Sunday Stills: Landscapes from The Great Barrier Reef to Machu Picchu.

Ed’s Sunday Stills Challenge this week, is ‘Landscapes’, which is a pretty all-encompassing subject. It can be anything from mountains and hills, to rivers, lakes and oceans, as well as indigenous vegetation, and even human elements, such as buildings and structures which help define the self-image of a region, and make it unique.

My first pic was taken from the Kuranda Skyway, overlooking the lush, tropical, World Heritage-listed rainforest in Queensland Australia.

Here is a view from ‘Cook’s Look’, the highest peak on Lizard Island, a national park on the Great Barrier Reef. Captain Cook named the island when he visited it in 1770  and remarked, “The only land animals we saw here were Lizards, and these seemed to be pretty plenty.” It is said that he climbed the peak to help him chart a course out to sea through the maze of reefs which confronted him.

Here is the stunning landscape that we saw whilst cruising past Hinchinbrook Island, one of the world’s largest island national parks. With its myriad of natural vegetation such as lush rainforest, rugged mountains and mangrove swamps, it’s considered to be the jewel of Queensland’s national parks.

Hopping across to Bali, the most famous of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, we see the beautiful rolling landscape of the lush green rice terraces. Balinese rice cultivators are famed all over the world for their efficient use of irrigation water, and the rich volcanic soil also contributes to consistently high yields of their crops.

One of the most truly awe-inspiring landscapes I’ve ever seen, is Machu Picchu, which you may have noticed, I have used as my blog background.

This 15th century Inca site is situated almost 8,000 feet above sea level, and was built on a mountain ridge overlooking Sacred Valley, some 50 miles northwest of Cusco in Peru.

Well, that’s all the landscapes I have time for today, as I must now go and pack for our trip to see our family in New Jersey. We leave tomorrow morning, and get back late on Tuesday.  It’s Sienna’s 8th birthday party on Sunday, so all very exciting. I may not be around much, but you can be sure I’ll have some pics for you when I get back.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my landscapes for Ed’s Challenge. To see more entries, and perhaps join in, just click here.