Sunday, July 16, 2006

Some of my Favourite Photos

I came out of my house one morning to collect the paper, and there
at the bottom of the front stairs was this baby owl. I had seen five
owls in a back yard tree. Mum, Dad and three babies. They slept in
this tree at day and went out feeding at night. They were not always
there.This baby Barking Owl appeared in good condition. I left it
where it was and later on I saw it had moved onto the neighbours
fence and then into a nearby tree. The next day it was nowhere to be
seen.

This is one of two Paddle Boat Steamers called the Kookaburra
Queen that take tourists on cruises up and down the Brisbane
River. Lunches and dinner are served on board. In the background
is the Storey Bridge,one of five bridges that cross the river.
Work commenced on the bridge in 1935 and was completed in 1940.

I only include this photo because after we had left the Kookaburra
Queen,I looked back and there were these four woman on the bow of
the vessel doing a rather good impression of Leonardo DiCaprio from
the movie "Titantic".

This is a "swimming hole" at Mossman Gorge which is situated
12km from the township of Mossman. The dirt road winds through
beautiful rain forests. A 70km drive from Cairns takes you to
Mossman with a population of about 1800 people. It is the centre
of the most northerly sugarcane growing in Queensland. Visitors
to Port Douglas can take a 20km drive to reach Mossman, a journey
well worth doing.

This is the beautiful Bell Gorge which is in Western
Australia. To reach the gorge you have to travel down
the Gibb River Road.This should only be attempted during
May to September as during the wet season the road is
impassible. Bell Gorge is 238 km from Derby and 281 km
from Fitzroy Crossing, a three hour journey from Derby
and three and a half hours from Fitzroy Crossing. he falls
are reached by a one kilometre walk from the car park.
Once you have come to the top of the waterfall you may wish
to swim or relax in the top pool or cross, further up the
creek, to the opposite side. From there it is a reasonable
walk over the top of the hill and through the spinifex to
the bottom pool. Here is an excellent swimming hole and a
magnificent view of the waterfall and the gorge to the west.

I took this photo in 1975. I was visiting my sister Denise,
who lives in New York. She has a studio in Little Italy where
she paints. This was taken from her 5th floor loft looking
uptown toward the Empire State Building. I was in America for
five months and in that time I covered over 33,000 miles
travelling all over the USA and Canada. I found New York to
be one of the most exciting, vibrant cities in the world.
As much as I love Australia, I think I could easily live in
New York.

Lake Argyle is in the Kimberley district of Western Australia.
It is a remote but extremely popular tourist destination to
visit. Lake Argyle,is a artificial lake created for the Ord
Development River Scheme, an agricultural project. The town of
Kununurra, the centre of this scheme,was founded in 1963 for
this purpose. The farmers who use the waters of Lake Argyle,
grow maize, peanuts, sorghum and sunflowers. Cotton was tried,
but was not successful. Fruit is grown, especially water melons
which are transport to the East coast of Australia.
The dam is also Australia's largest with an area of 741 sq.km.
Located 70 km from Kunnunurra and 1127 km from Broome, Lake
Argyle is only a few kilometres west of the Northern Territory
border. There are cruises which are available and I recommend
the afternoon cruise as the sunsets can be magnificent.

6 comments:

Peter said...

Very good Warren, almost worth all the trouble.

Jim said...

I like your pictures, Warren.

Did you make it to Texas in your U.S. travels? It is like Australia except a little calmer in most places.

You're going strong here. Watch the nature of toilet seats you sit on.
..

Raggedy said...

Awesome post!
The owl picture is great!
Thanks for the tour!
Great pictures and stories about them..
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) meow hugs
(")_ (")Š from da Raggedy one

Meow (aka Connie) said...

The baby owl is just gorgeous ... lucky no cats got him !!
Mossman Gorge is a fabulous part of the world. I have some wonderful photos of there, taken last year, when we went to Cape York.
Have never been to WA, or America, but the photos are great.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a good week.
Take care, Meow

Merle said...

Hi Warren Great photos. Love the baby owl. You don't often see them about. It looked straight into the camera too.
The other pics are good too.
Take care, Merle.

suz_e_que6 said...

OMG....The Owl! gees! how many times do ya have to pull out the ole.."See what was in my front yard" photos! nice one Waz.. however,i've seen the 'startled' look & the "i need a rest" look everyday over the bookcase...r u sure its not a self portrait.... hehehe