This is a blog where I post my favourite photographs from around the places I've visited. I am an amateur photographer and I am ever learning as I go along!
Showing posts with label scenic_weekends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scenic_weekends. Show all posts
Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28–42 cm in length. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. The loud distinctive call of the Laughing Kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve a jungle setting. They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. Even though they belong to the larger group known as "kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water. This laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is a large robust bird occupying dry eucalypt forest, woodland, city parks and gardens. Here it is perching on a gum tree in the Darebin Parklands in Melbourne's inner northeastern suburbs. This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme, and also part of the Saturday Critters meme, and also part of the My Sunday Best meme, and also part of the Camera Critters meme.
And here you can hear the kookaburra's laughing call:
Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.
Zürich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich It is located in north-central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich The municipality has approximately 390,000 inhabitants, and the Zürich metropolitan area 1.83 million. Zürich is a hub for railways, roads, and air traffic. Both Zürich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country. Permanently settled for around 2000 years, the history of Zürich goes back to its founding by the Romans, who, in 15 BC, called it Turicum. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6400 years ago. During the Middle Ages Zürich gained the independent and privileged status of imperial immediacy and, in 1519, was the place of origin and centre of the Protestant Reformation in German-speaking Switzerland, led by Ulrich Zwingli. Zürich is a leading global city and among the world's largest financial centres. The city is home to a large number of financial institutions and banking giants. Most of Switzerland's research and development centres are concentrated in Zürich and the low tax rates attract overseas companies to set up their headquarters there. According to several surveys from 2006 to 2008, Zurich was named the city with the best quality of life in the world as well as the wealthiest city in Europe. Many museums and art galleries can be found in the city, including the Swiss National Museum and the Kunsthaus. Zurich also hosts one of the most important theatres in the German-speaking world. This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme, and also part of the Saturday Critters meme, and also part of the Camera Critters meme, and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme, and also part of the Photo Sunday meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres. The river flows through the Werribee Gorge State Park before being utilised for irrigation of market gardens at Bacchus Marsh, then through Werribee where it is crossed by the Maltby By-pass. It then flows through the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Werribee Park, and finally the small coastal settlement of Werribee South before entering Port Phillip. This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme, and also part of the Friday Greens meme, and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme, and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
Port Melbourne Beach begins at the southeast end of Station Pier, running parallel to Beach St, and joins South Melbourne Beach further along, and eventually down to St Kilda Beach. The high rise apartment blocks and palm trees along Beach St give the locale a cosmopolitan feel, but looking out towards the sea, one can imagine oneself in quite a remote area. Nevertheless, it is only about 3 km south of the CBD. This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme, and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
The Chopin Statue is a large bronze statue of Frédéric Chopin that now stands in the upper part of Warsaw's Royal Baths Park aka Łazienki Park, adjacent to Aleje Ujazdowskie (Ujazdów Avenue). It was designed in 1907 by Wacław Szymanowski for its planned erection on the centenary of Chopin's birth in 1910, but its execution was delayed by controversy about the design, then by the outbreak of World War I. The statue was finally cast and erected in 1926. During World War II, the statue was destroyed by the occupying Germans on May 31, 1940. According to local legend, the next day a handwritten sign was found at the site which read: "I don’t know who destroyed me, but I know why: So that I won’t play the funeral march for your leader." The original mould for the statue, which had survived the war, made it possible to cast a replica, which was placed at the original site in 1958. At the statue's base, since 1959, on summer Sunday afternoons are performed free piano recitals of Chopin's compositions. The stylised willow over Chopin's seated figure echoes a pianist's hand and fingers. This post is part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme, and also part of theMy Sunday Photo meme, and also part of thePhoto Sunday meme.
And here is Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopin's Polonaise Op. 53 in A flat major for you!
This water purification pond is in the Darebin Parklands, a nature reserve close to where I live in one of the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The golden wattles are in bloom and Spring is in the air. This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme, and also part of the Friday Greens meme, and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
Venus, also known as the Evening Star or the Morning Star, depending on its position in the sky and its relationship to setting or rising sun. As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been a major fixture in human culture for as long as records have existed. It has been made sacred to gods of many cultures, and has been a prime inspiration for writers and poets. Venus was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC, and was a prime target for early interplanetary exploration as the closest planet to Earth. It was the first planet beyond Earth visited by a spacecraft (Mariner 2) in 1962, and the first to be successfully landed on (by Venera 7) in 1970. Venus's thick clouds render observation of its surface impossible in visible light, and the first detailed maps did not emerge until the arrival of the Magellan orbiter in 1991. Plans have been proposed for rovers or more complex missions, but they are hindered by Venus's hostile surface conditions. This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme. and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme, and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
Merri Creek flows about 60 km from the Great Dividing Range through Melbourne’s northern suburbs to the Yarra River. Merri Creek is an environmental, heritage and recreation corridor that draws its significance from its role as a continuous corridor as it does from the qualities of individual reaches. All areas of the Creek are important because they contribute to the linking of areas of environmental, heritage and recreational value along the Creek. At Coburg, one of Melbourne's northern suburbs, the creek has been dammed to form a lake. This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme, and also part of the Our Beautiful World meme, and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.
