Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hong Kong 2/3: New Territories

Photo gallery: Hong Kong: New Territories

Here are pictures from several parts of the New Territories in Hong Kong.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Hong Kong 1/3: Hong Kong Island & Kowloon

Photo gallery: Hong Kong Island and Kowloon
Google Earth Position: 22°16'17.21"N 114°10'53.62"E

I spent one week in Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, Lantau Island and the New Territories as well as some 260 other islands.

This gallery is from Hong Kong Island and Kowloon which form the historical, political and economic centre of Hong Kong and are the core urban areas.

Well… I have too much experience from this magnificent city to write all here so if you want to read more about Hong Kong please visit e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong (especially Transport, Architecture and Economy part).

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Tasmania 4/4: from Freycinet Peninsula to Hobart

Photo gallery: Tasmania: from Freycinet Peninsula to Hobart

Nine Mile Beach – sandy dunes with grass

Forestier and Tasman Peninsula – south-eastern Tasmania

Freycinet National Park – consists of granite mountains and surrounded by azure bays and white sand beaches

Port Arthur – a site of an historic convict settlement

Tasman National Park – protects diverse forest and spectacular coastline

Richmond – a historical town with Australia's oldest bridge still in use

Hobart – the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1803 as a penal colony, it is Australia's second oldest and eleventh largest city, with a metropolitan population of approximately 202,000.

Mount Wellington – rising 1270 metre above Hobart’s harbour provides panoramic views of Hobart. Simply great finish of my Tasmania’s trip!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Tasmania 3/4: from Burnie to Bicheno

Photo gallery: Tasmania: from Burnie to Bicheno

Lactos Cheese Factory – one of Australia’s leading speciality cheesemakers; tasting of cheese

Launceston – a city of elegant architecture and award-winning restaurants

St Columba Falls – with 90m height the tallest falls in Tasmania

Bay of Fires – magnificent wilderness coastline eith its dramatic landscape

Bicheno – attractive and charming seaside resort town

Penguin Tour – great opportunity to see fairy penguins in their natural environment on their night life. Amazing!!! More photos at http://www.bichenopenguintours.com.au/

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Tasmania 2/4: from Cradle Mountain to Stanley

Photo gallery: Tasmania: from Cradle Mountain to Stanley

Cradle Mountain – a distinctive mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park

Table Cape lighthouse – built in 1885

Tulip farm – in the town of Wynyard

Wynyard – a rural town on the north-west coast

Stanley – Tasmania’s tidiest town; historical town

The Nut
– this striking volcanic rock formation is 152km high

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Tasmania 1/4: from Hobart to Montezuma Falls

Photo gallery: Tasmania: from Hobart to Montezuma Falls

Russell Falls – Tasmania's best known falls (Mount Field National Park)

Lake St Clair – Australia's deepest lake formed more than 10,000 years ago by glaciers (Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park)

Nelson Falls – one of the famous falls in Tasmania

Queenstown – a former mining town

Ocean Beach
– stretching for over 30 km is the longest beach in Tasmania

Macquire harbour
– an early penal settlement

Henty Dunes – a series of giant, 30 m high dunes

Montezuma Falls – at 104m they are one of the highest waterfalls in Tasmania

Trip to Tasmania

The map of my trip to Tassie. I spent six stunning days there and clocked up more than 2100 km.

If you like nature this is the island just for you! It was one of the best places of Australia I saw.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Sydney from above

Photo gallery: Sydney from above

These pictures were taken from the roof of a 37-level building, Sydney Tower and air planes.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

BBQ on Maroubra Beach

Photo gallery: BBQ on Maroubra Beach
Google Earth Position: 33°57'0.71"S 151°15'33.49"E

Maroubra Beach...

BBQ...

From 3pm till early morning...

Friday, October 26, 2007

Great Ocean Road

Photo gallery: Great Ocean Road
Google Earth Position: 38°39'30.15"S 143° 5'5.84"E

The Great Ocean Road is one of world's most scenic coastline roads.

It stretches along the south-eastern coast between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool and includes the world-famous Twelve Apostles, the Otways rainforest, various beaches and lookouts, resort towns like Lorne or Apollo Bay, and the historic villages of Queenscliff, Port Campbell, Port Fairy and Portland.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Czech music, food and beer

Photo gallery: Czech music, food and beer

We visited many Czech parties and restaurants in Sydney...

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Bondi Beach after the 30-year storm

Photo gallery: Bondi Beach after the 30-year storm

Summer is here... but how was the winter actually? Pretty windy, rainy and a bit cold.

And there were several heavy storms in Sydney and around. In the gallery you can see how Bondi Beach looked like after the biggest one.

Hunter Valley

Photo gallery: Hunter Valley
Google Earth Position: 32°49'58.59"S 151°21'14.37"E

There’s only one reason to come to Hunter Valley: wine!

There are about 120 wineries and cellar doors and 3500ha of vines. No other wine region in Australia comes even remotely close to this. Most of these are boutique operations, producing 500 tonnes or less.

During one day I visited several small family wineries and tasted a lot of wine , mostly Semillon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Mandala, Merlot, Verdelho, Pinot Noir , etc. Several of them were locally and/or worldwide awarded. And many of them can be bought just in Hunter Valley.

It was really terrific cellar door experience for me today. Plus I ate the biggest sandwich I’ve ever eaten :)

I must finish now; a great Semillon 2004 is waiting in the fridge...

Friday, October 05, 2007

Shots from Manly

Photo gallery: Shots from Manly
Google Earth Position: 33°47'49.72"S 151°17'16.94"E

Here are several shots from our favourite Manly Beach which we visited many times.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Darling Harbour Fiesta

Photo gallery: Darling Harbour Fiesta
Google Earth Position: 33°52'6.48"S 151°12'1.45"E

I experienced the sights, sounds, tastes, flamboyance and flair at Australia's hottest dance and music festival - Darling Harbour Fiesta!

Salsa, tango, bossa nova and rumba... with more than 70 performances across three stages and Latin in these three sizzling days and nights.

Fiesta simply brings together traditional and contemporary talent from across South and Central America and Spain.

Yeah, it was hot indeed! Look at my pals from Mexico and Poland :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Blue Mountains

Photo gallery: Blue Mountains
Google Earth Position: 33°49'29.70"S 150°15'10.25"E

The Blue Mountains are situated approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney and cover about 2.500 km2.

The highest point is Mt Werong (1215 m), while the lowest point is on the Nepean River (20 m). The mountains are named after the blue shade that they have in summer, as a result of oil haze from the plentiful eucalyptus trees.

Our trip involved the highlights (Three Sisters, Echo Point, ...), short walks and, first of all enjoying impressive views and spectacular nature all around us.

Annual Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Photo gallery: Annual Ritmo Brazilian Festival

Several shots of Capoeira (Brazilian fight-dance) taken at the Brazilian festival in Sydney's Darling Harbour and Tumbalong Park a week ago.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Nelson Bay & Anna Bay

Photo gallery: Nelson Bay & Anna Bay
Google Earth Position: 32°46'36.91"S 152° 4'59.79"E

Beautiful weather was the forecast for that Sunday...

Therefore I and my friend hired a 4WD (Subaru Forester 2.5) early in the morning, bought a breakfast at a petrol station and drove via Pacific Highway to the north to the Port Stephens area.

Our visits of Nelson Bay and Anna Bay included magnificent lookouts, long beaches and walking trips. But in spite of that desert driving was the most exciting experience of that sunny day!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Wayan's birthday party

Photo gallery: Wayan's birthday party

Here are several shots from a birthday party at the Beach Palace Hotel on Coogee Beach.

The pics were taken by Rose-Mary, thanks for that!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Fraser Island

Photo gallery: Fraser Island
Google Earth Position: 25°14'50.00"S 153° 9'5.12"E

We spent three stunning days on a World Heritage’s island.

Fraser Island is stretching over 123 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and is the largest sand island in the world.

It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes. There are long uninterrupted white sandy beaches surrounded by sand cliffs, over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured and many crystal-clear creeks.

We travelled with an international group of eight people from England, Switzerland, Sweden and Czech (just two of us). A 4WD car was necessary because there are no classic routes on the island. Travelling is possible through upcountry sand routes or on the long beach but just in particular time depending on the tide (according to an exact day-by-day itinerary).

The weather was excellent so we could fully taste the “pure sand flora” and magnificent lookouts. In spite of strict prohibition of swimming in the ocean we could suitably chill out in amazing lakes and fresh water creeks.

Despite of several camping resorts on the island we decided to bed down just on the beach. It was pretty challenging because there was nothing there but sand and roaming Dingoes.

Here are our several stops:

  • Eli Creek – wildflower-clothed dunes along the banks of Eli Creek for swimming in the fast flowing, clear, fresh water
  • Maheno Wreck – the trans-Tasman liner wrecked in 1935
  • The Pinnacles – sand dunes form cliffs of coloured sand in an amazing array of shapes and patterns
  • The Champagne Pools – the natural pools, washed by waves at high tide, trap bubbling seawater making them excellent swimming holes
  • Lake Wabby – beautiful emerald green lake is surrounded on one side by the massive Hammerstone sand blow and on the other side by eucalypt forest
  • Lake McKenzie – a beautiful blue perched lake surrounded by white sandy beaches and rich blackbutt forest. It is regarded as the most beautiful lake on Fraser Island

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Father's Day



First Sunday of September – Father’s Day in Australia.

Gift-giving to fathers and tonnes of shop’s flyers.

Family-oriented activities and charity events.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Living on Bondi Beach - Winter 2007

Photo gallery: Living on Bondi Beach - Winter 2007

Another half a year of living on the beach is gone...

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

La Perouse

Photo gallery: La Perouse
Google Earth Position: 33°59'22.68"S 151°13'53.43"E

Several shots from a trip to La Perouse in Sydney.

Located on the northern side of Botany Bay, La Perouse is a south-east part of Sydney named after Le Compte de Laperouse, a French explorer who arrived here in 1788. There are small beaches and great walking trails around.

There's a (poorly constructed) fort from 19th century in the Bare Island. Btw Mission Impossible II was shot there.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Coastal walk Tamarama to Bronte

Photo gallery: Coastal walk Tamarama to Bronte
Google Earth Position: 33°54'2.13"S 151°16'18.94"E

Several pictures from one of our many strolls along the Pacific Ocean.

Tamarama Beach is small and extremely narrow. It's considered the most dangerous patrolled beach in New South Wales, with more rescues per thousand bathers than any other of Sydney's beaches.

Bronte Beach lies just several hundred meters south of Tamarama Beach and in many respects is like a big brother. It is a slightly bigger beach at 250m long, but with bigger rips. Australia's oldest surf club was formed here in 1903.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

City2Surf 2007

Photo gallery: City2Surf 2007

City2Surf is an annual charitable road running event goes from the centre of Sydney to Bondi Beach. More than 60.000 people took part in this 14 km long competition this year.

Here are several shots from Bondi Beach.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Dee Why Beach

Photo gallery: Dee Why Beach
Google Earth Position: 33°45'13.87"S 151°17'47.43"E

Dee Why Beach is one of Sydney 's Northern Beaches (a continuous strip of around 20 beaches stretching up the coast from Manly to Palm Beach). The beach runs for about 1.2 km.

BTW the Northern Beaches are overall one of the wealthiest areas of Sydney.

The name Dee Why is unexplained. The earliest reference to it is pencil note in surveyor's book, "Wednesday, 27th Sept, 1815 Dy Beach" – but what it meant to him was not recorded...

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Royal National Park

Photo gallery: Royal National Park
Google Earth Position: 34° 7'53.83"S 151° 4'57.17"E

Royal National Park is the world's second oldest national park (after Yellowstone in the USA).

We enjoyed not only riding through and observing fauna and flora but also swimming in the sea, breathtaking lookouts, walking,... and picnic of course :))

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Cronulla

Photo gallery: Cronulla
Google Earth Position: 34° 3'59.81"S 151° 8'46.05"E

Here are several shots from Darook Park in Cronulla.

Cronulla is a beachside suburb in southern Sydney located 26km south of the Sydney central business district (CBD) directly reachable by a train.

The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of ethnically motivated mob confrontations which originated in and around Cronulla. Soon after the riot, ethnically motivated violent incidents occurred in several other Sydney suburbs, including Bondi Beach.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Sailing Whitsunday Islands (Great Barrier Reef)

Photo gallery: Great Barrier Reef - Whitsunday Islands
Google Earth Position: 20°17'35.79"S 149° 3'29.55"E

We spent 3 beautiful days and nights aboard the luxurious Alexander Stewart.

This tall ship is made from rich timber and has really a classic sailing charm. It is 21m long with 9 private double A/C cabins, inside dining room, showers etc. We appreciated the huge open deck area, just a few people aboard and fresh prepared food during the whole trip. Daily we ate from 9am to 10pm actually :).

The starting point was in the port town of Airlie Beach that we reached by airplane from Sydney and where we spent two nights. We especially enjoyed good food and midnight swimming in the local lagoon.

Our cruise led around the Whitsunday Islands that are a collective of continental islands of various sizes situated within the Great Barrier Reef including e.g. Whitehaven Beach. This 6 km long beach is recognised as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world because of brilliant silica sand that belongs to the purest in the world. Yeah, it was indeed one of climaxes of our cruise!

The sailing was divided into various activities e.g. walking through interior of islands, visiting breathtaking lookouts, swimming or just basking on white beaches.

But most of all we were impressed by snorkelling among many types of local fish. If we were fast enough we could touch several ones after all. Or when the crew threw feeds into the water just next to us we could immediately see decades of medium and hundreds of small fish all around us. Simply amazing!

The trip finished in Airlie Beach again and we felt fantastically relaxed and in a good mood from doing many other activities besides basking on the deck, eating and drinking.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Sydney Aquarium

Photo gallery: Sydney Aquarium

I spent several amazing hours with my Slovak mates in the Sydney Aquarium in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

It is one of the largest aquariums in the world with more than 6000 different Australian fish and other sea and water creatures displayed in their natural habitats. We walked "on the ocean floor" through 145 metres of several underwater tunnels.

I enjoyed especially these sections a lot: the Great Barrier Reef Oceanarium, the Open ocean Oceanarium and the Seal Sanctuary.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

USS Kitty Hawk in Sydney

Photo gallery: USS Kitty Hawk in Sydney

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) has arrived in Sydney Harbour for several days, accompanied by four other US navy ships. The ship holds about 5500 sailors and can carry up to 75 aircraft.

The huge extensive clearway (no-stopping allowed) and no-parking provisions have been put in place around the naval base in a bid to avoid a traffic chaos. Thousands of people wanting to catch a glimpse of the mighty craft are forced to use public transport.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

North Head

Photo gallery: North Head

North Head is a headland south-east of the suburb of Manly as a part of Sydney Harbour National Park. It is situated just opposite to South Head.

We found that this area is really nice for a walk, look at both the city and ocean and also for a picnic of course :)

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

New Zealand: Christchurch

Photo gallery: Christchurch

Our last stop in New Zealand was Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island situated midway down the east coast. We consider Christchurch one of the most beautiful cities we have seen in New Zealand, especially thanks to the pretty architecture, quaint streets and simply many nice parks and squares.

Moreover, our sightseeing was livening up with World Buskers Festival being held in many places of the city.

We spent two nights there but we had big trouble finding free rooms because of the Ping Floyd’s concert! We found two beds in a dorm finally. Unfortunately, it was pretty bad experience for me – I slept in a dorm for the first time and I really hope I’ll never have to repeat it :).

We flew from Christchurch back to Sydney and that was the end of our stunning vacation. Of course, another one started being planned on the airplane...

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

New Zealand: Hanmer Springs

Photo gallery: Hanmer Springs

Our almost last stop on the South Island was Hanmer Springs, a year round holiday destination offering a variety of outdoor activities, many times awarded spas and great cafes.

There we went for one of scenic bush walks that led us to a top of a mountain from where a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside was magnificent.

That day we also spotted something unbelievable in this part of the world – a legendary Czech car Skoda 120L! We pursued it for several minutes but then the driver noticed us and seemed not to like it at all :).

Friday, May 11, 2007

New Zealand: Larnach Castle Gardens

Photo gallery: Larnach Castle Gardens

Welcome to the flower stroll!

You’ll see several carefully selected macro photographs from the gardens of Larnach Castle. We spent there more than one hour and really enjoyed taking pictures.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

New Zealand: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

Photo gallery: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

From the west shore of the South island we straightaway moved to the opposite one, specifically to the town of Dunedin.

We have very sweet experience from there thanks to a fascinating guided tour around the Cadbury Dunedin chocolate factory accompanied by tasting Cadbury products along the way :).

We also explored Larnach Castle, the only castle in New Zealand (btw Australia has none). It was built in 1871 and is still privately owned. Instead of an interior tour we spent more than one hour in a glorious botanic garden adjacent to the castle. There we took many macro-photos, so I decided to place them into another photo gallery. We were thinking about staying in the castle overnight, but after all a camp fitted into our budget better :).

At the end of the photo gallery you can find several photos of aboriginal Maori people and their culture.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

New Zealand: Milford Sound

Photo gallery: Milford Sound

Another part of our NZ’s holiday led to Fiordland. Milford Sound is one of NZ’s biggest tourist attractions.

We decided to visit the fjord on a boat. If there was sunshine we could catch a reflection of these peaks in the water. But unfortunately, downpour of water is almost guaranteed in this area, so we could admire just parts of high hills sticked out from the clouds.

Anyway, several hundred meters high cliffs grown up right away from the water was really amazing. The cliffs were adorned with many long waterfalls and funny seals together with incredibly low fog :).

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

New Zealand: Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

Photo gallery: Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

We spent an entire day on the way through the Queenstown region. Thanks to very good weather we could enjoy magnificent mountains rising up to the sky from fascinating blue lakes. We were stopping unusually many times just to take pictures, we couldn’t miss anything!

Although Queenstown is quite small, it is a centre of this region and its mountains are famous for excellent skiing conditions. We liked the town a lot due to many nice small streets fringed by pubs, cafes, boutiques and neighbouring scenery as well. We consider it to be the most beautiful town we have seen in NZ, maybe because it’s very similar to Alpine’s villages.

Then we continued along large Lake Wakatipu to the West. With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealand's longest lake (and third largest). It is at an altitude of 310 metres.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Living on Bondi Beach - Summer 2006/07

Photo gallery: Living on Bondi Beach - Summer 2006/07

I published several photos from Bondi Beach that were taken during the summer.