

Grass Triggerplant ?

Lush tree ferns after rains

Swollen creek near Prince Henry cliff walk

Katoomba falls – photo thought to have been taken around 1914 –1923

There are two main drops, the upper & lower, along with cascades. The descent from the top to the mid-point is via a moist rainforest gully, hidden from the sun by the tree canopy & cliffs.