I took this picture during a sailing trip around Sydney Harbor. Sydney is without a doubt one of the world’s most beautiful harbor cities.
Archive for the 'New South Wales' Category
Edga Lookout Mt Gower, Lord Howe Island, NSW Photographer: Jack Shick
This beautiful picture from the remote Lord Howe Island comes via Australian Geographic. This is definitely an island I want to go and check out one day.
The hauntingly beautiful Great Walls of China at Mungo National Park, New South Wales.
I wonder who will be first to blame this unusual dust storm on global warming?:
SYDNEYSIDERS have woken to a massive dust storm that blanketed the city in thick red dust, leaving Sydney airport in chaos, ferry services suspended and health authorities worried.
Large areas have been shrouded in dust as the state experiences severe winds and unseasonably warm temperatures.
Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman Jane Golding said dust had settled on much of the state, including Sydney.
“We’ve had reports of low visibility up out as far up as Moree, Dubbo, Canberra’s got some raised dust in the area and Wollongong, so it’s very widespread,” she said.
The blanket of red dust began to shroud Sydney just before dawn after a cold front moved in from central Australia and western NSW.
It came as the state was experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures and followed reports of visibility reduced to just 10m in Broken Hill.
A Sydney airport spokesman said 10 inbound international Sydney flights had been diverted to Melbourne and Brisbane.
“They may get back later in the day,” he said. “We’ve got departures, they are occurring, but it’s slow.” [Daily Telegraph]
I have never seen a dust storm as severe as this one on Australia’s east coast but I once saw a wind storm in Victoria two years ago that brought dust from the Outback that caused the sky to have a red tint to it. The amount of dust from this storm is absolutely incredible though.
Here is a photo gallery with a bunch of photographs from this dust storm. Here is a sample:
Here is a place in Australia that I absolutely want to go to one day:
Once upon a time, travelling responsibly meant taking only photographs and leaving only footprints. Now it’s about the size of those footprints, and one of the best places in Australia to keep them small without even trying is Lord Howe Island, 600 km northeast of Sydney. Unless you have access to a boat, the only way to get to Lord Howe is to fly. But arriving by air makes sure you’re properly acquainted with what is widely regarded as the most beautiful island in the entire Pacific, before you even step off the plane.
After gazing out at the featureless blue from my windowseat for two hours, Lord Howe suddenly appeared, like an aquatic oasis. The first things you notice are the twin peaks of Mt Lidgbird and Mt Gower, real mountains that dominate the island’s southern end. Then the 6 km-long blue lagoon encircled by the most southerly coral reef in the world. There, below you, are isolated beaches accessible only by sea kayak or on foot, and populated by hundreds of thousands of seabirds. And finally, like an afterthought amidst all this natural beauty, a settlement of 350 locals and just 400 visitors. Even David Attenborough once wrote that Lord Howe is “so extraordinary it is almost unbelievable…Few islands, surely, can be so accessible, so remarkable, yet so unspoilt.” But Lord Howe is not just a pretty face. Because of its isolation, the island is an important site for “in situ” conservation of many rare and endemic species – almost half its 241 native plant species are found nowhere else in the world; the same goes for both the island’s reptiles, a skink and a gecko, and almost a thousand insect species. According to Ian Hutton, Lord Howe’s resident naturalist and author of 10 books on the island, including A Guide to World Heritage Lord Howe Island. “People talk about the Galapagos Islands because of Darwin’s connection, but there’s more diversity on Lord Howe Island and it’s so intact – the island is very much as it was when it was first discovered.” [Australian Geographic]
Make sure to click the link to read the rest because this island just looks to be an incredible place to visit.
Here is a video I shot near Tom Groggin Station in Australia’s Snowy Mountains of two kangaroos fighting each other:
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