To Ancient Egypt and Back

After a typical Aussie Breakfast of toast and Vegemite I left my hotel in a taxi for the Melbourne Museum (a ten minute walk away!)

 outside the front entrance to the museum

Mary is not quite so sprightly as I am and would not have been able to walk that distance – hence the taxi. Today we were to visit the Tutenkhamun Exhibition (I had been brought up to spell the boy king’s name Tutankhamen – with an E – but it has changed, as has the pronunciation)

No photography of any kind was allowed in the Tutankhamun Exhibition but since photos of the exhibits are in many books that I already own there really was no sense in trying to sneak snap! The exhibition was in dark rooms with spotlights on the exhibits so after two hours of reading and admiring these awe inspiring treasures, my eyes were really tired. It was almost overwhelming to be able to stand so close to these wonderfully preserved and intricately detailed ancient burial items. The audience were able to walk all around each of the exhibits and see them from every angle.

After a normalizing cup of coffee we wandered into the rest of the museum. The animal section was interesting because of the huge number of stuffed animals and the way they were displayed. One exhibit of possums appealed to my “photographic design” way of looking at things!

I just HAD to take a photo of the Tasmanian Tiger – this stuffed beastie was the very last of its kind – they are now extinct. It was in captivity before it died. The tigers were destroying sheep so were exterminated. Then it was realized that the species had been wiped out completely.

Another shot I tried (all, in the museum, were taken hand held with slow shutter speed and no flash) was of a rather magnificent stain-glass window. I am not sure of the reason of its presence in the museum but it is rather lovely. The lower part of the window did not have lighting behind it so I only aimed at the top two “panels”. remember that if you wish to see any of my pictures larger, click on them. Click the "Back" arrow to come back to this article.

Museums have really changed since my earliest memories of them – they are now far more interesting places to go into. I love the way that modern technology is used to further enhance the information about the exhibits. There was even a diorama that included two robotic dinosaurs (that I have taken video of to share with the littlies back home) they look quite real!

Coming out of the museum the weather had taken a nosedive – it was raining! It had better dry up by morning – I have another day of photography ahead of me!

AJ

Dreaming of holidays

My son suggested a trip to the Caravan and Camping Expo that was "on" this weekend. Naturally I grabbed my camera - it seems to enjoy coming on outings with me! Money might be tight but there were plenty of wonderful touring "outfits" to admire and pick ideas from. We have a fairly basic but large off-road camper trailer and have found it rather a pain to fold up ready for departure. I was attracted to one wonderful set-up that had a remote control that when pressed folded the camper down giving the single (single!) operator the time to wander from side to side to tuck in the canvas as the solid base folded over the trailer. Brilliant!
There were plenty of camper trailers, pop up caravans and caravans with pop out sides or backs, motor homes with bits that extended, awnings and fly screen dining areas that zipped on. Oh! All sorts of wonderful bits and pieces.

Here you can see just a few of the camera trailers - the tents are part of the trailers so can accommodate a family comfortably. solar panels were in great numbers as was running hot and cold water in the camper trailer set-ups. That made our seem VERY basic!

Steven is admiring the smart pull-out kitchen on one of the camper trailers - click on the picture and you may faint when you see how much it is! the trailer is magnificent and has everything you could possibly need - but it is still a trailer with a fitted tent, not a caravan.

Of course, if you have a camper trailer or caravan you need something to tow it with so there were a few people with suitable vehicles on display. My menfolk were interested in making enquiries about the vehicle in the centre of this picture - it is a "Great Wall" - I don't think I would be too keen on driving a vehicle that has such a name! They were impressed with it though! It is half the price of the Nissan that is nearest the camera. I must admit that it does look quite smart . . .
we have a huge country to explore - but all caravan parks have cabins in them and to use cabins in various parks while touring makes much more sense to me than paying so much for a camper that spends most of its life in the back yard.
AJ

Art in the country

Small towns are often full of surprises and one little place not far from where I live - but over the state border in New South Wales - is a little beauty. It is as small as a postage stamp and yet it attracts bus-loads of visitors every day and bigger crowds at the weekends. The town's name is Stoker's Siding. The little town started life as a dairy farm but a railway siding gave the necessary impetus for the town to grow. The reason the visitors love this place is due solely to the marketing skills of a very talented potter, everyone who comes here goes in to see the pottery and crafts that are for sale in a building that is close to 100 years old.

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The old building was once a general store and it has been lovingly maintained in its original form and is a photographer's delight! The panes of glass decorating the space above the main windows are not seen like this any more.

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I was rather taken by the unusual glass creations that were hanging inside the main display window. It was a bit difficult to take a photo of them with all the reflections on the glass - and even the circular polariser did not help very much.

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Inside the place is filled with the most exquisite pottery, paintings and works of art. If you want to see unusual glazes and huge platters and special pieces of pottery - this is the place to come!

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The train that converted Stokers Siding to a town has ceased to run and the grass grows tall between the rail lines, there are no noisy trains to disturb the peace any more neither to stop here nor to travel further north to Murwillumbah. The cows can graze in peace and quiet once again.

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The children must travel by school bus to Murwillumbah every morning and some creative parent has decorated the bus shelter. This must be one of very few bus shelters that does not have graffiti all over it.

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Even if you have visited Stokers Siding before, it is always worth another visit. The artwork in Stokers Siding Pottery is always changing and always interesting - and a new business that will attract visitors has opened next door.
AJ

Back o Bourke

When someone wants to express that they have travelled deep into the outback of Australia they say they have been “back o Bourke”. Bourke is quite a long way west – so I think we have been quite a bit back o Bourke in the past two weeks!
Today we visited Bourke – which has a most striking mural to welcome drivers entering the town.

Two “swaggies” (the name given to Depression days wandering tramps who would do odd jobs in exchange for food) with their packs (matilda's) on their shoulders striding off into the great desert away from civilization (through the farm gate).

Last year a special exhibition display was opened called “Back o Bourke”

We parked the car and paid our dues to wander through the three buildings housing the displays. In the first was an audio visual display which was very well done, then through an interesting dryland garden into the next building in which there were more audio visuals but no audio! We had been told there were headphones but we couldn't find any! So that part of the display fell a bit flat – instead I read out the bush poetry that was all around the walls and entertained Colin with my own audio! (He couldn't be bothered reading the poems for himself).

Outside again and into another building. This had all sorts of things to read up on the walls. We watched a rather clever presentation of a paddle-steamer making its way up the Darling River and listened to the commentary that informed the listeners of how goods were loaded and many other things too. Finally we followed the path that lead to the exit and found ourselves in the cafe! We nearly bought an ice-cream but realised in time that it would be melted into liquid the moment we stepped outside. When we did get out we found we had half a kilometer to walk to get to where the car was parked! Fancy the tour ending up so far away from where you start! We told ourselves that the walk would “do us good”!

Unfortunately we were unable to partake in a riverboat ride – there is a paddle-steamer that runs every afternoon. The river is so high that the paddle-steamer cannot fit under the cables and power lines that criss-cross the river! They do not think the paddle-steamer will be able to negotiate the river until well into November. We seem to be encountering many things on this trip that we cannot do!

To make up for that disappointment we took a short detour off the road and followed a sign to see some “carved trees”. We had no idea what these would be and curiosity drew us on. When we came up to a sign saying “road closed” our hearts dropped but we turned down a track and found that we had come the right way after all.

I did not know about the aborigines carving trees for their ceremonies so to read the boards describing where they were found and what they had been used for was a delight. These relics of a lost civilization are here in the middle of no-where and we were fortunate enough to be able to see them.

The carvings are quite masterful and nothing like the primitive art we have seen on the walls of cliffs and overhangs, nor like the painting that the aborigines are creating these days.

For me this was a real highlight of today.

Finally a photograph to show you the reason I wanted to head "out west".

The wildflowers after the rains - and the bush and the greenery are something like we may not see for many years to come. Australia is a land of extremes and most of the time the interior of this country is barren of plants except for the hardiest of trees and salt bush plants. This year the country looks amazing. The yellow in this picture is from millions of wild mustard flowers. They are very common but at the moment look stunning - back in our farming days our house cow once had a wonderful feed of mustard flowers and we were unable to drink her milk for quite a while!

AJ

Art in the sand

There is yet another Arts Festival on the Gold Coast of Australia. Over the past couple of years an area of land has been developed into wonderful parkland on the banks of the Broadwater at Southport. Not only is there plenty of lawn and lots of walking tracks but there is so much seating that the place is suitable for people of all ages. The buildings (a stage and buildings for cafes) are modern and the design of the park is not only functional but is pleasant to be within too. It is within this artistic landscape that a new festival has been started. I think that the greatest support for this festival has come from the Sculpture Society and its members. But whoever is responsible I hope that it will develop into something to look forward to each year.
The Festival has been given the name "Bring on Spring" and my photographs of many of the sculptures can be seen HERE.
Fortunately I wandered around the sculpture exhibits during the week because at the weekend I took my young Granddaughter along and she was much more interested in spending time in the children's play park! A different set of photos (not shared with the everyone) were taken there! However . .
There was something happening during the weekend that was not there during the week. A man was busy creating sand sculptures.

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We happened to arrive soon after he had lit the nostrils of his sand dragon and it was most impressive the way the flames were spouting out of its nose! We were sorry that we had not brought along a spade because we were inspired to try and create our own sandcastle!
Here are a couple more photos of the sand creations - there were two, a dragon and an elephant.

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While the exhibition was all for free this enterprising fellow had created his sand sculptures with a request for a coin donation to aid his employment! So I presume he was not an authorised participant in the event - but we enjoyed his work and he was a pleasant person willing to talk about his sand sculpting.
The workshops that I had read about and expected to find were not there. Maybe they will be there on Sunday but I am not prepared to return a fourth time to find out. Hopefully next year what is promised will be available at the promised times otherwise the public will not be very forgiving.
AJ