Market

Pasar....drinks. Below: sugar cane crusher machine possibly to make fresh syrup for drinks. It goes well with ice and has been enjoyed in an infrequent purchase that breaks all the tourist rules.
 Is the drink, Jamu, Indonesia's secret weapon?  It offers a lot of well-being. As a popular herbal drink prepared according to traditional recipes it is probably intended to be a 'safe' healthy tonic. Alcohol is proscribed by the majority religion.
 The flavour of Jamu was resonable enough when sampled from a batch prepared by a small home based enterprise. An acquired taste, it covers all health problems. Far better bet than so called energy drinks.
 
  Tourists would hope that Indonesia does not become 'blacklisted' by the land of the free.  Apart from strife for the Indonesians, tourists who flock to Bali might find that it stands in the way of subsequent plans to visit the USA if they are keen enough to visit there.
 Possibly, Indonesians are not on the move to America and less likely to be targeted.  It is just as well that Saudi is not on the banned list as far as Mecca is concerned and if American non-citizens go on the Hajj. 

Dried prawn sized seafoods were a source of food in the market.  Farmed fish were kept alive in dishes and in inventive plastic pools filled with water.  Far from the sea yet fish was on the menu.

We could be mislead by the origins of fish that is farmed.  Fake news has been topical in the USA and there were a few media incidents here. Another time religious diversity had its moments.
In more recent years, state parliament refused to use the classifieds in one major newspaper and changed to the one-eyed News Corp daily.
Another parliamentarian decided against interviews by a leading ABC program in a longstanding ban.
There's been a truce.
Much much earlier, in the colony, public office holders were limited to members of certain religions until many restrictions were removed by British Parliament in 1829. (NMH, p32 29 Jan 2017)
We win some we lose some.  

Market

It can't be easy to pick a big heap of fiddly red chillies and other veggies. Chillies are indispensable.

Low tide

In Newcastle today.  Sand, surf, low tide, UV sunshine, yachts and how the PA system sounded.

Recycled footwear.

To market.  Like a change from the supermarket or from online shopping?

Totems, Worimi art work, Throsby Creek, Carrington, Newcastle.
Our country's good standard of living, in the main, means we are very fortunate. Thankful. Indulged.
As well as nationalism, the concept of a global community is very appealing.
Australia Day 2017

Gold Coast. Take the rail to Jupiters Casino.  Return in a limo after winning.  Sure.
There was a similar line to either the casino or Darling Harbour in Sydney but it was pulled down again.  Shame, it looked so good.  Not.

Seize the day.  As nations, stand up and be counted, unite, trade and do good.  Rise above inward looking isolationist attention seekers of the post-Obama age.

Would-be dictator manipulators on the loose. Al Assad, Putin, Jong'un, Durterte, Trump.  Who will curb them?

To One Nation sympathisers on one side and well-meaning protesters on the other side - why fall for the problems of the latest US Trump craze? We can do much better than that.

Anti-third estate, fake news, anti-intellectual, anti-environment issues taken to extreme, all or nothing, what ever it takes. Debate and nuanced approach rejected. We know better than to follow that example.

Road Trip

Horses for courses.  This is no action-packed adventure scene.

 Tractors  used to launch  boats off the beach. The little town had quite a few tractors. 'Blue bottles' had washed up out of the surf. The long string can 'get you' and is rather painful.

At this very time, President Trump is giving his inauguration speech, his wishful thinking. The speech is odd and weak. No policy on climate change.  Will there be a nasty sting in the tail?

 What are the chances of a heritage order put on one or two old beach-side holiday homes?  And there are far more interesting little examples then these. The houses are still found up and down the coast among the McMansions but for how long?  And a typical hotel redid its entrance.  I reckon it is right out of character.

Road Trip

 Read me. The tunnel had an exit after all.  Great progress is made on the M1 build. I seem to recall a section of the highway near the border was once like photo B - quite narrow and winding.
The photo was taken in southern Byron' where it was cramped and had outgrown the roads.  It is in good company, a similar fate has overtaken the hotspots in Bali. Tho in Byron the development is recent and with rules and regulations about every move no doubt.

The heatwave is hellish.  Hell fires and an afterlife was a common theme of religions and may no longer hold any sway.
  The funeral, as a rite, has changed and folk interpret death however they think fit sometimes with a nod to spirituality, reminiscing where the wake and the funeral become one.
  The old and the new.  Dignity and melodrama. The difference between concluding a funeral with Frankie and 'I did it my way' or with the antiphon, In paradisium, say with a magical over-the-top setting by Faure...
  May the angels lead you into paradise....lead you to the holy city....May choirs of angels receive you....may you have eternal rest.
  Mysteries abound.

Checking out surf at Lennox Head, which is significant in the surfing world and is a very easterly part of the continent.  Board riders are in the waves. 

Near Gresford out of town.

Twenty seconds in a country stream streaming. That's all.

Morning has broken to a light cool breeze, quietness, magpie sounds, faint swish of ceiling fan, toasted Turkish bread plus smashed avocardo and lemon juice and cup of tea - so far so very very good. 

surf

fifty seconds of cool water....that's all....nothing fake
pebbles as well as sand is not usual

surf

Think cool cool.  Completely uneventful video

artistry of the tree

In the north it's the season for these lovely spreading shade trees. Vivid green and fiery red. Are they exotics? very likely.
Our hot weather is currently over the top.  Have we shifted to another weather zone?  Is this what summer is like far inland? In many other places this is usual. We usually have mild weather.
 When the cool southerly episodes fail to eventuate, when night temperatures stay elevated,  after two or three days the whole house structure warms up and defeats cooling efforts.  We shade and close up the house during the day and open as much as possible after sunset and overnight.
Anyone for tennis?  It must be time for the punishing Australian Open.
 

food, artistry, trees

Near the hotel, the food from an Indonesian resto offered a beaut change of diet.
On its walls, works were exhibited and one, Spellbound, $250, was evocative of epic mythology.
 Gustav Klimt ... conservation? ... a note from the young artist went like this. 

My name is Agung Putrayasa.  I live in Indonesia, in a small village with my family.  My inspiration came from the work of artist Gustav Klimt and Nature. I am studying art at college and the sales of my paintings help me to continue my art education.  My message through my work is to say to the world the tree is most important for us all and our world.  Please save the tree and forests for our furture generations. Contact .......

The local drinking hole was inviting.

Obama's presentation is relevant, interesting and intelligent and he is a sound humanitarian.What's more there's irony and humour.  He is far too good for the narrow minded.
From now on, post Obama, I bet the news grabs will be big and boring and bound to rile many of us.

More of the anarchic township.  See it before it 'goes'.  So far it is not 'too precious' and is without a whole lot of the usual developments. People swim and float around, go canoeing or take their dog on a surf board. 
There were side shows on in the park and following on is the annual fish and chips event featuring fishing and a wood chop.

Splash!

 Jumping off a little old bridge was very popular. Anarchy prevailed in a village tucked away up north!  

On the service road a sign said something about a town with 'simple pleasures' and it was so right.  A group of all ages was lining up to jump into the clear deep water.

Gold Coast regency. There was no locating a single storey flat that we rented for a holiday quite some time ago on the beach front in Coolangatta.  The scene has totally changed. Or was it Kirra, the next beach?

Road Trip

Rabbit hole to a fantasy world or a black hole that's en route to Queensland.

Peaceful waters

Seeking peaceful times in 2017 and more than just 'going with the flow'.