Travel – Page 17 – Willem's Planet

February 27, 2019March 2, 2019

Wednesday/ exploring Rotterdam

It was a gorgeous day here in Rotterdam, with the day temperature reaching 17°C/ 62°F. Here is a selection of sights from today.

This bike path & foot path is next to **Het Park** (‘The Park’), on the way to the Euromast.

**Euromast** is an observation tower (185 m/ 606 ft), built for the 1960 Floriade (an international exhibition). The tower is a concrete structure. It was built on a concrete block weighing some 2,000 metric tons, so that the center of gravity is below ground.

Here’s a view of the **Erasmus Bridge** (139 m/456 ft high, 802 m/ 0.5 mi long), from the panorama platform at 85 m (278 ft), drawn a little closer with my camera’s zoom lens. The bridge is a combined cable-stayed and bascule bridge over the **Niewe Maas river**. The bridge was named after Desiderius Erasmus, a prominent Christian Renaissance humanist. It opened in 1996.

Another view from the panorama platform. Look for the **flat barge with the blue containers**. It first entered the lock at the top (middle right of the picture), then water was pumped in to raise the barge by some 6 ft, and right now it is making its way under the second drawn bridge, into the canal.

This **Egyptian goose (‘Kolgans’)** is native to Southern Africa, but I guess one finds them in many other places in the world, as well. This is at a little lake in **Het Park** (‘The Park).

This eye-catching apartment building is close to **Eendrachtsplein.** I still have to look up its name and construction date.

This is the **Metro train at Beurs station**, a suburban train that runs to the outer suburbs of Rotterdam. It took me to Leuvehaven by the waters of the Niewe Maas river.

Here’s the **Rotterdam Water Taxi**, coming to pick up a couple at a stop on a canal close to Leuvenhaven station. The Niewe Maas river is on the other side of the buildings.

I started at the Erasmus Bridge (seen earlier from the Euromast), and then walked to the red **Willemsbrug** (Willem’s Bridge, named after named after King Willem III of the Netherlands, and of course, after ME too). Opened: 1981 | Height: 65 m 213 ft | Length: 318 m / 0.2 mi.

The gorgeous **Witte Huis** (‘White House’) is near Willemsbrug. It was built in 1898 in the art nouveau style, and was for long the tallest office building in Europe (the first ‘hoogbouw’ = tall build, at the time, with 10 floors).

This is the little **Spanjaardsbrug** (‘Spanish Bridge’) in the **Oude Haven** (‘Old Harbor’). The bridge was built in 1886, and I just love the art elements of the Victorian age, that went into it.

The crazy **Cube houses** at the Oude Haven is a set of innovative houses designed by architect Piet Blom. Yes, there are actually people living in them, and the design’s main purpose is said to optimize the space inside (hmm, OK). I was surprised to find out they had been built in 1977, already.

The **Markthal** (Market Hall) nearby, is a new residential and office building (2014) with a market hall underneath.

Beautiful and enormous mural artwork **inside the** **Markthal**. This depiction of a caterpillar might just be the largest in the world.

.. and finally, Willem says: Come to **Willemswerf** (Willem’s Yard) to park your car in Rotterdam!

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019

Tuesday/ arrival in Rotterdam

It’s a 32 min ride on the Intercity Direct from Schiphol airport down to Rotterdam Centraal station. The Sprinter is a little bit cheaper but takes quite a bit longer since it stops at 5 or 6 stations on the way.

I arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport at about 11.15 am this morning.
I had to spend a little time at Schiphol to figure out how to use my OV-chipkaart* for the train ride down to Rotterdam, but that’s OK. Now I know how to use it in Rotterdam, as well.

*Cannot load money onto it at the ticketing machine with an American credit card! (USA cards do not have PIN numbers). No need to buy a fare ahead of time, but if you travel 1st class, you tap the card once at the station/ platform entrance as usual, and then a second time on the platform next to the train, for the 1st class surcharge.

Here is KLM Airlines’ **Boeing 777** at the gate at Cape Town International airport. It took 11 hrs 20 mins to reach Schiphol in Amsterdam. It feels SO GOOD to walk off the plane and stretch one’s legs after all that time.

Here are the train tracks at **Rotterdam Centraal Station**, after I had arrived on the Intercity Direct from Schiphol (32 mins).

Inside Rotterdam Centraal Station. That’s a giant oblong strip of LCD TV screen at the top.

The main entrance to **Rotterdam Centraal Station** with its sweeping, metal-clad entrance. This station building was designed by a team of Dutch architects and officially opened in March 2014.

Here’s a view from the 12th floor of the Marriott Hotel across from the train station, where I stay. Look to the right of the picture for the street cars that stop at Rotterdam Centraal. Watch out for them! they do not stop at smaller intersections. Another hazard when crossing intersections are the bike lanes with cyclists and moped riders.

February 23, 2019February 24, 2019

Saturday/ the noon gun on Signal Hill

Table Mountain is at the bottom of this map, with Lion’s Head at the left and **Signal Hill** (elevation 350 m/ 1,150 ft) towards its northwest.

My friend Marlien and I went to see the firing of the noon gun on Signal Hill today. There’s a single-lane strip of tarred road that winds up to the top of the hill.

Here’s the Lion Battery with the two noon guns at the top. A time signal at noon has been fired by one of these guns since 1806. (Two guns so that one can serve as a backup). The two guns used are the oldest guns in daily use in the world.

Protect your ears! We all wore ear plugs. The cannon blast at close range reaches a sound level of 170 dB, the loudest bang many people would experience, ever. The bang is produced by a 1.5 kg/ 3.3 lb bag of gun powder.

The fuse is triggered remotely these days. Most of the on-lookers stood at the back of the cannon a good 50 ft away. The gunner that oversees the firing of the canon, announces ‘One minute’, ‘Thirty seconds’ ’10-9-8 .. 3-2-1′ . A few milliseconds before noon, an electrical signal is sent from the Astronomical Observatory’s atomic clock. The burst of energy zips across a telephone line, and ignites the firing cap on the cannon. At 12 noon sharp the gunpowder explodes with a loud **Ka-Boom!**

Every day – except Sundays and national holidays – the gun on Signal Hill is fired exactly at noon.

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019

Monday/ in Amsterdam

My flight made it into Schiphol airport at 12 noon local time, after the connection I had made in Reykjavik.

From Schiphol, I took the train to Amsterdam Central station.
The OV chipkaart that I had bought there, does the same as the Orca card that we have in Seattle, and more. The passenger uses it to tap on readers at train stations and on trains and buses, to pay the fare. The cards can be used anywhere in the Netherlands on local trains, trams and buses, and even on regional trains. Just not on ferries, yet.

The Boeing 757 that got us from Seattle to Keflavik airport. It is 6 am, and we are stepping into the terminal shuttle bus. It was **5 °C (40 °F)**, but man! it felt 10 degrees colder, with the icy windchill that whipped across the tarmac.

This is Amsterdam Central station, and I had just stepped off the train called the Sprinter. It’s just a 17 min run from Schiphol to Amsterdam Central.

The main facade for the Amsterdam Central Station building. Built from 1881 to 1889, it was designed by famous Dutch architect Petrus J.H. Cuypers. I cheated a little by just aiming at the top: there is construction and remodeling going on at the bottom, behind a fence.

I just had a few hours until sunset, and so I took the No 2 tram line from Central Station down to Nieuw Sloten and back. It is a great way to check out the scenery and the city. The No 2 runs by several canals and town squares (Koningsplein, Keisersgracht, Prinsengracht, Leidseplein), as well as by the grounds of the Rijksmuseum.

Outside of central Amsterdam, and looking out from the tram, one finds plenty of 60’s and 70’s apartment buildings. These are built in a much simpler, modern style (than the traditional Dutch style). I like this one a lot: all straight lines, rectangles and squares.

February 10, 2019February 10, 2019

Sunday/ Amsterdam bound

I made it to the airport, and it looks like my flight is on time.
I had to negotiate two blocks of bumpy, snowy sidewalk to the bus stop with my roller bags, but it was not too bad. It was easy from there: bus to the Capitol Hill train station, and train to the airport.

Now it’s 7½ hours to Reykjavik on Iceland Air, and another 3 to Amsterdam, where I will overnight on the way to Cape Town, South Africa.

I found this snowman in the little Spring Street park on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s the view at Othello station as my Link Light Rail train passed another on the way to the airport today. I don’t think the Transit Authority had to take special measures to clear snow from the train tracks on Saturday. The Light Rail operated its normal Saturday schedule – unlike the metro buses, which had to switch to limited snow routes (routes that steer clear of the steeper inclines made slippery by snow and ice),

January 12, 2019January 13, 2019

Saturday/ souvenirs from my trip

Here is an ensemble of the souvenirs that I found stuffed into my bags, as I unpacked them.

**Clockwise:** Red & blue north-south bar magnet (polar opposites, so a perfect metaphor for Republicans & Democrats in American politics, right?), mini set square, 28.57 mm steel ball & perspex cube, all these from Tokyu Hands store | white porcelain tray from Muji store | chimpanzee, banana in hand & white solid polyhedron set from Akihabara | origami Starbucks coffee filters | porcelain mug by Koransha (Japanese porcelain) | platypus piggy bank with ‘combination lock’ as a belly button from Commonwealth Bank | the ‘Red King’, an ultramonster with oversized fists (No 57 in the Ultraman series) | melamine tray with Australian kookaburras | diecast model of N700 series bullet train

January 11, 2019January 11, 2019

Friday afternoon/ now in Seattle

I’m home! .. but it’s going to become a stretched-out Friday for me!
That’s what happens when one flies east across the international dateline. Let’s see: 18 hrs in Japan on Friday + 9 hrs flying + 14 hrs in Seattle until Friday midnight. That’s a 41 hr day. Whoah.

Here is our All Nippon Airlines 787 bird sitting at the gate at Narita airport. It left well after the sun had sunk below the horizon (Friday in Japan at 6.15 pm), and then flew almost due east for about 9 hours ..

.. to meet the sun on the early side of the night we had left. Here we are starting the descent for Seattle airport, to arrive there at 10 am Friday morning Seattle time.

January 10, 2019January 10, 2019

Thursday/ time’s up, time to go

Today was my last full day. I will head out to the airport after lunchtime tomorrow.
It was gloves-scarf-skull cap weather: no sun and only 6°C/ 42°F for a high. I went out to the very touristy surroundings at Asakusa Station (pagodas and shrines), and then made a stop at Omotesandō Station (glass and steel) as well.

Here comes the next train, this at Asakusa station. For once, there are no fencing panels, and **no humans** on the platform that spoil the clean lines of the picture :).

This 5-story pagoda near the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, is a 1973 reconstruction of the 942 original which was itself rebuilt in 1648. At 53 m/ 173 ft high, it is the second tallest pagoda in all of Japan.

On to newer constructions, though! This is the AO building in Aoyama, completed in 2008, and designed by renowned architectural firm Nihon Shikkei.

And how about the 6-story crystal glass tower nearby, showing off Italian luxury fashion house Prada’s offerings? Architects Herzog & de Meuron, constructed 2003.

Across the street, there’s a La Perla store on the corner (high-fashion lingerie, loungewear, bridal intimates & sleepwear), and an Anya Hindmarch store behind it (English fashion designer).

If you’re going to convince well-heeled people to part with lots of money for their threads, you’d better have some eye-catching store fronts, right? Tsumori Chisato (64) is a Japanese fashion designer, an ex-collaborator with famous Japanese designer Issey Miyake (80).

My last stop for the day was at Akasaka (not the same as Asakusa!). Nice vanishing edge on the SKI building (infotech office tower) on the left.

January 9, 2019January 12, 2019

Wednesday/ day trip to Nagoya

My day trip to Nagoya went well, but man! there was an icy wind blowing in the city today. I was so glad I had packed my woolen skull cap.

Here’s the Tōkaidō Shinkansen (bullet train line) that runs from Tokyo to Nagoya, that I took. It continues its run from Nagoya on to Osaka. A more direct line to Nagoya will open in 2027, and be extended to Osaka by 2045*.
*Assuming Earth had not been utterly destroyed by humans, by then.

Here’s the Nozomi Super Express again. I’m about to step into the one on the right. Tokyo Station is its one terminal, so it sat still for 5 minutes to get cleaned by the cleaning crews. Then, and at all other stations, there is ONE MINUTE for passengers that need to disembark and for new ones to board. The train has 16 long cars, so if you are in the wrong place, or almost late, **immediately board the car,** right where you are. You can reach your correct car and assigned seat from inside.

This steel spiral and traffic circle is by the east exit of Nagoya station. The spiral tower behind it in the background, is the Mode Gakuen Spiral Towers, home to three vocational schools. Nagoya is a manufacturing and shipping hub, and Toyota City, home of the beloved Japanese cars, is not far away to its southwest.

This is by the exit from the Shiyakusho Station, on the circular Meijo Subway Line. It is the closest stop to the Nagoya Castle – the city’s main tourist attraction.

Here’s a little history of the castle and its adjacent palace.

And here it is, the castle itself (a 1959 reconstruction). It was bitterly cold, and 30 minutes from closing time, and a dozen or so of us took a few pictures. Those black birds are crows, as far as I could tell.

January 8, 2019January 8, 2019

Tuesday/ along Meiji-Dori avenue

I spotted some unusual buildings along Meiji-Dori avenue today, while walking from Shibuya to the Harajuku station.
Some days I run myself ragged with too much walking! So for tomorrow, I plan to take the Nozomi Super Express to Nagoya. It’s 1h 40m in one direction.

The not-quite Art Deco building for the Pink Dragon store sells 1950s retro clothes, accessories and clocks. Down below is Cat Street Cafe, and a golden egg perched on a pillar .. but what that stands for, I am not sure!

Here is the swank new WeWork co-working space called The Iceberg, which opened in Aug 2018. They have offices around the world, also in Seattle.

An older apartment building near Harajuku station. I don’t know the name – I just liked the angled columns of bay windows.

A window display that shows Pepper the robot* coming to grips with his new Google Pixel 3 smartphone. (Does he ask: **‘OK Google, who is the smartest robot?’** ?). *Manufactured by SoftBank Robotics.

The Tokyu Plaza shopping mall near Harajuku station has a faceted entrance covered with mirrors. It is only 3 pm, but the sun is already low. It sets at 4.40 pm.

January 6, 2019January 7, 2019

Sunday/ visited friends

I ran out to Saginomiya station on Sunday, to visit friends of ours from Seattle, that live here in Tokyo.
The transfer I had to make at Takadanobaba station was a little ugly*, but I was fine after asking the station attendant for directions.

*The Seibu-Shinjuku line is from a private operator, and not shown on my Tokyo Metro app.

It took three lines to get me where I wanted to be: the grey Hibiya line, the blue Tozai line, and the green Seibu-Shinjuku line.

Here comes the train, at Kayabacho station. Yes, the inside is a little rough, but I’m sure it will get fixed up when they install its platform fences.

When faced with a long complicated station name to remember, I just say to myself remember ‘Taka-something’. (Of course, the risk is that the line has other station names that also start with Taka- !

Billboard for a fancy new train that will start operating on the Marunouchi line, in February. The line carries about 1.35 million people every day. (That character in front of the train is Doraemon, the robotic cat from the 22nd century, from the manga series by Fujiko F. Fujio).

January 5, 2019January 5, 2019

Saturday/ the Yurikamome line

This morning, I took the Yurikamome line’s train to the new Toyosu fish market from Yurakucho Station (not much to see there), and then went on to Shimbashi Station. The line offers plenty of great views of the waterfront and of Tokyo Bay.

The Yurikamome line was completed in 1995, and is Tokyo’s first fully automated transit system – controlled entirely by computers, with no drivers on board. It looks like a monorail, but it is not: the trains run with rubber-tired wheels on an elevated concrete track guided by the side walls.

I had just stepped off the train at the Shijo-mae station close to the Toyosu fish market, and waited for the next one to arrive (to take a picture, of course). Note that there is no rail or rails on the track. The train runs on rubber wheels, controlled by computer.

The bidding for blue-fin tuna happens early (5 am to 6 am) at the market, so by late morning there was no action to be seen through the double-pane windows for visitors. This is a model of the largest tuna recorded (at the old Tsukiji fish market), 496 kg/ 1,094 lbs, in 1986. It just so happened that early **today**, a Japanese sushi tycoon paid a whopping **US$ 3.1 million** for a giant tuna at this market – **by far the most ever.** Let’s also just note that blue-fin tuna is an endangered species due to overfishing. Oy.

The upside down pyramids of Tokyo Big Sight, officially known as Tokyo International Exhibition Center. That’s a giant wood saw in the foreground.

The Yurikamome line runs under the Rainbow Bridge, a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay. The railway line is encased in fencing, seen in the middle on the right of the picture.

January 4, 2019January 4, 2019

Friday night

I am in the Marriott Courtyard Ginza this time, a better Courtyard than the one at Tokyo Station.
I’m going to stay a whole week! (Long story: I purchased the ticket back to Seattle a long time ago, and now it’s very, very expensive to change).
No matter: there are lots of interesting things to do and see in a great city such as Tokyo.

Happy New Year! These yummy rice crackers were my welcoming gift in the hotel room. (I already chewed up 2019).

The Higashi-Ginza station still does not have platform doors – which means I can still take a clear picture of the train as it arrives.

Call in an emergency if you see a person obviously impaired on the platform, says this poster. There was a fatal accident in August 2016 along the Tokyo Ginza subway line, in which a visually impaired man was struck by a train after falling from the platform. There are plans to install platform doors at **all 882 train stations** in the Tokyo metropolis before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

I hopped off the train when I saw it was the station near the National Diet Building (the ‘parliament’ where the House of Representatives and House of Councillors meet). To see anything more than this view at all, though, one has to sign up for a guided tour, like these people. The entire block of government buildings is fenced in and guarded by a heavy security presence. I stuck my camera lens through the barriers in the fence (with the approval of the guard!) to take this picture.

I’m happy to report the Christmas decorations are gone from the window displays and lamp posts in Ginza! The lamp posts now have Japanese flags on: nice.

January 3, 2019January 3, 2019

Thursday night/ back in Tokyo

My travels today went without incident, and I am back in Tokyo.

Here’s Tokyo Skytree, rolling by in the distance on the skyline, as the Narita Express train approaches the city.

January 2, 2019January 3, 2019

Thursday morning/ at Hong Kong airport

I’m at Hong Kong airport.
I took a taxi from the hotel. I had just too much luggage to lug to Sai Ying Pun station & transfer to the Airport Express!
Besides, it’s nice to experience the serious infrastructure that gets one to the airport by car: first the Western Harbor Crossing (an immersed tube tunnel under Victoria harbor), then the Tsing Ma suspension bridge, followed by the Nam Wan Tunnel and another suspension bridge, the Kap Shui Mun bridge. And let’s not forget the entire Hong Kong airport was built on a man-made island.

Approaching the Nam Wan Tunnel. It is a twin-tube tunnel 1.2 km long (0.75 mi), with three lanes in each direction.

Here’s the departure hall in Terminal 1, as one steps into the airport after getting out of the taxi.

January 2, 2019January 2, 2019

Wednesday/ more Hong Kong

Here are more of my favorite pictures of this Hong Kong visit.
I am leaving for Tokyo in the morning, to stay over again for a few days. It is the final stop on way back home in Seattle.

I love this eye-catching mural. It is at the entrance of the World Trade Center shopping arcade in Causeway Bay.

‘**Oh Deer X’Mas**‘ indeed. On the buses, in the stores, in open spaces: Christmas trees and decorations are still found everywhere in the city as of today. One even hears Christmas music in the stores. People! Christmas is O-V-E-R. Maybe I need to send an SOS message ahead to Japan: N.O. M.O.R.E. Christmas.

I love the little snacks that the Marks & Spencer food stores purvey around the city.

The view across from the Tsing Yi station’s promenade: phalanxes of forty-story apartment buildings. These apartments might be small, but are still OK, I guess. Newspapers still report on the plight of thousands of Hong Kong residents living in tiny subdivided housing units known as “coffin homes’.

These beautiful gleaming blue pillars at the Admiralty station on the blue Island Line (the line is blue on subway maps).

The Star Ferry runs across Victoria harbor between Hong Kong Island, and the Hong Kong mainland. This cute little sailor welcomes passengers as they board the ferry.

This was on New Years Day: a Lion Dance festival at the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. The yellow lion has two kids in that make it perform all kinds of moves.

January 1, 2019January 1, 2019

Tuesday/ new trains, new stations

I have been to Hong Kong many times, and there is always a new construction project, or an extension of the subway rail network to check out.
The new high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou in mainland China opened in Sept 2018, after many years of delays.
Unfortunately my American passport is not much help to get me into the new train and across the border! Aargh. I would need a confirmed itinerary/ formal invite for a visa, which takes FOUR business days. I will be gone by then – and it’s too much effort for a jolly ride, anyway.

**Slide 1 of 4:** This is the 615 m/ 0.38 mi walk from the Marriott top left, to the new-ish Sai Ying Pun station (opened in 2015). The 200 m/ 0.13 mi to the green bubble where the train stops, is an underground pedestrian tunnel. Yes, it’s a little walk to get there, but once there, there are 93 destination stations on 11 lines to choose from .. for only for a few dollars!

**Slide 2 of 4:** The entrance & exit B3 to Sai Ying Pun station. There are several others scattered around the station. The apartment tower was built along with the station entrance.

**Slide 3 of 4.** (Successfully took a picture without dropping my new phone into the abyss). It takes three escalators (or the elevator) to get to the bottom of the pedestrian tunnel that goes to the train station. There is also a spiral staircase winding around the escalators: a means to get into or out of the station during a local power failure.

**Slide 4 of 4.** The pedestrian tunnel that goes to the train station.

Here is the cavernous inside of the departure lounge at the brand new Hong Kong West Kowloon station, the terminus of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link. Those pillars are just enormous, and the roof with its skylights is at least 6 storeys up.

I did not have access to the platform to check out the train, but here is a photo from Wikipedia. This is train G6581, getting ready to leave Guangzhou South, bound for Hong Kong West Kowloon, on the first day of running on the Hong Kong section in September. These trains are built in China.

Mickey Mouse in the arrivals hall of the Hong Kong West Kowloon station, beckoning to travelers to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. I think he looks very cute, and is doing a great job.

Hey! And above ground, the 110-year old tram system on Hong Kong Island is still going strong. Fares are now HKD 2.60 (33 cents US), up from HKD 2.00 (26 cents) ten years ago. Got to pay the bills, right? This was on New Years Eve, with the trams on a modified schedule. All these were heading out in quick succession to pick up people that wanted to travel to the city center.

This pedestrian subway tunnel under Salisbury Road by Victoria harbor was nicely remodeled as well. Pressing the camera shutter makes for instant abstract art!

December 30, 2018December 30, 2018

Sunday/ arrival in Hong Kong

It was well after 1 am this morning when our delayed flight finally left Perth, and the flight arrived an hour late into Hong Kong this morning as well.
I took the Airport Express to Hong Kong Island, and the Marriott hotel’s front desk checked me in – even though it was barely 10 am! So I could take a little catnap before going out into the city for a bit.

Here’s our Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 bird on short finals approach, ready for touching down on the runway at Hong Kong airport at about 8.30 am.

The Airport Express ride into Hong Kong Station on Hong Kong Island is about 24 mins. We’re approaching Tsing Yi Station here.

This giant electronic billboard is outside the SOGO Department Store at the Causeway Bay Station.

The happening place at sunset was the promenade by the Hong Kong Cultural Center, overlooking Victoria Harbor towards Hong Kong Island. The Central Plaza skyscraper (78 storeys, completed 1992) is reflecting sunlight onto the water. The Hong Kong Convention Center is in front of it. On the right is the IFC (International Finance Center) tower, the city’s second tallest at 415 m/ 1,362 ft (88 storeys, completed 2003).

December 29, 2018December 29, 2018

Saturday/ ready for the red-eye to Hong Kong

I’m taking a red-eye flight to Hong Kong tonight, to stay there over New Years Eve, and for another day or two.

Here’s a new A$50 that landed in my wallet; it features David Unaipon, indigenous Australian of the Ngarrindjeri people, a preacher, inventor and author. The polymer note has all kinds of security features, and four birds of which only three are visible. Green swan, white swan, flying bird above it, and the fourth one is only visible under UV light. How come the USA has such blah banknotes?

I love this cartoon that appeared in today’s The Australian’s Weekend Edition. The cartoonist is Jon Kudelka.

This Instagram picture was taken in March by Tom Cannon, but was also printed in the newspapers as one of the top tourist pictures of the year. Coral Bay is some 1,100 km/ 700 mi up north the coast of Western Australia from Perth. (It’s an optical illusion; the fish did not ram the boat).

December 26, 2018December 26, 2018

Thursday/ last day by the Bay

Our time is running short here at the resort by Geographe Bay.
There is a nice walk & bike track that runs along the beach. For me, it’s hard to just walk, though, and not stop and investigate the sounds and glimpses of the exotic birds in the bushes.