What was that?

Circular build, never the less, this is Australia Square, Sydney.

What will Putin do!?  Bide his time?

What we are hearing in the anthropocene. Sausage sizzle.
  Democracy Sausage.  Snag.
  Dog Whistle.  Donkey Vote.  Dorothy Dixer.
  Budget Black Hole.  Zombie Measures. Battler.
  Bogans. Smashed Avo. Psephologist.
  Two times - twice is rarely heard.

The author of this blog at work.  Weather forecast today 40C/104F,  here abouts that is as high as it gets.

On another point, at long last, the US Secretary of State, says it like it is about the 'holy' lands. A little and too late.

Midsummer nightmare

Heatwave today.  The growth in extreme high temperature events between 1910 and 2015. These are the days in the 99th percentile of the mean temperature for that day. Australian data from CSIRO  in Renew journal Issue 138 January - March 2017

Meteorology and CSIRO.... report that Australia's average surface air temperature and surrounding sea temperature have both increased by around one degree C since 1910.  Extreme heat events and fires have increased, while rainfall has decreased in the south and increased in the north.  Our oceans have warmed and become more acidic.......emissions reduction target of 26% to 28% on 2005 levels by 2030 is not sufficient to protect Australians from worsening heatwaves, bushfires and other extreme weather events.  Renew. Technology for a sustainable future. Issue 138, page 10.

Shakespeare and his band could be seen as entrepreneurial and took their audience to one country after another and to different epochs as a surprising device, although, it is presumed, location is a bit superficial. The theatre was the source of income.
The list is long.
  Naples, Verona, Milan, the frontier of Mantua
Windsor, Vienna, Ephesus, Messina, Navarre,
Athens, Venice, Belmont, the forest of Arden,
Padua, Rousillon, Paris, Florence, Marseilles,
Illyria, Sicilia, Bohemia, England, France, Wales,
London, Westminster, Kimbolton, Troy, Rome,
near Sardis, near Philippi, Denmark, Britain,
The Roman Empire.
 
Naturally, the texts were on the school curriculum and were very difficult but the spirit of the works was engaged with, the text was all, so other points went unnoticed such as the bard spent a good deal of his life in London often in different lodgings, during a plague and a new monarchy. Strathford gets a lot of attention.
King Lear is a might story.
The striking illustration, by Eric Fraser, is from The Illustrated Tudor Edition of William Shakespeare The complete works, Collins, 1951. In all, sixteen illustrations.

 As well as Italianate revival the Grand Paradise Hotel has other glorious features in juxtaposition. A marble spiral staircase and hallway with full size panels in relief are seen on the web site. All of which could well be outdone overseas but to see this property in Java seems very unusual. It is extensive spread out rather than up and surely with big overheads to match.
  Modern colourful budget hotels of compact design are springing up all over the cities of Java. For example, Ibis hotels, the name of which is probably termed eebis just to catch you out and the price is about a third of that in Newcastle. It seems to mean in some cases that older classic establishments are losing out and probably a world wide trend.
  Former notable accommodation original retro hotels are found to have large rooms and have lovely timber furniture say with carved panels and special old light fittings, beds of a massive size, a grand atrium, art works and even a hint of colonialism. The facilities are modernized but unfortunately there is a limit to that. 

'welcome to the hotel California this could be heaven or this could be hell'....the Eagles.

... the allegoric...fantasy..at the Grand Paradise Hotel among the retreats of hilly outer Bandung in Java. Grand Paradise - does that surprising name stack up ok?  Still, don't even think spiritual in Bandung, walls have ears

Garden at the Hotel Grand Paradise

...more of the.garden of Eden.....Hotel Grand Paradise.

Gardens in paradise

look beyond the balcony in paradise ....the sweet promised land......in a regency far away.

This is not from India or the Italy of Michaelangelo

.more of this curiosity....many mansions....it is in a regency far away...

....in my Father's house are many mansions......

....the sign: Paradise....

This is not ancient Rome

....sensational transport.....

This is not the Mediterranean

...pass through the portal now.....

we'll be immortal now....

...the portal.....

ICONOCLAST....its all about money....traditions are broken   relative to our local culture where nothing opened on December 25.

Time for the rest of the gang to find their place. On trying to organise a group photo.  Most others finished lunch hours ago.
 No hurry at Wests - West Leagues Club. Diners relax as if it is their own home where lunch is eventually followed by trips to the coffee bar and cakes then a drink and another chat.  Also the requirement to supply cold drinking water at a drinks bar is very useful and healthy.  

                      
                               Don't rush.  We need time to lay down memories. Children need time.
 
  Our grape vine before it gets plundered by birds.  The anthropocene is upon us.  In time populations and urbanization will grow and demand for food will increase .
  Grape production was very noticeable in the MIA and west to the border.  Miles of grapes.  Production and research of wine is a notable industry around the area.
  Wine is fine but is there scope for more essential crops if the time comes?

 

Believe this horse is Cliff, steady and reliable on track back to Victor Harbor (yes, harbor) from Granite Island on the Fleurieu peninsula (after a French explorer) of South Australia. A grand horse.

Once upon a time there was a nice horsey custom in Indonesia and was seen displayed in Yogya but the present day horses, as well as the cats, only haunted and disturbed me. 
Tourists in Kuta, and elsewhere hop in a horse and cart. Heat, one lane streets, thick traffic, hard surface underfoot, smog, noise, fat tourist groups and the small stressed out ponies were horrible to see late at night still dragging themselves around their head lowered to the ground. How inconvenient to notice 'incidentals' instead of the fun fun fun..My first world problem.

  

                                                              .......Merry Christmas to all and goodonya mates.....

Morrison and Niland An Aussie Night Before Christmas.Scholastic Australia.

Incursion into the 'regency' of Riverina

The city of Griffith and the surrounding farmlands of the MIA. . Remarkably, the city was designed on paper. None other than Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Burley Griffin did the designing and the city is named after a government minister.  The irrigation canal runs through town so to speak. The city is progressive and a visitor will find a round of special events.

'Victoria Gold' roses in West Wyalong.

Road Trip

Bird's nest. Red soil is the material that the 'potters' fetched and carried beak by beak full. The parents were vocal and warned us to keep away.
 By the roadside, a small patch yielded sightings of a lizard, birds, bird's nest, bees, an array of wild flowers, tall grasses a lavender coloured crop a buzzing silence and an over abundance of warm sunshine.

Farewell... vale... George Aditjondro.  Indonesian scholar.
During a sojourn at Newcastle university surely he stimulated new insights into South East Asia and in a measured way considering his background in his homeland where he did not avoid controversy.

   

two extremes

a rose named Confetti growing in the Riverina      

Almost out of frame, lizard with a very short tail, brown and leathery.  It seems these type of lizards have caught an illness which is under research. This one was swift. The lizard's head is at the top of the image. When visiting the West some years ago quite a number of them were seen on the roads.

Road Trip

A few of the flowers that grew beside the highway.  

A showy crop. Are they weeds?

Yes, adolescents must make the 'break' from their parents, learn to be 'street wise' and take some risks. 

All the same, schoolies week is not a good look.

School leavers roll into the Gold coast and elsewhere, and law enforcement takes on some responsibility to steer kids in the right direction.  

Other kids might go to Bali to live it up which is what Bali has to offer. And, believe it or not, Bali is in Indonesia, where tourism and lawlessness co exist with inscrutable policing. Law enforcement is on Indonesian terms which would leave the young or old visitor right out of their depth.  Only a  small minority get into strife and road accidents add to the toll.   

Really,  Schoolies week is an unfortunate tradition.

Alternative end of year schoolie destinations occur..  Believe some groups head to a needy culture to immerse themselves and do good works - all in a week's work. Could be from a church school, where church education largely amounts to raising issues of social justice..

Road Trip 6493ks

Camped by a billabong.............beyond Leeton

Road Trip

 To do with irrigation.  Pump house. West of town of Hay. The pipe seems big enough for an extra large supply.  

Road Trip

Orange blossom perfume was lovely and heady from the orchards throughout the  M.I.A. - an irrigated region.
  Nine thousand hectares of citrus grow Valencia Oranges in the main with some Washington Navel and others, as well as grapefruit, lemons and mandarins for export and domestic enjoyment and packed in 51 establishments.

  Now that the backpacker visitors have a new competitive rate of taxation, the growers hope to see plenty of visitors dependent on work on the crops of food or flowers in the great outdoors..

A handout pointed to a trend to high density plantings of citrus with 450 trees per hectare which is double the accepted rate. 
Planting direction is generally dictated by the direction of the slopes under the gravity irrigation system. For maximum interception of light, row direction should be north to south but this is not always possible.

Road Trip, Riverina

Irrigation. Construction of the main canal Griffith c 1919



Next,  near Yanco
Water storage from two far distant dams provide for the irrigation area via the Murrumbidgee River
                               

'UNESCO' and 'endangered' hovers over the coral reefs of Queensland.  The ocean has warmed up and as a consequence, disastrously, colour has drained out of areas of coral. Cycles of recovery occur but are predicted to be less likely with increased global warming.
  The minister to do with global warming wants to rest on his laurels. Can't we do better than his reasoning that if the coal mines (in Queensland) are not developed than another country such as Indonesia will produce more coal of a type that is more polluting.
 Saving the wonders of the reef and reduction of carbon pollution comes at a cost. There is a price to pay in money and jobs.

 The coral in the photo is a rather old souvenir that was found by chance in Newcastle. It is more colourful than the image and surely it is the natural colour.  Although I have been to the reef area I never saw the coral except for a bit of snorkeling where coral was not a big feature but the island was lovely. 

........................................Roses were splendid growing in the inland towns.

Road Trip

The town of Hay has a large enterprise that tells everything about sheep shearing heritage.  Sheep, wool, knitwear, knitting needles.
 The building offered a perfect opportunity to install solar panels. The garden was colourful.   Not far away were some sheep.  Flood water had spread far and wide.