The final day of our road trip was spent travelling from Port Macquarie to Sydney via a detour to Foster and Newcastle. Pretty much unless you are in your 90s, death and blind don’t visit Port Macquarie there are only two pubs and you can’t go to the beach at night. Foster and the beaches around it on the other hand appeared much more appealing and would be certainly be worthwhile investigating. The drive into Sydney is spectacular as well.
Read moreYear: 2010
Road Trip – Photos 4 – Byron, Coffs Harbour, Roads and Waterfalls
After our visit to Movie World we headed south to Byron Bay, before staying the night in Grafton. The next morning we continued south to Coffs Harbour before heading inland to the New England Highway, then after travelling about an hour south back across to the Pacific Highway at Port Macquarie.
Read moreRoad Trip – Photos 3 – Stunt Driver
There are a number of live shows throughout the day at Movie World. One of the new shows is Stunt Driver in which a number of real movie stunt drivers show off their skills to a live audience. The premise of the show is the filming of a chase scene for a movie. The skill of the drivers in the show is absolutely amazing and shows you not everything you see in movies is computer generated.
Read moreRoad Trip – Photos 2 – Movie World
The first day of the road trip was spent at Warner Bros. Movie World. This was my first time at a major theme park and it was a fantastic experience. Photos from the Stunt Driver show will come in the next blog post. But here are 28 photos of other parts of the day, and this is only a very small selection of what is on offer.
Read moreRoad Trip – Photos 1 – Surfers Paradise
A friend and I have just spent the past few days on a road trip between Brisbane and Sydney. In total there are over 700 photos from the trip. I don’t have time to put them all online, but over the next few days I will be posting the best photos from each of the days.
To kick things off here are photos from my morning walk at Surfers Paradise.
Read morePhotos: Bring on summer – A day in Manly
I spent this afternoon exploring Manly in Sydney’s North. While the photos show a beautiful day (it was clouding over by the mid afternoon) the temperature was still quite cool. Bring on summer.
Read morePhotos: Wentworth Falls and the Valley of the Waters
Today I had time to spend hiking in the Blue Mountains at Wentworth Falls and the Valley of the Rivers. If you like waterfalls this is waterfall paradise. To add even more drama to the day we had a sudden rain storm come up the valley bringing massive winds and then we lost one of our party for about 15 minutes (they had walked ahead and failed to stop at a track junction).
Read more100% Pure Volcanic Homeland – Photos from NZ Trip July 2010
Below are some of the photos I took on my recent week in NZ. The location of the photos are Taupo, Orakei Korako and Rotorua.
Read moreA Relaxing Day Out – Pindar Cave Hike
On Sunday I went with the University Outdoor’s Club on a hike to Pindar Cave in the Brisbane Water National Park just south of Gosford.
Overall the walk was not too challenging, it is 14km and we completed the hike in 5 hours 40 minutes which included three stops for morning tea, an extra long lunch, and me being smacked in the eye by a swinging tree branch. With the exception of a 100 vertical metre climb at the start of the track the route is relatively flat and easy going. The only caveat to this is in places the track is very narrow and almost overgrown which just adds to the fun.
Read moreSydney Biennale
Today I went to the 17th Biennale of Sydney. I had planned to go when it opened but I kept on putting it off when I got to the weekend as I was lazy, or the weather was bad or I was busy with other events. But this morning I woke up and instead of being lazy I forced myself down to Circular Quay and onto the ferry to Cockatoo Island.
Arriving at Cockatoo Island on an overcast day brings with it an even greater feeling of mystery. In the past Cockatoo Island has been used as a prison and as a naval shipyard. It is said to have ghosts on it and that is something you can certainly feel in the air as you step onto the land. The exhibitions of the Biennale have been set up within the hundred or so buildings scattered about the island. There is a map in the guidebook of where each piece of art is but there is no set route around the island you are left to your own devices to explore both the art work and the Island.
A lot of the art is audio/visual consisting of short (and some long) films or a combination of sculpture and projected video. The best installation of this type was a circular room with video projected in 360 degrees. In addition to these installations there was also your more traditional modern art consisting of sculpture and a combination of post-modern objects mixed with everyday life.
In addition to Cockatoo Island there are a number of other galleries around the city with installations as part of the Biennale. I got off the ferry back into the city at Shed 2/3 and after that I walked through to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sometime before the event ends I will need to head through the Opera House and the rest of galleries to see the rest of exhibition.
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