Did you know...

Fact for the day:
The first manned flight in Australia was in 1858 in a balloon. This was launched at Cremorne Gardens, Melbourne's first 'pleasure gardens' (precursor to amusement parks). Cremorne is a small suburb in on the edge of Richmond in Melbourne (and is where my brother lives).

An attempt had been made two years earlier in Sydney which resulted in the death of a child, not because the balloon crashed, but because there was a riot among the paying viewers when the balloon didn't ascend.

From: Aviation in Australia by Jill Blee

Blown away

No, my dog Amos isn't

flapping his ears. He is being blown (almost away) by a 30kt (approx 60km/h) winds (even at ground level) that regularly rip through the carport at work. Geraldton is a windy place.

Hence the trees struggle to grow straight.

This is the most famous leaning tree in Geraldton. Mainly because someone has made a clearing beside the highway and put 'photo attraction' signs up. There are better looking ones, but this is the easiest to photograph.

Everything including the kitchen sink

A new way to move house?

Note the guy holding up the powerline! Hope they weren't moving far.

Oh the strange things we see from our kitchen window in 'Trashfield'

Tourist attractions...?

The little town of Denmark in the South West of WA is known for its forests and wineries, but the main tourist attraction (at least they'd like to think that because I bet it cost them a bit of money) is the World's Largest Barometer!

It was donated by a retired Dutchman who landed in Denmark (perhaps the wrong Denmark??) 10 years back. He ran a barometer museum in the Netherlands and couldn't part with his 12m tall record breaking beast. So he brought it with him. Guess he couldn't fit it in his cottage.

Lost in translation?

Not Aldi?

Arty balls

Munich
London

Greenwich

Critters

This yacht owner must have done something really bad to a bird...glad I don't have to clean it!

Strange bird in Denmark, SW WA

Is it a rat, is it a wallaby....no, it's a Quokka

Lunchtime

Delightful day for a picnic lunch on a pile of wheat.

Just as long as we don't get blown off by the wind...

Man made

Thanks for the warning, but we can tell it's oversized by the SIZE of it!


I'm hoping that this turbine didn't just fall off!

Car tetris, Perth

'Black gold' (aka Canola) harvesting in Geraldton, WA.

Bedford Life

When I first moved to Perth just over 3 years ago, I lived in a house with two German guys. Two became 3 soon after I moved in, with the arrival of 'couch German' who paid equal rent for the second (or maybe third) hand futon in the lounge.
Cooking German style? Tattooed guy using his hairdrier to stoke the BBQ.

Lots of beer was consumed (often at 9am), video games played and Weiner Schnitzel eaten. Lots of cockroaches were also chased (with lots of yelling and screaming - by the boys, not me!). Ah the joys of share houses.
The strange rain forest outside my bedroom
Broken chair and fishing rod - the result of too much beer?

Hangovers are a bitch.

Soon enough I got sick of the loud music, filth and dog being alcoholic, so I packed all my worldly posessions (excluding dog) into a 3mx3m storage shed and headed north.

Signs of WA

Signs of the Irish

Got to love mixed businesses

in Rural Galway.

 Jacks of all trades they are over there

Question: Do they mean the view more people know of, or is it the best view they know of (there may be a better one, it's just too foggy and rainy to tell?)

The first time I went here I don't think I even saw the sign through the fog and rain.  The second time I got a better view of it.

What were you thinking when you saw these pics? That hookers are going pretty cheap in Galway?  Over there, hookers are fishing boats.  Get your mind out of the gutter!!!