We’re going on a cruise tomorrow. Watch this space and I’ll try to email some photos each day.
The cruise is on Pacific Star and visits Noumea, Lifou and Port Vila.
We’re all very excited about it. I’m looking forward to being out of mobile phone range for a week.
P&O Publishes a Web Cam if each ship in their fleet. This picture is a view from the bridge of Pacific Star at the moment. If you refresh your browser every minute you’ll see a fresh picture. The best times of day to view are during Australian daylight hours, i.e. GMT 2100 to about GMT 0800.
Each of these pictures offers a live view of a different part of Dublin – Ireland’s wonderful capital city. To get a more up to date view, just press the REFRESH button on your browser. The pictures update every 60 seconds.
If you want to know what you’re looking at, hold your mouse over the picture, or click on the picture to go to the webcam site and get a larger picture, or more information.
Dublin is on the same time-zone as London. the times are on the top right of each photo, but you’ll need to click on the photo and get the larger version of the picture to see the time.
Talisker is one of the best single malt whiskys in the world, and is made in a small village on the southwest coast of the Isle of Skye, which is off the west coast of Scotland.
Every time I taste its smoky peaty flavour, in my mind I take a short trip to that little distillery on the windswept, rain-soaked, mystical coast of Skye.
If you ever feel like visiting, but can’t afford it, buy a bottle of Talisker, close your eyes, take a sip, and you’re there already.
For a mind-blowing spiritual experience without any of the religious add-ons, why not try a total eclipse of the sun?
In December 2002, I indulged a lifelong dream and took my daughter Laura to a remote place on the Stuart Highway west of Woomera to observe a Total Eclipse of the Sun.
I am eternally grateful to Liz, who was very supportive of her “planet head”dreamer of a husband, and encouraged me to fly off to South Australia and leave her at home to look after two small kids.
We were originally going to Ceduna, but the forecast of cloudy weather caused us to change our plans and drive north from Adelaide into the desert rather than west to the Great Australian Bight.
7 hours north of Adelaide, there’s no such things as clouds, rain, trees or even hills. It’s just flat stony desert with lots of salt-plains thrown in for good measure. I took a video camera with me to film it, but didn’t really do the event justice as I’d never attempted solar photography before.
Nevertheless, I managed to salvage a few meaningful pictures from the tape, which I’ve posted below.
Please bear in mind that the images were extracted from a video camera, so they’re not as “professional” looking as those you’d get from a still camera. You can probably find much better pictures on the net, but these pictures mean a lot to me because I was there!
It was a very emotional experience.
I’ve read all the books about total eclipses, and thought I knew what to expect… but when it happened, it was still a wonderful shock.
The next total eclipse is in Libya and Turkey in March 2006. It will last over 4 minutes. I would love to experience it…. but it’s a long way away!
About 30 minutes after “first contact”. It took me that long to figure out how to use the camera properly.
About 40 minutes after “first contact”
Approx. 50 minutes after “first contact”
This is the unfiltered view of the sun just before totality. As you can see it’s still bright enough to dazzle the eyes.
A couple of minutes before totality, and the shadows cast by the sun have lost their crispness and have taken on a wierd crescent shape.
The landscape just before totality.
A strange twilight decends…
Totality. Only the corona is visible. I can hardly keep my hands steady.
Note the strange pillar of shadow that seems to descend from the sky.
Try to keep the camera still, Neil!
The “diamond ring” starts to appear as totality nears the end.
The “diamond ring” effect is quit prominent here.
Time to put the eclipse glasses on again!
Wow!
The partially eclipsed sun set over a flat, cloudless horizon. A perfect end to a day perfect for eclipse viewing.
The spectacular Batman Bridge crosses the Tamar near Exeter, about 30 km north of Launceston.
Built in 1968, it is unusual in that it is a hybrid bridge (the technical term is “asymmetric cable-stayed”).
One side boasts one huge “A” shaped pylon that is secured deep into the bedrock on the western side of the river. Cables from it support the weight of most of the bridge.
The eastern side of the Tamar is not as rocky as the other side, so this end of the bridge rests on a series of trusses.
This particular part of the river is known as “Whirlpool Reach”. It is much narrower, and the currents can be very strong.
(I think that glass is a bit big, Ewen).
It’s a dream come true for Ewen and Elissa.
As long as I’ve known them, Ewen and Elissa have had a passion for excellent wine. Eight years ago, they decided to follow their dreams and bought a farm near Ballandean in Queensland’s “Granite Belt” area. Working with Ewen’s parents Bob and Jill, they have transformed the farm into Symphony Hill – a premium quality vineyard that is taking the Australian wine world by storm.
In addition to the swag of Gold Medals and trophies they have won around the country, their most recent triumph was a Gold Medal at the prestigious Sydney Royal Show wine competition.
This success story is the result of courage and determination. It takes a special breed of people to leave their secure professional jobs in the city, and borrow bucketloads of money to build their dream. Add to that the sheer determination and back breaking work that is needed to prepare the soil, build kilometers of trellises, and plant hectares of new vines.
In 2002 that dream was threatened by some of the worst bushfires that the area had seen, with the blaze coming perilously close to the vineyards. Miraculously, the vines came through unscathed.
Today, Symphony Hill Wines is testimony to Ewen and Elissa’s uncompromising commitment to quality.
