In Which Al tricks his Audience.

Well no one guessed what this image was. Some people got part marks for the power-line in the background. But no one guessed a statue! I suspected when I cropped this part of the Digger's leg (wrapped in puttees) that people might guess a palm or coconut palm. It does look something like a palm taken out of context. This statue of a Digger (Oz lingo for an Aussie Soldier) is atop the war memorial in a tiny little town called Bonny Doon.
I guess he is suitable for an Australia Day post for two reasons: First copies of this statue (or a version very alike) are on memorials scattered through almost every small town across Oz (and many suburbs in bigger cities). He is an iconic Oz image. Second I actually posted a piccie featuring this Digger two years ago on Australia day. Which reminds me I showed a memorial of a different kind in that post. A memorial to three policemen murdered by “armed criminals” in 1878. I said I might post about those criminals later, but never did. Well strangely one of those three “armed criminals” has been back in the press again after over 130 years. I guess I should finally get around to keeping my promise and posting about them!

What is it Wednesday?

Tomorrow is a Public Holiday down here in Oz.

The 26th of January is Australia Day!

So I get paid to stay home!

Yay!

Now for What is it Wednesday?

I think I have picked a very tricky one today!
What on Earth do you think this is?

Hiding in the Carlton Gardens.

If you walk from the centre of Melbourne into the Carlton Gardens you can wander through graceful avenues of elm trees. Then at the end of the avenue you notice there is a massive fountain. Your eye is drawn further and you realise there is a grand building in the Gardens. The Royal Exhibition Building. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris this structure was built as a temporary affair for an International Exhibition. To be precise the 1880 Exhibition when Melbourne was the richest city in the world (thanks to 30 years of gold-rushes) and wanted to show off. Well they demolished half of the structure at the end of the exhibition but a last minute change of heart saved the rest.

The Royal Exhibition Building had a brief break from its normal duties in the early part of the 20^th Century when it acted as the first home of the Federal Parliament of Australia (our second and third Parliament buildings are in our Federal Capital Canberra). Since then it has returned to its normal duties as an exhibition building, It is said to be the only grand 19^th Century exhibition building still fulfilling its original function. When I was there between Christmas and New Year it was temporarily closed so they can lay a new floor. I had a peek inside, to give you an idea of the size those are trucks and forklifts down the other end. Not a bad landmark to have tucked away in a garden!

Too Easy!

Well I said the last “What is it Wednesday” was too easy.

Myrna Foster hit it in one with “It looks like a rock. Is the orange part some kind of lichen?”.

And almost everyone else was pretty close to the money.

I can see I am going to have to put on my thinking cap to find a tougher one for next week!

Anyway here it is, lichen covered boulders on the coast at the Bay of Fires on the North East Coast of Tasmania.

I shot this when we were down there last year.

Once again I have been criss-crossing the city today. I am managing the roll-out of funding for a dental health program for disadvantaged people across the whole State. At the moment I am holding meetings with public and community dental health units to finalise agreements. One of the feel good moments of working for government!

What is it Wednesday?

Well, tonight I am home late from work thanks to meetings on the other side of the city. I'm supervising the roll-out of a state-wide program which is interesting but a headache at the same time.

So straight into “What is it Wednesday?”I think this is a really easy one. What do you think?

By Public Demand

More Piccies of the Twelve Apostles.
Not strictly one of the Apostles, this is one of the popular viewing points. The people on the top give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs.
In the old days the Twelve Apostles were called “the Sow and Piglets”
Then some marketing genius suggested a rename.

After the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge these are probably the third most photographed scenery in Oz (Uluru – Ayers Rock is probably no. 4)

The Apostles lie on the Great Ocean Road only three or four hours drive from Melbourne (depending which way you go) and as you can see very beautiful.

I hate them because they are so busy (by Oz standards).

But I love them because they are so beautiful.

These next three photos show part of why I like them so much.Every five minutes they change colour

Two of them mid afternoon on a sunny day. (I took this Sunday past in a gap in the storms).

This one was taken about five minutes after the one I posted the other day (just before sunset last Saturday).

And this one was taken about 15 minutes later.

Stone, sunlight, wind and cloud all combining to create visual poetry.

By the way I don't think the Apostles are the most stunning part of the coast.

More of the coast next time.

Wild Weather

Well that one wasn't too hard: four out of eight people who commented said water or ocean. Although some of those did have a bet either way :-)

I was really impressed with some of the other guesses, pencil, ultrasound and wood.

Well here it is

I shot this on Saturday during my break. Deb and I acted as tour guides for Deb's sister down along the Great Ocean Road. It is meant to be high summer down here in Oz, but it was blowing a gale most of the time. And on Saturday evening it really clouded over. You can see the sun is bravely trying to poke through the incoming storm!

Fortunately there were periods when the clouds blew off but the wind was constant.

It is a beautiful section of the coast and I can never get enough shots of it. I will post more over the next little while but I simply haven't had time to sort them yet.

A sample though, The Twelve Apostles at sunset the evening before. Unfortunately the clouds had built up out at sea and robbed the evening of the rich sunset colour.

This was taken the same afternoon as my “What is it Wednesday” shot. I thought it illustrated how wild the sea was getting. These cliffs are about 45 metres (147 feet) tall. Those are navigation masts on top not golf flags!