JAPAN

Japan (Japanese: 日本 Nippon [ɲippoɴ] or Nihon [ɲihoɴ]; formally 日本国 About this sound Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, meaning "State of Japan") is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the southwest. The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SORRENTO, ITALY

Sorrento (Neapolitan: Surriento) is a small town in Campania, southern Italy, with some 16,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination which can be reached easily from Naples and Pompeii, as it lies at the south-eastern end of the Circumvesuviana rail line. The town overlooks the Bay of Naples as the key place of the Sorrentine Peninsula, and many viewpoints allow sight of Naples itself, Vesuvius and the Isle of Capri.

The Amalfi Drive (connecting Sorrento and Amalfi) is a narrow road that threads along the high cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea (we drove along there and it is not a drive for the faint-hearted!). Ferry boats and hydrofoils provide services to Naples, Amalfi, Positano, Capri and Ischia. Sorrento's sea cliffs and luxury hotels have attracted notable people, including Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti. Sorrento is famous for the production of limoncello, a digestive liqueur made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar. Other agricultural production includes citrus fruit, wine, nuts and olives. Wood craftsmanship is also well-developed.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

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SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

AORAKI, NEW ZEALAND

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, near the town of Twizel. Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, and Aoraki/Mount Cook Village lie within the park. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area's significant vegetation and landscape.

Even though most of the park is alpine terrain, it is easily accessible. The only road access into Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is via State Highway 80, which starts near Twizel, at 65 kilometres distance the closest town to the park, and leads directly to Mount Cook Village, where the road ends. The village is situated within the park, however, it consists only of a hotel and motels, as well as housing and amenities for the staff of the hotel and motels and other support personnel. The park stretches for about 60 kilometres along the southwest-northeast direction of the Southern Alps, covering 722 km2 on the southeastern side of the main spine of the Alps.

The valleys of the Tasman, Hooker, and Godley glaciers are the only entrances into this alpine territory that lie below 1,000 m. Glaciers cover 40% of the park area, notably the Tasman Glacier in the Tasman Valley east of Aoraki / Mount Cook. Eight of the twelve largest glaciers in New Zealand lie within Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, all of which terminate at proglacial lakes formed in recent decades due to a sustained period of shrinking.

This post is part of the Photo Sunday meme.

MT CONNER

Mount Conner, also known as Attila and Artilla, and occasionally found as Mount Connor, is an Australian mountain far into the outback of Central Australia. It is located in the southwest corner of the Northern Territory, 75 kilometres southeast of Lake Amadeus at the border of the vast Curtin Springs cattle station in Pitjantjatjara country. It reaches to 859 metres above sea level and to 300 metres above ground level.

Mount Conner is a flat-topped and horseshoe-shaped inselberg/mesa, part of the same vast rocky substrate thought to be beneath Uluru/Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta/Olgas. It can easily be confused with Uluru, since it can be seen from the road to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, when approaching from Alice Springs. It was named Mount Conner by William Gosse in 1873 after South Australian politician M. L. Conner.

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MOUNT CONNER, NORTHERN TERRITORY

Mount Conner, also known as Attila and Artilla, and occasionally found as Mount Connor, is an Australian mountain located in the southwest corner of the Northern Territory, 75 kilometres southeast of Lake Amadeus at the border of the vast Curtin Springs cattle station in Pitjantjatjara country. It reaches to 859 metres above sea level and to 300 metres above ground level.

Mount Conner is a flat-topped and horseshoe-shaped inselberg/mesa, part of the same vast rocky substrate thought to be beneath Uluru/Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta/Olgas. It can easily be confused with Uluru, since it can be seen from the road to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, when approaching from Alice Springs. It was named Mount Conner by William Gosse in 1873 after South Australian politician M. L. Conner. Attila is close to the site of Kungkarangkalpa, the Seven Sisters Dreaming.

The flat-topped mountain mass jutting out from the great flat plain around it has inspired many artists and photographers, each immortalising its characteristic shape in their own way. The last image is a watercolour by Albert Namatjira, the Australian Aboriginal artist active in the first half of the 20th century.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
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THE GRAMPIANS

The Grampians National Park (also Gariwerd), commonly referred to as The Grampians, is a national park located in the Grampians region of Victoria, Australia. The 167,219-hectare (413,210-acre) national park is situated between Stawell and Horsham on the Western Highway and Dunkeld on the Glenelg Highway, 260 kilometres west of Melbourne and 460 kilometres east of Adelaide. Proclaimed as a national park on 1 July 1984, the park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern Australia. The Grampians feature a striking series of sandstone mountain ranges.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
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NEW ZEALAND SOUTH ISLAND

The South Island or Te Waipounamu is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres and is influenced by a temperate climate. As it has a 32% larger landmass than the North Island, it is sometimes referred to as the "mainland" of New Zealand, especially by South Island residents; however, only 23% of New Zealand's 4.6 million inhabitants live in the South Island.

In the early stages of European (Pākehā) settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population and wealth due to the 1860s gold rushes. The North Island population overtook the South in the early 20th century, with 56% of the population living in the North in 1911, and the drift north of people and businesses continued throughout the century.

It is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3754 metres, with the high Kaikoura Ranges to the northeast. There are eighteen peaks of more than 3000 metres in the South Island. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, very high proportion of native bush, and Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The dramatic landscape of the South Island has made it a popular location for the production of several films, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

We have visited New Zealand many times and always enjoy the rugged, unspoilt beauty of the South Island. Here are some photos flying over the mountainous terrain of the Southern Alps and then emerging onto the Canterbury plains.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
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