jocoma

New Year’s Day outing to Calendar, it had been snowing.

The river was in spate due to all the snow and rain over the previous few days. The riverside path is under that water!

Mum (Sally) and Dad (Johnny) next to Tam Weir’s statue at Balmaha.

My Dad was 89 at the time of taking this photograph and my Mum had just turned 92 a few days earlier, yet here they were enjoying a day out to Balmaha, Loch Lomond on a bitterly cold winters day. They have survived being evacuated from Glasgow during the war, travelled the world walking and climbing mountains and valleys, were competitive badminton players, worked hard to earn money and bring me and send me off to college to get a degree, and in recent years have seen friends and family pass away.

Dad has new hips, knees, and despite being profoundly deaf still enjoys painting with his easel set up in the corner of the bedroom. He often looks at his hands while sitting at the dining room table and with an undertone of frustration mutters out loud, “If only these hands could do what they used to be able to do.” He has had to learn to cook and clean and makes some great spicy soups, which my mum does not appreciate and prefers a blander tasting soup.

Mum was fit most of her life and walked most places at a place Gurka soldiers would struggle to keep up with. A few years ago she suffered pneumonia, had a collapsed young, and started suffering from a heart condition. Now she only has energy to walk on flat ground at slow speed over short distances. A walk around the duck pond at the local park is a treat for her.

The Tay Road Bridge carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around 2,250 metres, it is one of the longest road bridges in Europe, and was opened in 1966, replacing the old Tay ferry.

I was surprised to see oil rigs being repaired at the Dundee Eastern Wharf Quay. Good to see some industry surviving here as the jute industry is long gone.

The North Carr Lightship is the last remaining Scottish lightvessel and one of only two lightships to have served in Scottish waters. The other being the Abertay Lightvessel.

The Lightvessel was established just over a mile and a half from Fife Ness at North Carr Briggs, marking the turning point for ships entering the Forth or Tay estuaries.

What a fantastic ship to spend some time on boar. Unicorn is a restored 46-gun Royal Navy warship, launched in 1824, with displays on naval life across 4 decks.

Mum, Dad, and Susan

The Tay Whale is an impressive sculpture on the waterfront in Dundee. Harking back to the whaling industry in the area which employed hundreds of people. Stands next to V&A museum and The Discovery sailing ship.

Photobombed by the old man again!

In camera movement can sometime make a dull photo more interesting. I think it works here.

Arran seen from Troon. What better place to enjoy the view than at a picnic table on the cliff top?

Aladdin’s cave on Arab Street does sell carpets. I cant vouch for how many will fly.

Enjoyed wandering amongst the hindu worshipers at Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, Little India, Singapore.

Wandering though the back streets on Little India and the Arab Quarter in Singapore., with Susan.

Little India, Singapore.

These was no way one of these was getting safely home on a Qantas jet. (:

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is a Buddhist temple and museum complex located in the Chinatown district of Singapore. The temple's monastics and devotees officially practice Chinese Buddhism.

At Goulburn rodeo on a hot summers day. All the cowboys were lined up, keeping cool with their Akubra hats on, getting ready for their turn to try and ride a bull for 8 seconds.

It's a tough gig trying to win money riding bulls. Most cowboys get dismounted before they reach the 8 second ride time (required to get a score). The fellow dismounted in style.

Film set for the Hobbit. Even had time for an ale at the Green Dragon Inn.

A Jurassic-like landscape featuring native bush, geysers, and mud pools. Loved this place.

Near Taupu, New Zealand, the Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupō in New Zealand.

On 3 February 1931, most of Napier and nearby Hastings were levelled by an earthquake. The collapse of buildings and the ensuing fires killed 256 people. Some 4000 hectares of today's Napier were undersea before the earthquake raised it above sea level. The earthquake uplifted an area of 1500 km2 with a maximum of 2.7 m of uplift.

The centre of Napier, destroyed by the earthquake, was rebuilt in the Art Deco style popular in the 1930s. Although a few Art Deco buildings were replaced with contemporary structures in the 1960s to 1980s, most of the centre remained intact for long enough to become recognised as architecturally important, and it has been protected and restored since the 1990s.

The volcanic black sands are a popular fishing spot at sunrise.

V practising her Manx Cat hand stand.

Te Rewa Rewa Bridge is a pedestrian and cycleway bridge across the Waiwhakaiho River at New Plymouth in New Zealand. Its spectacular shape make it a perfect spot for photography.

I had lived half an hour from this place and never knew it existed.

Built in 1987, now covered in waterlilies and surrounded by gardens the duck pond is the perfect place to sit and contemplate, chew the cud, or just feed the ducks.

I loved the dappled light on the water lilies.

Emerging from the sun light into the darkness of a tunnel, people walk purposefully to get somewhere in a hurry. They don’t seem to notice the curves and creases in the walls and ceilings playing with the sunlight, bending it, reflecting it, dimming it until it spills on the dark floor and disappears into the shadows.

The Taralga Rodeo and Campdraft, which is held near Australia Day, is a not for profit event and all money raised is donated back into the Taralga community.

Barangaroo is Sydney's newest and buzziest waterside precinct. An ambitious urban renewal project transformed this former container terminal into a hub boasting beautiful parkland, fantastic shopping, delicious restaurants and innovative architecture.

Whilst formally disbanded, a group of rebel NSW Police Officers continue to play the bagpipes as the NSW Police Pipe Band.

This annual Brigadoon event began on 21 October 1978, its principal aim to raise funds for local charities and bring tourists to Bundanoon in particular and the Southern Highlands in general thereby benefiting local businesses, guesthouses and hotels. Continuing to this day, “Bundanoon is Brigadoon” has become one of the most successful events staged in the area. From its humble beginnings of a handful of pipe bands and spectators, and is recognised worldwide and has grown to into one of the finest Highland Gatherings in Australia

The Queen Victoria Building is a heritage-listed late-nineteenth-century building located at 429–481 George Street in the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

A Qatar Airways Airbus A380 flies over Kurnell Beach befor landing at Sydney Airport

Waves at sunrise. Sawtell

Abbey Road Sydney

Forgotten Songs commemorates the songs of fifty birds once heard in central Sydney, before they were gradually forced out by European settlement. The calls, which filter down from the canopy of birdcages suspended above Angel Place, change as day shifts to night; the daytime birds’ songs disappearing with the sun, and those of the nocturnal birds, which inhabited the area, sounding into the evening.

Abstract shot of construction of One Sydney Harbour

Dark Spectrum, Wynyard Tunnels, York Street Sydney taken during Vivid Sydney.

Eagle-eyed Sydneysiders may have noticed that platforms in Wynyard station start at the number three, with a bit of a mystery surrounding platforms one and two.

The two platforms initially saw trams that once crossed Sydney Harbour Bridge stop on their journey through the CBD.

The trams were phased out through the 1950s with the last one arriving at Wynyard in 1958.

The tunnels then fell out of public consciousness, going relatively unused for over six decades, before getting their chance to shine as a part of Vivid Sydney’s Dark Spectrum.

No more Sydney trams, instead Dark Spectrum @ Vivid Sydney.

You might be mistaken for thinking this is a fire escape. Wrong! It’s one of Sydney’s best Tuscan inspired steak houses.

A lovely set of clouds at sunset taken near Adelaide after a day where most of the time was spent scurrying from shelter to shelter.

One of my abstract photos of a traffic light with the backdrop of a car park wall covered in different shaded reflective tiles. Loved the tone variability of the light reflected from the wall tiles.

I like Art Deco architecture and this lovely beach house in the Glen Elg suburb of Adelaide was a great sight to see. It had been beautifully restored to its former glory.

Another piece of Adelaide’s street art.

Looks like a hard lump of hard refined sugar mass. In fact its a natural geological feature. The shape is due to the erosion by the rain and wind over thousands of years.

Q Station was established in 1832 to quarantine early immigrants afflicted by disease. Upon arrival in Sydney, immigrants were stripped and forced to take a shower to clean themselves of disease.

Melbourne has to have some of the best street art on the planet. I took this shot having arrived at the end of the world.

Melbourne CBD from Victoria Markets. Where do all the kids that live in the city play?

Susan trying on a steam punk hat for size.

Colourful wigs in a Melbourne Market

I guess even Mickey Mouse gets a bit stropy when passers by ignore him.

Love the abstract shapes on some buildings in Melbourne.

A shop keeper in Victoria Markets Melbourne

Peppers

Flinders Street Station melbourne

St Kilda is full of fantastic cake shops.

Sydney Opera House in monochrome taken early morning in December

Cruise ship arriving at Sydney’s Circular Quay just before dawn

Sunrise over the Opera House sails was blocked by the large cruise ship for a short while. They are the sky scrapers of the sea.

Abstract from Sculptures by the sea

Garbage bins @ Sculptures by the sea

Sculptures by the sea

Sculptures by the sea

Abstract @ Sculptures by the sea

Helensburgh on a bitterly cold Boxing Day. Still one of my favourite places to visit when in Scotland.

Self portrate

For someone who loves knitting, this little shop in Helensburgh was a little piece of Scottish paradise.

Mum got an i-phone which she struggled to understand how to use. Instead of pressing buttons or swiping, she will poke and stab the phone in an attempt to make it work as desired. Such are the challenges of old age.

Wollongong Street Art