Pacific Rim Trip 2004

New Zealand, Australia and (changed to) England Trip PICTURES - 2004
Judy Dominic

Finally - PICTURES! Just some of the 1600 pictures I took, starting with New Zealand and working my way forward...... If you want to see more of any particular spot, let me know!

If you position your mouse pointer on a picture and let it sit for a second or two, you will see some explanatory text.

Also, adding a section of pictures that I took for their design interest. Enjoy!

New Zealand
Geelong Fiber Forum
Melbourne
First visit to Tasmania
Queensland / Flying Arts
Holiday in Queensland
Second visit to Tasmania
England
Art/Design pictures

The tour of the north island of New Zealand was grand and ended splendidly at the top of the south island with the workshop at Nelson, NZ. From there I flew to Christchurch and on to Melbourne to start the Australian part of the journey.

Travelling companions and hosts on arrival in New Zealand - this is their front yard!

First sunset in New Zealand, north of Auckland.

Solidified mud bubbles in the river mouth.

Active hot springs on the way to Rotorua.

Demonstration of Maori method of stripping flax.

Traditional Maori feather and flax robe in process.

One building in Napier, the Art Deco city.

Just a few of the hundreds of sheep that we saw throughout NZ and AU.

One of the many smaller islands between the north and south islands of NZ.

Another of the many smaller islands between the north and south islands of NZ.

Sunset off the northern coast of the south island.

South island hills/mountains through the rain/bus window.

One of the many deer farms as seen through the windows of the bus.

Huge gum tree by the entrance gate to the workshop site: Nelson School for Girls.

Mudcloth in process during the Nelson workshop - blue tape used as a resist.

All dolled up in our mud togs (complete with hat!) and getting ready to dance at the end of the workshop party.

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Geelong Grammer School was the site of the Geelong Textile Fibre Forum - a richly diverse fiber 'happening' fueled by the spirit of the founder of TAFTA (The Australian Forum for Textile Arts.

View of the Geelong harbor, Corio Bay - very people friendly.

Local yacht club dock close to the workshop site.

A wetlands boardwalk close to the workshop site.

Gates to Geelong Grammer School, workshop site.

The dining hall as seen from my dorm window - Harry Potter style!

An impromtu installation by a woman artist in the boys toilet - complete with running water in the background!

Another boys toilet installation - the calla lilies were huge!

An inflatable art installation in front of my workshop room.

Yard art that popped up occasionally in various places.

Knitted spider webs - with a crow caught!

Roses that wandered around campus in various layouts.

Queen of the coronation ball in her inflatble gown!

Mud dancers in full regalia performing at the dance on the last night.

Final day display of student's mudcloth work.

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Visited Melbourne briefly twice - right after the Geelong Fibre Forum and then a week later to teach a soft sculpture class for the Victoria Basketmakers Guild. The Botanical Gardens is a wonderful spot - will give the correct names of plants/trees as soon as I do a bit of research (didn't make notes while taking pictures!).

View of the river running through downtown Melbourne.

Federation Square in downtown Melbourne.

Look who is on live camera on the Square!

Older church nestled among the newer downtown buildings.

The governor's residence (flag) seen through the trees of the botanical gardens.

Love the look of this heavy-set tree trunk.

Protected grass tree - the top spikes are its flowers.

Black swan enjoying the Botanical Gardens lake.

For you basketmakers - a dracena draco tree!

A reed type plant making a great pattern with its leaves, etc.

A charming wire sculpture getting started in the Children's portion of the Botanical Gardens.

Guild member working on her soft sculpture piece.

This piece changed every 10 minutes or so!

Student work from the class - everyone was happy!

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Visited friends Di and Chris near Hobart, Tasmania, between teaching gigs on the mainland. Other than the wombat in the grass and the possum in the tree, all other animals pictured were in the Bonorong Wildlife Preserve.

Hobart and environs as seen from the lookout on top of Mt. Wellington.

The observation tower on top of Mt. Wellington - clear sky, and VERY windy and COLD!

Funny little wombat on the side of the road burrowing into the grass - see his ears?

View through the tunnel under the road on the Wielangta Forest Drive.

Lots of kagaroos and wallabies in the Bonorong Wildlife Preserve. Visitors were allowed to walk fairly freely among the animals - very few were actually caged.

The joeys (babies) were so amazing, sticking out of the pouches - this one has its foot hanging out, too.

Emu - what a face! Love the hair/feathers on top.

All I could see of the echidna were its spines (sort of like a porcupine, but I don't think they release their spines).

Cute and cuddly koala doing what it does best - sleeping.

This one is awake and ready to do what it does second best - eating.

A pair of pigeon-like birds (have to research the name) - markings are intriguing.

This dragon is nicely camoflauged (will research the name).

Roos and wallabies. Generally, wallabies are smaller than roos, plus one has a furry nose and the other doesn't (and right now I forget which is which!).

Wedge-tailed eagles (wings have been injured).

A blue-tongued lizard in an aquarium-type setting in the visitor center.

The quoll reminds me of a cat, but it is marsupial.

Mama pademelon and baby - tiny marsupials.

The resident peacock sharing some pellets with a roo or wallaby.

What a display! Didn't see the female to see if she was impressed.

This tasmanian devil was enjoying the warmth of the sun and taking a snooze.

Oops! He must've heard us talking about him!

Surfers trying to take full advantage of the last bit of light and wave action for the day.

Sunset one bay over from Di/Chris's bay.

Sunset afterglow was gorgeous on the beach.

Spotted this startled possum up the tree on our way home one night. They are different from our Ohio possums - reddish brown fur, bushy tail and they don't seem to 'play possum' as much on the roads!

Typical landscape in this southeastern part of NZ.

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My first foray into Queensland was at the invitation from the Flying Arts organization to teach mudcloth. Three groups hosted workshops: Gladstone - north of Brisbane on the coast, Aramac - west and inland from Gladstone, and Normanton - in the north a bit inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria. While teaching, I mostly took pictures with a one-use camera for the Flying Arts organization - need to scan some of those pics in for the highlights of the workshops.

The jacaranda trees were in full purple/blue bloom the whole time I was in Australia - and they were truly gorgeous! A most wonderful color!

A typical building in Gladstone, a coastal city with important aluminium processing.

A spot of coral reef from the air on the way to Cairns.

The shoreline was quite lovely by air - as well as on the ground!.

Cairns bay as seen from my hotel window - the most clouds I had seen in awhile.

The Norman River flowing past Normanton - populated by crocs and sharks.

I was surprised to see jellyfish in the Norman River going back out to the gulf.

Not uncommon to see roads going off through the bush - for miles.....

Small depressions holding water for the birds - the coming rains will flood the low-lying areas.

Three stately brolgas (big birds!) in the bush.

The offices for the Shire of Carpentaria.

Cast of the largest croc recorded (28 ft 4 in) found right there in Normanton.

Pretty scary looking, but the local kids use the croc as part of their playground.

A public building with local aboriginal artwork.

The famous/infamous Purple Pub - was described as 'a bit dodgy' but had delicious fresh seafood dinners!

The mango tree behind the Purple Pub hanging heavy with fruit -not ripe yet, darn.

Don't know the name of this tree but its flower was just brilliant - looked like it was on fire.

Termite mounds like this filled the landscape on the way to Karumba on the gulf.

Flock of brolgas on the side of the road loooking for whatever water they can find. Rains come in November/December/January.

The Gulf of Carpentaria at low tide as seen from the shore of Karumba.

Two families got into the act of finding good dirt for the mudcloth class in Normanton - striking it rich with some great yellow dirt.

Sunset over Normanton as we headed back with our buckets of dirt.

A fertile river valley seen from the air while flying back to Brisbane.

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With just about all my teaching behind me, Jack came over to share some holiday time. We chose to stay in Queensland and to get to know one or two areas well. Started off in the Daintree area, north of Cairns, moved to the tableland area west of Cairns, and then back to Daintree. Absolutely lovely! And the timing was perfect - few tourists, very little humidity and no mosquitoes!

The Daintree area is a World Wildlife Heritage area - the only place in the world where the natural rainforest touches the ocean!

Notice the road along the coast in the rainforest - I drove first and it was hard to keep my eyes on the road. Of course, driving on the left side did make me pay attention!

This was the first beach we could stop and visit on the way out of Cairns - each one was lovelier than the last; the sky and tidal patterns changed the look of the beaches constantly.

Unfortunately, we hit the first of the stinger season and a lot of beaches had warnings up; a few had stinger nets up to allow swimming.

Also, unfortunately, most of the beaches in the area were also inhabited by crocs!

We stayed at Riverhome Cottages along the Daintree River - pavement ran out at the little town of Daintree. Cow catcher grates and public gates along the road.

The lane ran back through the pastures - we had the cabin on the left.

This little guy refused to budge as we drove in.

Road back to the private waterfall on the property.

Jack and host Barney enjoying the private waterfall.

Spot the Boyd's Dragon on the side of the tree.

The foilage in the rainforest is intriguing - this is an ir plant that collects debris from above and builds up into a sort of nest affair (there is a more scientific explanation - but not from me!).

This variety of rattan has lots of different names: hairy mary, lawyer vine, wait-a-while vine - all refer to the spines on its outer skin.

Lots of sugar cane growing in this coastal area - complete with special small gauge trains for hauling the cane.

Lush roadway at the entrance to Port Douglas.

These amazing little excavated sand balls were scattered all over the beaches creating wonderful patterns.

Not only did critteres burrow in and make sand balls, but some disgourged the sand in long lengths - like gut!

Tip of Port Douglas on the way to the Great Barrier Reef.

Looking through glass into the Great Barrier Reef.

Another look at GBR coral - colors are exquisite but don't show up well without extra lighting.

An island/lighthouse passed on the way back into Port Douglas from the GBR.

The ferns as they unfurl are quite wonderful.

These little figs aren't edible for humans but birds love them.

I think these little guys are called something besides figs, but they sure look like figs and grow out of the tree so strangely.

We stayed in this Fur 'n' Feathers lodge in the tablelands.

Feeding the birds brought the king parrots in regularly.

Feeding the birds also brought the possums at night! This mama had a baby in pouch that kept sticking out its tail.

Not a very good picture, but an actual juvenile cassowary in front of our lodge! Prehistoric birds, when adult they sport a bright blue head and a flat dinosaur-like topnotch.

Look closely for the tree kangaroo up in the tree - long bushy tail and larger forarms for clmbing trees.

Here's the lake where we spotted a couple platypus swimming.

Not much to see when a platypus is out swimming but a couple of lumps on the water.

This duck got quite friendly during the boat tour of Lake Barinne.

A pineapple growing outside the visitor center at Lake Barrine.

One of the waterfalls seen during our waterfall tour of the area - all quite lovely.

This dragonfly beauty stood still just long enough for a photo op.

Millstream Falls is the widest waterfall in Australia. Must be really impressive during the rainy season.

From a high spot in the Misty Mountains - we were on that road shortly afterward.

Another direction from that same vantage spot.

Checked out the windmill farm on a particularly windy ridge - they had 20 windmills going with more planned.

This particular strangler fig wound up making a huge curtain of roots.

The strip of bitumen on the major highway between Ravenshoe and Karumba.

The tail end of a loooong road train - one of many that roared down the road at us.

The electric line road that Barney took us on - 4WD only! Wound up turning around after an hour because he didn't have his chainsaw with him and we might not make it home before dark otherwise.

Just when we thought we were truly in the wilderness - a line of motorcycles roars through to cross the stream.

Learning the ways of 'bush tucker' (food in the wild) by starting with wild ginger.

Laughing kukaburra outside our Riverhome cabin - a daily morning visit.

An old cemetery along the road to Mossman - most graves have the entire gravesite covered, not just a headstone.

Mossman Gorge downstream from the swinging bridge.

Mangrove tree roots along the Maardja boardwalk.

Most trees put out roots like these flat sail-things - something to do with the moisture, soil, temperature, etc.

Umbrella palms, and other, were big and bountiful all over the place.

Signage along the roads where cassowaries crossed included speed bump signs - some prankster made the most of the two together!.

Thornton beach was almost deserted - and had this view of Struck Island.

A contemporary aboriginal art installation in the Museum/Art Gallery on the South Bank.

A kinetic water installation in the Museum/Art Gallery.

The arched promanade on the South Bank - bougainvillea blooming in various colors.

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After kissing at the airport, Jack went home as I went back to Tasmania, staying with Di and Chris again. They were starting a photo project in preparation for the 100 anniversary celebration of the Dunalley canal; I got to be a part of the project with some preliminary water-related pictures. Then a couple sightseeing trips interspersed with some time in Di's studio. Left some things to do for another time!

Pigface blooming near the Dunally Canal as we search for unique water pictures.

A whole bunch of snail shells in Dunally.

During the potluck lunch of the art project meeting, this intriguing sight was spotted - bumps on an otherwise smooth tree branch that turned out to 3 tawny frogmouths!

When the tawny frogmouths thought no one was looking, they relaxed and became birds again. There's a baby inbetween mom and dad. They have incredibly wide mouths!

At the slightest nearby motion, the birds froze back into tree limb shapes and held that pose as long as they felt necessary. Simply amazing!

A bit later in the day, the local echidna surfaced.

Hunting for ants, this guy is so nearsighted he didn't think anyone was watching.

Part of the path at Inverawe, the native gardens in Margate, west of Hobart.

One of the plants in the native gardens - the place was lovely!

The wild shapes and colors of the flowers continue to amaze me.

The native gardens were at a river mouth - these oyster catchers were busy.

After the native gardens, we headed to northwest to the Tahume Air Walk - a walk in the trees.

Steel gridwork of the air walk - 620 meters in length.

The cantilever end of the air walk exteded out 24 meters and gave a good view of the intersection of the Picton and Huon rivers.

Another fern opening up - just love how that happens.

A good hiking day - started at Waterfall Bay on the Tasman Peninsula, west of Eaglehawk Neck.

Lots of views of the coastline with all its bays and cliffs and waves.

We stared at the dark ridge in the water (mid-picture) for a bit, hoping it was a whale. Alas, it didn't move.

The wildflowers were still in great bloom along the coastal path.

The water was pretty calm; not many waves crashing into the sides of the cliffs.

Several natural geological formations were seen on the hike including the Tasman Arch and its Blow Hole.

This red robin was addling a lot of color around Tasman Arch.

This blue fairy wren was a tease as he kept flitting around in the bush.

This shelf of rocks, visible at low tide, is around the corner from Pirates Cove.

Pirates Cove at Eaglehawk Neck, the bit of land that separates the Tasman Peninsula from the mainland of Tasmania.

Looking east of Pirates Cove, just past the Tesselated Pavement area.

Tessalted Pavement - a fantastic bit of geologic wonder!

This whole area looked like it had been laid out by an engineer - straight lines, gridwork, very orderly.

Parts of the Tesselated Pavement looked like a mason had placed bricks there.

Some of the layers of the tesselation have been eroded off.

The Tesselated Pavement was subject to the tides - this anemone was out of the water, closing up.

Top view of the anemone - when it was fully closed it truly looked like a blob of grape jelly.

There was an amazing number of starfish in the low tide areas among the tesselated rocks - and in amazing colors.

Looking straight down at a starfish on the side of a rock.

Tiny mussel-like critters clinging in colonies to the tesselated rocks.

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Time to head to England to visit with son Tom living in Oxford. (Our rendezvous in Nepal was scratched due to increased hostilities against the US in that country.) Spent a couple days in London, too. It was very evident how historical England is compared to the US, AU and NZ. Weather constantly bounced between cloudy and damp to a bit of sun and back again - prepared me for home! (If any of the sites are mislabelled, I apologize in advance - I will be having Tom check my facts shortly!)

The garage/studio next door to where I was staying has this great sod roof - as seen from my bedroom window.

Lots of wildlife on the river flowing through Oxford - called Isis in Oxford, it is known as Thames farther southeast.

Taking advantage of a sunny day, we climbed the tower of one of the many churches in centeral Oxford - still needed to bundle up, so I was back to wearing my New Zealand outfit!

Looking east from the tower: the Radcliffe Camera.

The view of South Park, coming down Headington Hill, just east of the city center, across Magdalen Bridge - wonderful green, rolling hills.

In London, the pigeons on Trafalgar Square are determined to stay despite efforts by the current mayor to get rid of them.

Parliment was closed the first day we were there.

Looking like a big ferris wheel, the London Eye proved to be a great way to see the city!

The London Eye rises on the southeastern bank of the Thames - this is looking westerly.

For as far as you can see there are buildings - with no logical street patterns.

Just missed seeing the heavenly light shine directly on the Parliment tower rod.

Lovely spot of color in the window across the street from where we were staying in London.

Part of the Green Park was closed the second morning of our London stay due to a planned horse and cannon ceremony.

We found all sorts of formal activity happening in front of Buckingham Palace that morning.

Everyone was 'duded up', including the horses, in anticipation of the Queen's opening of Parliment at noon.

Two sets of horse-drawn coaches came through the Palace gates.

There were several royal bands playing in the streets and park - periodically they changed direction.

Inside the Tower of London, the swords and other munitions were displayed quite artistically!

Talk about historical - here's a part of the wall that the Romans built!

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To everyone who was a part of the 10th anniversary celebration of MBF last March - and you know who you are! - a big THANK YOU, again, for your great gifts that made the trip special! You were thought of often during my trip - and I always knew what time it was EVERYWHERE in the world!

Check the trip log for all the fun stuff that happened while I was taking pictures!

For more information about basketry, check out MBF: Midwest Basketry Focus - An Alternative Conference.

� 2004 Judy Dominic/Fibers Entwined/MBF