sonny photos

Fossicking for Kangaroos and hopping gold at Hill End :-)

So after Orange, we arrived on dark at little historical town, Hill End ( gets dark at 5:30 here in winter now, crazy ) Next morning and the scene outside our bedroom, frost everywhere. We stayed upstairs in Hosie's old grocery store beautiful day coming up, but a cold one As it was dark when we arrived, I go for a little morning stroll before breakfast, and look what I spot on the block of land across from Hosie's
some kangaroos grazing in the morning sun trying to get closer to one of them relatively tame for a wild kangaroo church service couple more, probably enjoying the warm sun rays as much as I am Hey ! No fighting outside church


party's over off they hop big old pine tree where a church used to be, in its hey day, Hill End had some 52 pubs ( licensed and non licensed ),now only one left & well over a dozen churches and from memory, a population of up to 8000 at one stage, now just under a 100 remain After breakfast we drive up to one of the look outs,Beaufoy ( named after a local 1870's photographer ) and this is what it was all about Hawks Hill, see all the gravel on the side, there were about 20 mines along there and in the middle of that hill is where one of Australia's largest nuggets was found some 50 meters underground weighing in at close to 300kg, strike it rich the end of Hawk Hill and at the bottom of the photo, a still operating mine quite a lot of small alluvial gold is still found around these parts, so best we have a go to we got our pans and some one optimistically thought we would each need one of these jars to collect our small pieces we would find...for sure we gave it a go, but involved getting our hands wet and dirty ( dirty was not a problem ) but th water was ice cold, I think we might have to come back on a warmer day, say early autumn :-) all (cold ) hands on deck even though all is bushy, you can tell there was once a thriving community out here, judging by this old orchard
amazing blue sky day today finding lots of old artifacts, but.... after spending well over an hour here, still nothing in these little jars
we leave empty (cold) handed driving down the blue mountains, back to Sydney
"There's gold in them hills"

:-)

Duntryleague , Orange

After our bush walk in Lithgow, we planned to have the most amazing vegetarian dinner in Orange, about 50 km west of Bathurst ( sorry no photos - Jacqui will do a post of the dinner soon ) We discovered it about 3-4 years ago on our way to Dubbo zoo. Bodhi Garden in Orange it's called, and I'm guessing they are Tibetan, such a variety of dishes, all vegetarian and still some taste like chicken dishes and others like beef, very yummy. So when in Orange next, visit Bodhi Garden for a healthy meal. Speaking of Orange always wondered why it was called Orange, as there it is not an Orange growing district, so why the name.
It was first called Black Man's Swamp, after John Blackman who was guide, employed by Captain Percy. Then later on in the 1820's , surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell, who served in the Peninsula war as a aides des camps to the Duke of Wellington alongside, Prince William from Holland royal House Of Orange. So Thomas Mitchell named it after his dutch friend who went on to become the King of Holland.
Aniiiiiiiiiiiway, we stayed at the Duntry League historic house, always nice to stay somewhere like this as opposed to the sterile motels. Beautiful place just on the outskirts of Orange on a golf course. I've seen building before like this, but did not realize that those posts are solid cast iron, I just always thought it was a hard wood. So these iron posts were cast in Sydney and then shipped out ( some 290km ) to the country, back in the day, amazing stuff beautiful tiled floor, all individual pieces too, these are not tiles with a pattern, they pieces to make a pattern outside out room for the night ( yes, they did have an actual bathroom and we did not do it old school ) view from our room in the morning, they had a family room that we all fit in love me a good old iron lace verandah would look nicer in summer ( the barren trees ) inside After breakfast, see-ing as we are in wine country we visit some of the local vienyards Spring flowers are up early on one of the vineyards they had a little animal farm, Belle managed to touch one of the newborn lambs, only a few days old. Now drive of to Hill End.

Lithgow glow worm tunnel

straight off the plane and out to the country we go, this time to Lithgow, the track in the national park to the glow worm tunnel, which is actually an old railway tunnel from back in the mining days
So arrived yesterday, and today in the country, love it. But sadly we were out Lithgow way for a funeral, but as it was school holidays, we turned it into a little trip for the kids as well. The dark space in the middle of those ferns is the entrance to the tunnel, its a big tunnel ( big enough for a train )it has just become very overgrown with these lush ferns leading to the entrance inside the tunnel, and yes, we saw lots and lots of glow worms, but just could not capture it on camera. I t was pretty spectacular that's 3 kids, one with a tiny torch, and the other two lit up, but alas, no glow worms captured light at the other end of the tunnel

again, very lush on the other side, feels like we arrived in the " lost Land "

Jacqui and Evan tunred back to the car, while the girls and I continue on exploring very lush out here walking along the track, so much dampness in the air ,even though it is a blue sky day. Would be nice to come back one day on a hot summer day crossing little creek on a tree branch the entrance to the tunnel on our return journey
the girls at the entrance

at the entrance still but this time, me inside looking out after 5 min in the dark, we arrived back at the start of the tunnel made it. Lithgow's Glow worm tunnel, well worth a visit, bring a torch, but not a big powerfull one, small one will do, let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you will see thouands of glow worms

Hong Kong > Sydney

Quick Shower and steamed bun and off again not familiar with Hong Kong, but I guess this must be that new airport on an island of Hong Kong still a lot of apartment buildings Discovery Bay hong kong's disney land Ap Lei Chau with Lamma Island, so if I was sitting on the left hand side I would get a great view of Hong Kong I guess Aberdeen marina, with what looks like an amusement park zoom in, yes, Hong Kong Ocean Park South China Sea



somewhere around the Phillipines or Indonesia land ahoy, that would be Australia on the right, Croker Island , just of the Northern Territory in the Arafura Sea These Islands, just near Croker Island, the big one is called Mc Cluer Isladn and the small one I can't find a name for, but anyway, thse islands, even though they are in a sea as opposed to an oceam , appear to have the possibility for surf, maybe not often, but still zoomed in, and that's definitly waves hitting the outer reef the group of Islands of Croker Island no wonder it was so hazy remote part in the north, Arnhem Land at Junction Bay woauw, and look at the path of the river :-) zoom in and a screen grab from google earth Liverpool river near West Arnhem Edward Island in the Gulf of Carpenteria
Maria Island west tip of west Island
West Island beautiful, but wary of crocodiles, also, would be lots of crabs the ridged backs of crocodiles formed million years ago in the landscape and another day draws to a close a few hours out of Sydney. At least on this flight, as opposed to all of Qantas flights now, I am arriving in the evening, and not at the un godly hour of 5 or 6 in the morning ( depending on daylight saving ) And as well as now not being mr zombie jet lag all day, I got to see some amazing australian landscapes, have some dinner and go to bed :-)

London > Hong Kong

of we go again Somewhere near Poland I think The way the windows are set up, or rather the seats in Cathay Pacifics 747 is so annoying, I really have to stretch and contort my body to try and look out the window Russia going into night time china

nearing Hong Kong never been to Hong Kong ( transiting Hong Kong airport does not count ) and I guess there are a lot of Islands around Hong Kong and lots of boats

Brussels > London

The Schelde River making its way through Belgium into Holland and North Sea The bend in the river schelde at Antwerp closer look, anyone living in Antwerp will know exactly what we are lloking at here further down river, Doel From one smoke stack in Doel to another in one of London's suburbs, although this is more disaster looking, looks like a house fire great shot of London zoom in another look at that fire hope everyone involved are alright

Milan > Paris

nice summer colours on this departure day love this shot like a challenge :-)
love it one of the many lakes outside Milan at the foothills of the alps snow and melting lakes see-ing more of the Alps as opposed to on our way over to Milan







we were descending to land, and as I looked out the window, I thought , why is the captain accellarating to land ? And off we went again tht plane you see in front there, well, it was taking a bit too long to take off for this captains liking, adn he felt it un safe to land, when it was still on the tarmac , slowly taking off, so he did a TATA, turn around try again Will be going there soon for Raf Simons show at the Bourget Airport, where Gagosian has anb art galery set up well , with this Tata, get to see Paris disney world

Paris > Milan

and we're off again, so many planes dithis time Milan for the men's shows Lugano airport, there wasn't much to see of the Alps this time, covered in clouds Lugano and lake Lugano. Did you know that part of Lake Lugano belongs to Switzerland heading down to Milan





arrivato

Maldives

ok, so I know have 6 days of footage of photos from our surfing trip to the Maldives.
But with no real internet on the boat and instead having to use the limited bandwidth to upload photos for Tommy Hilfiger, it did not leave me with much time to keep this blog updated ( ooops, sorry )

And now it is Paris men's fashion week, finished Milan already.
So my dear friends, I will put Maldives onhold for a second as there are a lot of you fashion fiends out there keen for some boys in clothes, as opposed to pics of me surfing in the Maldives

but I just can't resist putting this pic up Chris Page from MAgic Seaweed took of me surfing, just look at that backdrop !!
Thanks Jonathan for the loan of the fins by the way
:-)

 

Lisbon > Dubai > Male

Lisbon airport, so after yesterday's surf lesson, it's of to the Maldives today with a very excited crew and we are off flying over Portugal into Spain

woauw, check it out, dam on top of mountain ? this is looking familiar, yes, it is Gandia, half way between Javea and Valencia and yes, there we have it, the distintive mountain Montgo de Toscamar and Javea woauw, looks so small from up here, can see the main beach, and the area my parents live leaving Sapin behind oh, but first the Island Sant Francesc de Formentera that sits alongside Ibiza ( can't see Ibiza as we are right over it ) looks like we won;t be getting many more photos now we did fly along the coastline of Algeria and Libya, so I got to see some of it , but too dark to take any photos we landed at Dubai at 4 in the morning, so now, 5 hours later ready to take of to our destination, the Maldives, exciting, never been Sharjah, just suburbs north of Dubai group of man made islands of Jumeirah, Dubai, which will look like a map of the earth once done, so if youhave the money, you can literally buy a country as an island aaah, Dubai Jumeirah beach and the famous Burj Al Arab outer suburbs of Dubai crazy how much development goes on here sand dunes turned into mini cities, complete with high rise building and villa's with lush green grass and another sub divisionm ready to go but looks like some time has passed between asphalt and first brick road to Oman near Hatta coast of Oman flying over the Arabian sea for a few hours and then we should be there and yes, after a few hours first Atoll sighting woauw, Atolls everywhere, and the colours amazing even in overcast and rain wonder if that's our boat for the week fast forward landing, customs control, baggage collection, meeting Jacqui ( yes, she flew over from Sydney day before and met us at airport ) buy sim card and now we are on our Dhoni boat to meet up with our boat for the week everyone is excited to get onto our boat, but we are all also very tired, the anticipation is keeping us awake and there she is clouds start to break up in time for our first sunset, we were all a bit dampened by the arriving in a downpour of rain, wondering if we would see any sun on this trip, but this sunset is a promising sign