Anne's visit

Kay's niece Anne visited us and we had a lovely weekend dominated by culinary excesses. At the historic Vaucluse House we had high tea, which cost twice as much as the equally waistline-expanding Beijing Duck at Chatswood the night before (the duck went too quickly for a photo to be taken).

Northern Lights

Our disappointment with total eclipse viewing was more than made up by the appearance of the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights over several nights; thankfully the clouds kept away then.

The following were two of the photos taken, hand-held on a moving ship. Hand and ship's movement caused bright stars to appear as a small streak.

Eclipse near Faroe Island

On March 20th 2015, the Azores brought us to the path of the total eclipse about 100 nautical miles from Faroe Island, 62 deg North latitude. Unfortunately cloud cover meant we only saw about three seconds of the final phase before totality. Then we had nearly three minutes of total darkness.

Tokyo food court

Coin-operated ordering and payment machine for each stall; tray return stations scattered throughout the food court. Customers place trays with dirty plates directly onto aircraft type trolleys and wipe tables with cloth provided ; every customer followed the rule without any exception.

Kyoto Golden Pavilion

Not in chronological order, this one was taken yesterday. It's so good because it was taken by somebody else, an English speaking tourist who assertively took 6 shots from various angles. At least one has to come out right!

Near Iceland

Onboard the Azores sailing towards Iceland. Cold and windy which was to be expected since it was mid March and about 62 deg north in latitude.

Bell ringing at Bowral

Test post. Bell ringers from Christ Church St Lawrence ringing the new bells of Bowral Uniting Church.