114 posts from 2008

There was an exhibition of the silk painter Waratah Nicholls, when I was in the Nature's Powerhouse

 
 
 
 

Surrounded by the Botanic Gardens of Cooktown lies the Nature's Powerhouse. A place where you can get information about the plants and trees that the gardens house. The building has a permanent exhibition of paintings. There's also an exhibition of snakes, which is very interesting. We can buy souvenirs, t-shirts, books and informative games for children. On the verandah we can have coffee, tea, other drinks and a wonderful lunch. This is also the place where we meet friends. Here my daughter and I met one of the elders of the Guugu Yimithirr tribe.


 
 
 
 
click to enlarge!



Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter N for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme! BTW this is the bookshop.

To enlarge: click on" view all images" and then "on original view".

Rotterdam is the town where I was born 75 years ago, so it's normal that I start my tour in My World there.
Rotterdam is the second important city in the Netherlands, it had also been the first seaport in the world for a long time and still belongs to the main ports in Europe. In 1340 it got the franchise of a town and in 1360 it got a town wall. Before this time it was but a small fishing village. Rotterdam became more and more important, that's the reason why it was heavily bombed on May,14th 1940.Eighthundred people were killed and 800,000 were homeless. The towncentre was in ruins. After the war the citizens of Rotterdam worked hard to rebuild the town. Now there are some remarkable examples of modern architecture among the older buildings which were left unharmed. On our walk we took some photos of those buildings.

Rotterdam had the tallest building in Europe until 1923. The “Het Witte Huis” (The White House) was built in 1898 in American style, designed by architect W. Molenbroek. This 43-meter high building was built at a time when tall buildings like this were not a common sight; that’s why its architecture looks like an oversized house. “Het Witte Huis” stands out in the Rotterdam landscape. It is one of the few buildings that survived the bombardment in May 1940.


One of the major attractions in the Rotterdam architecture are the Cubic Houses, built in 1984 by Piet Blom. These are 39 cube-shaped dwellings which are still inhabited. If you’re curious to know how one can live in a house like this, you can visit one of them! Near the cubic houses there is the Rotterdam library, which also stands out for its pyramid-like shape: eight diminishing floors with yellow tubes around the building.

That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy & Tom - a Team of experienced bloggers. Thank you so much! For more stories of other countries in our world click on the "that's My World"logo in the sidebar

I had never seen a goanna before, so when at last I saw this one, I was excited.I was visiting a friend of my daughter's and we were having coffee, when suddenly this big guy appeared.."Be careful"they said to me, and with a reason! If you had seen its claws....You would also have been on the alert.



 
 
 
 

Being predatory lizards, goannas are often quite large, or at least bulky, with sharp teeth and claws. The largest is the Perentie (Varanus giganteus), which can grow over 2m in length.
The one I saw was not that large but its tail was very long. I must apologize for the poor quality of my photos, but I had to take them fast.
Not all goannas are gargantuan. Pygmy goannas may be smaller than a man's arm. The smallest of these, the short-tailed monitor (Varanus brevicuda) reaches only 20 cm in length. They survive on smaller prey such as insects and mice, and my daughter lost a turkey chick, which got out of its cage while a goanna was lurking for the poor little thing.
Goannas combine predatory and scavenging behaviour. A goanna will prey upon any animal it can catch that is small enough to eat whole. Goannas have been blamed for the death of sheep by farmers, though most likely erroneously, as goannas are also eaters of carrion and are attracted to rotting meat.
Most goannas are dark in coloration, whites, greys, browns, blacks and greens featuring prominently. Many desert dwelling species also feature yellow-red tones. Camouflage ranges from bands and stripes to splotches, speckles and circles, and can change as the creature matures; juveniles sometimes being brighter than adults.
Like most lizards, goannas lay eggs. Most lay eggs in a nest or burrow, but some species lay their eggs inside termite mounds. This offers protection and incubation, additionally the termites may provide a meal for the young as they hatch. Unlike other species of lizards, goannas do not have the ability to regrow limbs or tails.
For more exciting Camera Critters, click on the logo in the sidebar. Thank you so much Misty Dawn!

 
 
 
 

I asked
who was the goldsmith who created the golden sun,
who gave space to the stars,
who planted the moon in the field of the night?
I asked
who gave light to my eyes, colour to the gras,
music to the birds?


 
 
 
  Tom, Sandy, IMAC , Klaus, Ivar, Wren & Fishing Guy
Thank you so much for this great meme. For other wonderful skies all over the world click on logo.

To acknowledge the significance of the first known European contact with the Aboriginal people of the area, Cook Shire Council decided, as a reconciliation project, to have a Memorial to tell from an Aboriginal point of view.( see also the story of " Mary Watson and the Dingaal People" below)

Cook Shire Council invited local Aboriginal people to tell their story in ceramic tiles and build a Story (Milbi) Wall right at the spot where, in 1770, Captain James Cook and his crew first set foot.

Milbi is the Guugu Yimithirr (local Aboriginal language) word for story.

The Milbi Wall was developed by a group of local Aboriginal artists and storytellers, with assistance from a well-known potter and the Gungarde Aboriginal Corporation. The 12 metre long wall is divided in three parts and it shows the history of Cooktown.
The first part is the Dreamtime, the time that the indigenous people of Australia were the only inhabitants of this continent.
The second part is the time they came in touch with first convicts and later the Chinese gold diggers. This was a very bad time for the Aborigines. It traces the history of Aboriginal people from the early settlement times and the gold-rush days, until the Second World War.
Part 3 depicts the important 1967 referendum when the Australian people overwhelmingly recognised the right of Aboriginal people to equality with all other Australians and it shows the advances Aboriginal people have made as well as recognising the problems they have faced

The wall is made in the shape of a snake: the Rainbow Snake, the creator spirit.
The tiles are made by the inhabitants of Cooktown under the supervision of Roy McIver, a wellknown artist of the Guugu Yimithirr tribe. He is an uncle of my daughter's ex husband. She sees him quite often. I always meet him and his wife when I am in Cooktown.
Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter M for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme!




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In 1881 Robert Watson went to sea to collect beche-de-mer, leaving his wife and their baby and two Chinese servants behind. A group of Dingaal people came to investigate the building, when they saw smoke. Unknowingly the Watsons had intruded upon sacred land, where the Dingaal people were used to bring their young men to be initiated. A ceremony which didn't allow women to be present.One Chinese servant was killed and Mary, her baby and the other servant fled the island in a beche-de- mer boiling tank. Nine days later they died of thirst.
While every Australian knows this tragic story they often leave the rest untold. Many Aboriginal people were slaughtered in later retributions. The ruins of the Watson house are a terrible reminder of these tragic encounters between the original inhabitants of Australia, who have lived here for 50 thousand years and the newcomers.

Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter M for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme!

This week my daughter sent me this e-mail. She lives in Queenland and not far from Cooktown.

Crocodiles have been sighted near where Arthur John Booker disappeared on the Endeavour River, just out of Cooktown, yesterday.

The crocodiles were spotted by the Environmental Protection Agency conducting a survey of the area the evening after the 62-year-old man's disappearance.

"We did identify a couple of crocodiles in the area. One immediately downstream from the boat ramp and a larger animal further downstream about 200 metres," says James Newman, EPA Regional Manager for Cape York and Savannah.

Mr Booker had been staying at the Endeavour River Escape. In the morning he went out to check crab pots he had on the banks of the river but did not return.

Mr Booker's wife, Doris as well as other campers began searching for the Vietnam veteran before calling the police around 10 o'clock.

It is currently nesting season for crocodiles.

"Nesting season starts around September and obviously, if there is a female around here, she will be very protective of her nest," says Mr Newman.

Inspector Ian Swan says items belonging to Mr Booker were found on the banks of the river and in the water.

"Late yesterday afternoon we did locate some property," he says. "At the bottom of the river when the tide went we located the male person's watch and a further 100 metres downstream we located a sandal which also has been positively identified as the missing person's."

A video camera was also found near one of Mr Booker's crab pots. The rope on the crab pot had been severed but police say this wasn't done by knife.

Today, a team of 13, including EPA Crocodile Biologist, Scott Sullivan, are investigating where Mr Booker disappeared. One State Emergency Service boat is being used. Work began at 8 am.

Locals had seen crocodiles in the river prior to Mr Booker's disappearance. One crocodile, in particular, is known to live in the river.

"Charlie does live in this waterway," Mr Newman says. "Charlie is a large crocodile. I think he's about 4.8 metres,"

Mr Newman says Charlie was 'tagged' last year by the EPA and is 'considered docile'. The team does have a crocodile trap with them but won't deploy it 'until necessary'.

The EPA gave a briefing before the search began today, urging SES volunteers and police officers to be 'croc-wise'.

"We will be looking in the water today and having a look at the bottom to see if they can't pull anything off the bottom and so we need to make sure that they are safe during the search," Mr Newman says. "So what we are doing is making sure someone is holding their belt at all times when they're leaning over the boat."


 
 
 
 
click to enlarge.BTW This is not Charley! See also photos in sidebar.

Did you know that the Australian saltwater crocodiles are found in most estuaries of coastal, tropical Australia but can live quite successfully in freshwater streams and billabongs.Their diet consists of native animals and birds, but also cattle, horses, dogs and even men. They pull their prey into the water to drown, where they leave it for some time to decompose before eating.
Some time ago a party of some people were camping on the beach where they had a "barbie". They left some of the food on the beach and a croc was attracted to it. He went, however further and entered one of the tents, where he grabbed one of the men by his leg and tried to pull him out of the tent. Everybody woke up by the screams of the poor man. His mother came to help him, but the croc grabbed her, then another man came with his gun and killed the beast. It was an enormous creature, by the looks of it. I saw the photos!!
Well the croc on the photoslide is a different one of course, but no less ferocious.
A female croc lays about 40 eggs in a prepared mound of grass on a riverbank.

For more exciting Camera Critters, click on the logo in the sidebar. Thank you so much Misty Dawn!

 
 
 
 
When we were in Australia, we saw this sky just before nightfall.

 
 
This is what I saw last night in my own country Holland!


Tom, Sandy, IMAC & Klaus! Thanks!. For more photos click on logo.

 
 
 
 

Being in Cairns during the first weeks of our stay in Australia, we decided to go and see Tjapukai with a show by Aborigenes, about Aborigines and their history. After the show we went by skyrail to Karunda. The famous train, the history of which you can read in this post as well, took us back to Cairns. We passed the Barron Falls and got enough time to shoot our photos

 
 
 
 

The original Kuranda Scenic Railway is a spectacular journey comprising unsurpassed views of dense rainforest, steep ravines and picturesque waterfalls. This famous railway winds its way on a journey of approximately 1 hour 45 minutes from Cairns to Kuranda, the village in the rainforest.
The Cairns-Kuranda Railway was constructed between 1882 and 1891 and even today is considered an engineering feat of tremendous magnitude. Hundreds of men were employed to build the 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges that stand as a monument to the pioneers of tropical North Queensland who lost their lives while working on the railway.
Rising from sea level to 328m, the journey to Kuranda passes through World Heritage protected tropical rainforest, past spectacular waterfalls and into the awesome Barron Gorge. Upon reaching the village of Kuranda a rich assortment of interesting attractions and unique shopping experiences awaits you.

Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter K for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme!

This is another Australian plant, we saw, when we were in Queensland. It's the Banksia, named after Sir Joseph Banks, who was Captain Cook's botanist. Archaeological evidence suggests that banksias or Banksia-like plants have existed for over 40 million years. The first humans to discover and make use of Banksia plants were the Australian aborigines who used the nectar from the flowers as part of their diet.


The first Europeans to observe banksias were probably Dutch explorers who made several landfalls along the West Australian coast during the 17th and early 18th centuries. No botanical collections were made, however, until the discovery of the east coast of Australia by Captain James Cook in the Endeavour in April 1770..

 
 
 
 
In Western Australia the Giant Banksia is found and used to make souvenirs, which are popular with tourists. It stands to reason that we bought several of these souvenirs like coasters, a vase and a pencil container.
click to enlarge

 
 
 
 





Click to enlarge these photos.
Here you see the flower and the beginning of the cone which will develop into a far bigger one after a while.

Today’s Flowers is hosted by Luiz Santilli Jr. Thank you, Luiz!

This week I have chosen another Australian animal, I don't live in Australia, but I have recently been there. I live in the Netherlands, but go to Australia every year for a month or a bit longer to see my daughter and her family. Well here's the kookaburra.

 


1) Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Merry, merry king of the bush is he,
Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh, Kookaburra,
Gay your life must be.

2) Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Eating all the gumdrops he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, Stop, Kookaburra
Leave some there for me.

3) Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Counting all the monkeys he can see
Stop, Kookaburra, Stop, Kookaburra,
That's no monkey, that's me.




 
 

 


The "Laughing Kookaburra" is known by its name for its "laugh" which it uses to greet its mate after periods of absences. It can be heard at any time of day but most frequently shortly after dawn and especially when the colour drains from the forest after sunset.
One bird starts with a low, hiccupping chuckle, then throws its head back in raucous laughter: often several others join in. If a rival tribe is within earshot and replies, the whole family soon gathers to fill the bush with ringing laughter. Hearing kookaburras in full voice is one of the more extraordinary experiences of the Australian bush, something even locals cannot ignore; some visitors, unless forewarned, may find their call startling
It's very difficult to take photos of the Kookaburra.
When you see him, you don't hear him...

For more exciting Camera Critters, click on the logo in the sidebar. Thank you Misty Dawn!

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Click to enlarge the pictures. You can even see a wallaby (small kangaroo) in one of them.


After a long and bumpy ride we arrived in Jowalbinna, a campside, where we rented a cabin and a place for one tent. We climbed the hill you see in the distance. And we had a wonderful view of the campsite when we reached the top of the hill.
To our surprise we found rockpaintings, which made the difficult climb worth while.

Aboriginal mythological paintings may be found all over Australia and represent many different cultures. From time immemorial Aboriginal people have left their marks in caves on rocks and because rock is durable, we can still see today their rock paintings. Although many were made for ceremonial purposes, there are undoubtedly also markings just done for fun, like hand stencils and outlines of boomerangs. Some paintings are very ancient, executed many thousands of years ago. But not all paintings need to be that old: some were made within living memory.


Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter J for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.

 
 


 
 
 
 
The only flowers in my front garden in Holland, doing fine, are these sedum plants. My other plants are either preparing for winter or just dying.

Click to enlarge these photos.

Today’s Flowers is hosted by Luiz Santilli Jr. Thank you, Luiz!

 
 
 
 

All over the world people have seen the moon in various shapes as a full moon, as a crescent moon. The difference is that in Australia, and other countries in the tropical zone, the crescent is lying like a ship or like a dome over the country, while we in the more northerly or southerly regions see the crescent standing vertically. See the bottom most picture and compare it to the photos we took in Australia. We were amazed to see the horizontal crescent.

How was the moon formed? There are many theories.

The prevailing hypothesis today is that the Earth–Moon system was formed as a result of a giant impact. A Mars-sized body (labelled "Theia") is believed to have hit the proto-Earth, blasting sufficient material into orbit around the proto-Earth to form the Moon through accretion. As accretion is the process by which all planetary bodies are believed to have formed, giant impacts are thought to have affected most if not all planets. Computer simulations modelling a giant impact are consistent with measurements of the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system, as well as the small size of the lunar core. Unresolved questions regarding this theory concern the determination of the relative sizes of the proto-Earth and Theia and of how much material from these two bodies formed the Moon.

Thanks to the Sky Watch team. For more photos click on the Sky Watch picture

 

 
 
 

My books have always been my favourite things. Photos taken of me as a child, depict me with an open book, which I wanted to show to the photographer, in this case my dad.















I remember a conversation I had with my mum when I was seven. I asked what war was. My mother said that it was bad and people were fighting, I was told that as soon as the sirens were heard, I had to go to the nearest house to take shelter. So I could die, was my conclusion. Then I found a basket and put my favourite books in it. I told my mum, that these were the books I wanted to take with me, when I went to heaven.
I don't remember her answer, but I didn't know then, that there are no books in heaven. Still books are for me heaven on earth. When we were imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, we had to leave everything behind, so also my books. I remember that I destroyed all of them, for I thought:"If I cannot keep them, the Japs won't have them either!"
Favourite things are hosted by Blue

 
 
 
 

click to enlarge


After a long flight from Amsterdam to Australia, we had a stopover in Hong Kong.These are the surroundings of our hotel where we had booked dayrooms. While my grandson was sleeping and his father stayed with him, my daughter and I went to see the neighbourhood.See also my slide on my previous post.

Click on ABC logo for more interesting posts. Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt

H is for Hong Kong.


On 15th July, the four of us, left for Australia in the afternoon. After a twelve hours’ flight we arrived in HK where we had to wait 16 hours. Fortunately we had booked a day room in a hotel, which was wonderful, for we could sleep for at least some hours, have a shower, and a cup of coffee. My daughter and I went exploring the surroundings of the hotel, which was very interesting. The streets were very narrow and the houses were built in a way which would have been impossible in the Netherlands, where everything and especially building plans have to be executed according to strict rules. Nothing of the kind here in HK. Yet it was so refreshing and pleasant to see that people put plants in front of their houses and added a veranda to their houses if they wanted one. Apart from one lonely swimmer, the beach was abandoned and that was understandable, because a large sign warned people that the water was polluted and swimming was not advisable.
The hotel was good and situated partly under a long bridge. After a great meal we had to go to the airport again. We arrived in Cairns the next morning on the 17th July.

SIX WEEKS LATER:

We took leave of my Australian daughter and her children, but had a delay of ten hours, due to a typhoon in Hong Kong. We arrived, consequently, ten hours later in HK than planned. It was very chaotic: people were waiting in a long, long line. Others were sitting on the seats. My grandson was so tired that he lay down on the floor and fell asleep, his father was sitting by him.
We had to wait four hours, so at last we sat on the floor, talking with other waiting people. There was an atmosphere of fraternization. Until some people tried to “jump the queue”, then every body was angry, shouting:" Oy, who do you think you are!! We have been waiting for hours! You have to join the queue at the back like anybody else!". We all watched the offender, who reluctantly joined the long line and also had to wait four hours like us.
In the meantime it was 10 am and we got a place for the four of us in the midnight plane for Amsterdam .

Hong Kong
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Hong Kong was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1842 until the transfer of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulate that Hong Kong operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong is not considered as part of the Mainland China and remains largely self-governing, but defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of the government of the PRC Central government.
Beginning as a trading port, Hong Kong emerged as a leading financial centre in the late 20th century. Its highly capitalist economy is heavily based on service industries, and thrives under a long-standing policy of government non-intervention.

Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter H for ABC Wednesday Anthology and/or ABC Wednesday Round 3 For other fascinating H entries click on the ABC logo in my side bar.

 
 
 
 

All these flowers were found in the Tablelands, Australia : Orchids, Weeping Bottlebrush or Wilderness Red.The middle one is called Pentas Lanceolata.

To pick a flower is so much more satisfying than just observing it,
or photographing it ... So in later years, I have grown in my
garden as many flowers as possible for children to pick.
- Anne Scott-James