Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Tilted

As soon as I saw Ailsa’s new theme, I thought of my header, which probably make you all believe that I spend my life reclining in a hammock between two tilted palm trees on the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora. I assure you that this is very far from the truth, although it would be very nice indeed. 🙂

On the subject of palm trees, I really had a problem with this one in Punta Cana. No-one heard my cries for help as I tried in vain to push it back up again. 🙂

Of course, one couldn’t possibly do a ’tilted’ challenge without including the most famous crooked edifice in the world, the seven storey high Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower leans a little bit more each year and was closed for repairs in 1990, when it was leaning fourteen and a half feet to one side. Engineers worked to stabilize the foundation, straightening the tower only slightly to help prevent irreparable damage without taking away the uniqueness of the structure.

Hubby made a valiant attempt to push it upright, but he just wasn’t quite strong enough.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my fun photos for Ailsa’s theme. To see more interpretations, just click here.

Two Tropical Paradises for Sue’s theme.

Sue’s ‘Word a Week’ challenge is ‘Tropical’, and she’s posted some amazing pics of an island in Malaysia where she has recently been on vacation, so do go and have a look.

I’ve been to so many tropical paradises over the years that I found it difficult to select just a few pics, but I restrained myself and decided to stop at just two and a bit.

Punta Cana is named after the palm trees native to that region, and literally translates to “Point of the White Cane Palms.”

It’s the major resort area in the Dominican Republic, and has an average temperature of 30°C. The pure white beaches are so beautiful, and there was just enough breeze to wave the palm fronds and offset the heat.

The azure sea is calm and safe for bathing and sailing.

It did make me wonder about this though, when I saw the old ship wreck just off shore.

Bora Bora in French Polynesia, is a seven million year island of volcanic origin, completely surrounded by coral reefs.

Its real name is ‘Pora Pora’ meaning ‘Firstborn’. There is actually  no ‘b’ sound in the Tahitian language, but the people who discovered the island thought the inhabitants said ‘Bora Bora’ and that name has stuck. It is located about 160 miles northwest of Tahiti, and was discovered in 1722. The author James A Michener described it as the most beautiful island on the planet. It is indeed a very romantic destination, and is very popular with honeymoon couples.

Its beautiful blue lagoon was described by the author James A Michener, as as “so stunning, that there are really no adequate words to describe it.”

 

We spent an idyllic week there, just lazing around as one is wont to do in the tropics. What more can be expected, when one has turquoise waters, lush scenery and lots of pampering? 🙂

Next stop was Tahiti. This was taken from our canoe, looking back at the island.

To see more interpretations of Sue’s theme, just click here.

Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Shadows

Ailsa’s travel theme this week is ‘Shadows’, and I was thinking that I would really be hard pressed to find any shadow pics in my albums. However, I suddenly realised that my blog header, when uncropped, has a great shadow. This was me on an idyllic vacation in Bora Bora, an island in French Polynesia.

One afternoon, we went across the reef to another small island, which as it turned out, had nothing of interest, and nowhere to even buy a drink. I knew then how people marooned on a desert island must feel. I sat in the only bit of shade I could find, reading my book for a few hours until thankfully, our boat returned to ferry us back to the resort.

Here is the shadow under the pier in my South African hometown of Umhlanga Rocks. I’ll be back there next month, and one of the first things we will do is go for walk along the beach and up onto the pier to watch the waves. I’ve really missed them.

On the same beach, this seagull also casts his own shadow as he proudly struts along the sand.

Here in Delray Florida, the sea birds also drag their shadows along the sand as they search for food. I think these may be Storm Petrels.

Here in Pompeii, the shadows cast by these ancient walls, must have been seen day after day by its citizens, as they went about their daily business, until that fateful day in AD 79, when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the whole city under 4-6 metres of ash and pumice.

Something far more up-to-date, are the shadows of the flags of British Airways cabin crew protesting just outside London about job cuts, and working conditions.

These weird-looking shadows in the town square in Nassau in the Bahamas, are from a very tall tree with bare branches. Also note the shadows of the air conditioners below the windows.

Lastly, here’s a structure you’ll all recognise. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, casts its shadow on the 180 foot tall Baptistery, which is made entirely of marble, and dedicated to St John the Baptist. Although it doesn’t look it here, the Baptistery is actually a few centimetres taller than the leaning tower.

Hope you enjoyed my shadow pics which I didn’t think I had. 🙂

For more bloggers’ shadow pics, just click here to be taken to Ailsa’s post.

Word a Week: Clouds #2

One of my favourite songs is this one, and it seemed rather apt for Sue’s challenge.

Bows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all  ~ Joni Mitchell

Here’s my second take on Sue’s ‘Word a Week’ Cloud challenge. Yesterday I got a bit sidetracked by the sweet little love birds, but today I’ve decided to give you some serious clouds. Just click on any photo to get a slide show.

Free State, South Africa

La Paz, Bolivia

Sunset Beach, Hawaii

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Machu Picchu, Peru

OK Corral, Tombstone Arizona

From my backyard in Florida

Phuket, Thailand

Delray, Florida

Venice Lagoon, Italy

Round Hill, Jamaica

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa

I hope you enjoyed my cloud pics. To see more, just visit ‘A Word in Your Ear’, by clicking here.

CBBH Photo Challenge: Blue

Marianne of ‘East of Malaga’ blog, has challenged us to post photos of something blue.

I think the most common sightings of this beautiful colour, are when we look at the sky and the ocean. Many of my travel photos show beautiful blue water, so that is what I have chosen. If you get a bit of blue sky thrown in, then that’s an added bonus. 🙂

“Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight.” — John Ruskin

The Great Barrier Reef, off the east coast of Australia is one of the wonders of the natural world.

Snorkelling in the Coral Sea, was an amazing experience.

The deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, viewed from the island of O’ahu in Hawaii.

Flying in to the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia; so many different shades of blue.

In the Bahamas, the turquoise blue of the Caribbean is matchless.

The sparkling, icy blue of Lake Titicaca, surrounded by the snow-capped Andes mountain range.

The greeny blue waters of San Francisco Bay.

The warm waters of the Andaman Sea in Phuket.

Last but not least, is the Atlantic Ocean. This photo was sent to me by my son, from Bermuda, a place I have yet to visit.

So many blues, so little time.

To view more shades of this beautiful colour, pop over to Marianne’s post.

Here are links to two blogs which I follow. Please go and have a look at them, they’re well worth a visit.

It’s always fun to visit Amy at “The world is a book.”

If it’s African wildlife you want to see, then Bulldog’s blog is the place to be. That rhymes so nicely, doesn’t it? 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Jake’s Sunday Post: Road

“The real winners are not those at the top but those who have come the farthest over the toughest roads. Your victory may never make the headlines. But you will know about it, and that’s what counts.”  Ernest A. Fitzgerald

Jake’s Sunday Post challenge “Road” had me searching through my photos. Hundreds of roads to choose from, but I’ve chosen a few of those which I remember the best.

Here we were in a busy main street in Hong Kong, one of the best places to shop in Asia, and an added bonus was, no sales tax. 😀

The main road on the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora, was definitely not a shopping Mecca. 😉

I never realized just how wide the Great Wall of China was until we actually walked along it. The section of the Great Wall at Badaling, is about 26 feet high and 23 feet wide at its base, large enough to allow six horsemen to ride along the wall. In mountainous northern China, it served as an elevated highway in ancient times. It was very impressive to see in reality, and we did what tourists do; wandered along it, snapping photos.

Of course we didn’t walk the full length of this road, as it stretches for almost 2,500 miles, from Central Asia to the East China Sea. 😉

At the end of our Li River cruise, we finished up in Yangshuo. As you can see, there’s not a car in sight on the road through this town.

On our way from Las Vegas to San Francisco, we stayed overnight at a place called Bishop in the spectacular Eastern Sierra region of California. The next day, we turned onto Highway 120, the road through Yosemite National Park. You may notice that I wasn’t dressed for the snow. It was the beginning of July, and I’d assumed that being summer in California, it would be really warm.

Another very snowy road, is this one on our way from Thermopolis to Rapid City, on our road trip to Yellowstone Park. We didn’t expect that at the end of May, we would have such wintry weather and with blizzards too.

Driving along the road through Yellowstone, we encountered some rather unusual pedestrians. These Bison thought the road was built for their use. At one stage, we had to wait behind a whole herd, until they decided to move off the road and back onto the grass.

This beach-side road in Bali, yielded quite a few treasures worthy of purchase.

Here is one of the roads through the main shopping area of Phuket. As you can see, once again,  the main mode of transport in this Asian town, is also by bicycle and motorbike.

Well I guess that’s enough roads for one challenge. My post is beginning to remind me of that old Bob Dylan song, “Blowing in the wind………..How many roads must a man walk down…….”

Have a great day everyone, whatever road you may be travelling on.

 

 

 

 

Travel Photo theme ‘Oceans’

Ailsa’s travel photo theme this week is ‘Oceans’, in honour or World Ocean day which was on June 8th. The five oceans of the earth are the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Antarctic Ocean, which is also called the Southern Ocean.

My home in South Africa is just a few yards from the Indian Ocean, which stretches from the east coast of Africa across to the west coast of Australia, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. I can see it when I look out of my bedroom window. Sometimes it’s grey and foreboding,

but today it’s blue and enticing.

We often go walking along the ocean front, past the new pier,

and the lighthouse, which has been around since 1954.

Whilst on a cruise of the Great Barrier Reef, we went snorkelling in the Coral Sea, which is right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

A few years ago, as our plane flew into Bora Bora in French Polynesia, we could look down and see the beautiful blues of  yet another part of the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on earth, which stretches from the western side of North and South America across to Asia and north to south from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Here is a photo taken next to the north Atlantic Ocean when we visited Casablanca, Morocco, a few years ago.

This same blonde woman who often pops up in hubby’s photos, (I’ll have to ask him who she is), 😉 is standing next to the south Atlantic Ocean at Copacabana Beach in Rio. You can see Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

The Arctic and Antarctic oceans will probably never be on our ‘to visit’ list. I think we’d find them a bit too cold for our liking.

Have a great weekend everyone, wherever you are. Chat again soon.