Hunter Valley - Lock Ness??

What do you think this is?

I spent almost half an hour watching this thing swim around a damn (read Australian for pond or lake) in the Hunter Valley. This was the clearest picture I could manage . The above kept swimming around the clumps of reeds flicking water over its back.

After about an hour of guessing around on Google to figure out what it was, I finally discovered the truth. I'll let you click here to find out. ;)


Taken August 2010 - Damn (Australian for pond) in the Hunter Valley, NSW

Taronga Zoo - Lion

Dude! Lion! Cool!

I'm not nearly as much of a cat person as a dog lover, but hey, lions are still pretty awesome eh? Now the next question I have is this - am I (and the group of people around me) watching the lion, or the lion me? Also, what is this lion thinking? For the most part, apathy dominated this cat's expression. Quelle surprise eh? :)

Taken August 2010 - Taronga Zoo, Sydney, NSW

Hillsborough Dykes

I will never tire of watching the seasons on the Petitcodiac. Here you can almost hear the wind rustle last year's dried grass. The last of the winter's snow is melting and you can feel the ground releasing the cold it has held onto for months.

I miss the marsh, I miss the mud and I so very much miss the tides.

Taken March 2003 - Hillsborough, New Brunswick, Canada

Peppertree Winery - more flowers

It's so nice to see pictures turn out the way I hoped they would. On this beautifully sunny day in winter in the Hunter, it was just so lovely to be able to stroll out on the green grass and admire the flowers in bloom. Yes, they are a rather common, shall I even say a 'garden variety' flower here in Oz, but they really are lovely.

Taken August 2010 - Peppertree Winery, Hunter Valley, NSW

Hunter Valley - Amazing Tree

Oh my goodness, what a tree! What a scene. So perfect! (too bad the winery sucked!)

On our most recent trip to the Hunter, we finally made out way to the only certified organic winery. All of the principles were correct, but the execution was terrible! I'm not at all saying that organic wine is terrible - quite the opposite. The stuff here was just really bad. There wasn't anything wrong with the grapes... it just tasted like the producers didn't have idea what to do once the grapes were ripe. It's amazing how poor a product can become even when produced with the best starting materials! *sigh

Oh well... At least they had a cool tree!

Taken August 2010 - Field in the Hunter Valley, NSW