Kazie Oz Pictures (Part IV)

Parliament House for the Northern Territory, locally dubbed the wedding cake.

A plaque in a memorial to the bombing of Darwin in 1942 by the Japanese. Zoom in twice, and you'll be able to read it all.

Newly developed area near the harbor, colosseum and wave pool, early morning with long shadows.

Same area, a little to the right of the previous view, seen through the elevator shaft on the access platform.

A church, rebuilt after Cyclone Tracy (1974). You can see the old part preserved in front of the entrance.

The downtown mall shopping area

Don't you wish interest rates were this good here now? Oz has hardly felt the recession due to long-standing protective fiscal policies of the government.

The main street of Darwin

The 'Roadkill Café'--as the sign says: "You kill it, we grill it". Again zoom in for the signs: emu, goat, buffalo, kangaroo and "impaled" camel are the meats represented, either in sausages or some other form.

A heron trying to compete for food at the fish feeding wharf.

A bar-shouldered dove raiding the bread intended for the fish. Kids were standing in the water throwing the bread with fish swimming between their feet.

View of Darwin Harbour from the park that runs in front of the hotel we stayed in.

View from that park along the street

Almost sunset over the water. So much for lining up shots--I cut the sun out of it, but it still looked better than the others with the boat in it.

The above pictures all from Kazie's Darwin Trip.

Kazie Oz Pictures (Part III)

In Katherine Gorge, the rock faces were different again from around Alice. We had time in Katherine to go on one of about 6 choices of tours while the train waited for us.

The one that got away... He was sunning himself, and as the boat rounded the rock I hoped to get a better view, but he decided to slip into the water.

A view down the gorge as we walked past the rapids to pick up another boat for the rest of the trip.

Also on the walk, rock art showing a roo. The red ochre is the most durable of the colors used. They say it penetrates about an inch and a half into the rock, whereas the other colors don't go as far. Then as the rock weathers, only the deepest colors remain, so the red is often dated at 20,000 years or more.

A view along the gorge

Kazie Oz Pictures (Part II)

Our first view of the Olgas, or Kata Tjuta. It is a collection of monoliths near Ayers Rock (Uluru).

Closer up to Kata Tjuta

Wild camels beside the road to Uluru

Alongside Uluru, showing the beginning of the walking path which circumnavigates it.

The climbing trail on Uluru. the fence to hold onto doesn't start until part way up. This is so that if you can't make it that far, you know you'd better go back before it's too late.

Caves in the side of Uluru

Caves in the side of Uluru

Around the other side, where it appears to be a separate part, near some of the rock art we saw.

Rock art under a ledge

Lizard on the side of the ledge

Pool at base of Uluru. The water used to be the purest anywhere, but people who climb the Rock have been peeing over the side and that has caused it to be so polluted that nothing can live in it now.

The first of four changing views at sunset as the light faded.

The last three (with me in it) are the others in chronological order. We were advised to take photos every 10 minutes while we ate from the buffet our guides served up. But the changes depended more on the clouds as they moved across the sky than the setting sun.

For Kazie's Oz Series, please click here.

Kazie Oz Pictures (Part I)

Emily Gap, in the MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice.

On the walk up to Standley Chasm, a ghost gum tree.

Standley Chasm. Around Alice there are a lot of these red rock faces, but this one is famous.

Australia's most common native bird: the galah, thought of as stupid, so calling someone a galah is an insult.

Ring neck lorikeets taking a bath. Many birds are surprisingly tame, though I was glad of the zoom lens.

Another stop in the MacDonnell Ranges, Jesse Gap

T-shirt I got DH, to give an idea of some of the odd expressions used there.

It's a sign that was common in Alice Springs establishments. There is a real problem there with aboriginal kids skipping out of school apparently. we were told that their culture discourages excellence--the philosophy being that if you try to succeed you think you're better than everyone else. It's the "lop off the tall poppy syndrome". so they don't care about doing well at school. There are also strict rules for everyone buying alcohol there, you have to show I.D. every time, no matter what your age. The rule is applied to everyone.

This is the Ghan train which we took to Darwin, with me and my friend standing next to the monument to the Afghan camel men after whom it was named. When expansion began in the arid areas of the country, they imported camels to transport goods because they fared so much better than horses in the desert. Now many of them run wild and I even got a picture of some from the road later on.

The above pictures are all from around or in Alice Springs, Kazie's first stop in the Northern Territory.

Kazie

Kazie & husband in front of the Little Rock Capitol building
March 19, 2010 Friday

Kazie WI Gathering

From Kazie:

"Dot and her husband Irv (82 & 96 respectively), got up to stand behind Andrea and me (I'm on the left) for the photo".