Austral Realm - Australia & New Zealand
New Zealand - vast difference in water levels due to the tidal shift - the largest tidal shift in the world is Canada's Bay of Fundy
The south island of New Zealand, I could walk more than a quarter mile in ankle deep water before it started to get deeper.
Story Bridge spanning the Brisbane River. The Brisbane River weaves throughout the city and is the heart of the city and plays a big part in economy and lifestyle.
Economic and population growth in the Austral Realm has been constant over the past few decades and continues to boom. The CBD in Brisbane, Australia continues to expand.
New Zealand - eels, a lot of eels - I picked up some ground beef in the shop next door to feed them and they swarmed me.
New Zealand - Soil on top of rock – remnants of an earthquake, I was about two hours from Christchurch when the large Earthquake hit in 2011; this was from a previous earthquake.
Near Wellington, NZ - This is a hiking path through trees that gave inspiration for the Ent Trees from Lord of the Rings
Found this Mario Bros. Mushroom while hiking through the ’Ent’ Forest. New Zealand is arguably a safer place to hike as it has no poisonous snakes whereas Australia has many venomous snakes.
Abel Tasman National Park - one of the best running trails I've seen (north part of the south island).
Homeless people are seldom seen in this realm though there are a lot of wanderers and gypsies. This is a photo of Ben Hana - A.K.A. Blanket Man, such a stable figure in Wellington he acquired a moniker, he has since passed away.
I found it odd that pet food has it's own fridge/cooler section of the grocery. It boldly states on the package "Not for human consumption"
Do you think Bed, Bath, and Beyond would have a problem with this store?
I saw several of these large sidewalk vacuums. The cleanliness of a city speaks volumes to the pride a city has in its appearance.
Minyon Cliffs, New South Wales, Australia. Normally there is a waterfall cascading 100m over the edge down to the canyon, but with the record drought and heat it is bone dry. Thankfully no fires here.
Byron Bay, one of many beaches along the Gold Coast of Australia.
Traffic on the M-1 to the beaches. While the beaches are a popular destination, especially during the holidays. Traffic to the beach on the M-1; what should have taken about 2 hours, took nearly 4.
With the expansive amount of shoreline and beaches it is always possible to get a quiet and serene place all to yourself.
Antarctica
Antarctica has some of the most impressive mountains I've seen.
The vast majority of travel here is done during their summer (November through February). During this time the sun doesn't really set, and once past the 66th parallel it is constantly light.
Penguins are only one of many different types of bird species, there are Chinstrap Penguins on the Shetland Islands.
An Albatross wingspan can reach more than 11-feet across and they stay at sea for several years at a time before returning to land.
As I was on a Zodiac boat trolling around an island of Penguins this Kelp Gull was dive bombing the raft, I held up my iPhone pretty much behind my head as it was coming for me and I ducked and hit the shutter - this is the photo that that ensued (I couldn't have done any better framing, timing and sharpness) especially with an iPhone.
The Black Guillemot resembles a stealth fighter jet.
Giant Petrel
By taking kayaks and zodiac boats you can get surprised by a whale or two.
In the background is the type of vessel you are on to get to this part of the world. Traffic is limited so you don't see other boats in a harbor at a time. It is a very eco-friendly continent with strict rules about landings and prevention of cross-contamination and pollution.
During the summer months the snow retreats a lot and reveals a lot of the land surface, especially along the coastline.
So many impressive glaciers and snow formations
There are some structures dotted along the coast line - this is a shed with the semblance of the Argentinian flag.
RSS Feed
