NZ pictures

David sent four pics from local sources....

One last thing after the NZ earthquake.

Gerry Bond wrote:

 Are you two OK? Any damage to the house? Our ChCh motel is taking bookings so I presume they are OK.
Gerry

Hi Gerry
No damage here although the house was shaking quite considerably for around 1 minute. That was the largest earthquake I've felt since being here. There was a big one off the south west coast a couple of years ago (M8?) but it felt nothing like this one. They say it was only 5km deep. It did knock a couple of things over in the garage and the lights and doors were swinging like mad. Being 250km away we certainly felt it but luckily that's all we got. Christchurch itself is in a total mess with over 500 buildings destroyed, mainly older heritage buildings and brick buildings. Lots of video on http://tvnz.co.nz/news-video

More than 60 aftershocks so far.
David

Back home - debrief.

Back home and a few pounds heavier and a few £s lighter.
Here's a list of all who made it a good time.

1.  The check-in staff at Qantas who moved us and others to Singapore Airlines after a volcanic cancellation.
2. The coffee shop below the Peninsula Hotel in Singapore which was good for breakfast and a cool-off. They waived the bill on our last day! Very friendly people.
3. Laraine and Mike in Perth. All the best - Laraine don't stop laughing!
4. Keith at BTOW (Binocular Telescope & Optical World) in Perth who refused to sell new binos in favour of forcing the left ocular of my old ones back into the socket.
5. Herbert Hoover (deceased) whose old home put the willies up us at bedtime.
6. Fraser Ranges sheep station, nr Norseman. I will spend longer there next time. Moonless nights are fabulous.
7. Laurie and Cheryl and family in Ceduna: laid-back people in a laid-back town in a laid-back landscape.
8. The ex-Greek guy who runs the cafe on the front at Whyalla. This is a steel-making town but it resembles Scunthorpe in no way whatsoever! 
9. Peter and Vicki in Port Augusta and the waiter in The Standpipe restaurant who looks like Roger Federer.
10. David and Barb in South Island who are enjoying their lovely location on few resources. Good luck to you both.
11. All at Explorers' Tours http://www.explorerseclipse.co.uk/ who pulled off the near impossible task of re-arranging when a hotel closed down near to the last minute. Very well done all.
12. Bob Gray of the Sproud Ranch for the 4x4 drive in the Texas countryside and getting my bag back to me after the rain washed over the road too deep for our Hyundai.
13. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection doing their job.
14. All the staff in all the businesses of N America who ask, "How are you guys today". Honestly 'you folks', it sounds tedious and repetitive and gives one the urge to walk right out of the place.
15. David and Doreen who have truly unlimited dedication to their family. And deserve the best cottage in Muskoka.
16. Finally Will and Angela who kept the house intact while we were away!

All the best to you all.

Gerry and Sue


The negative list....

1.  The large blond cabin attendant on Jetstar no-frills airline who did a good impression of the Julie Hagerty part in Airplane! the movie. Her style of ripping off a credit card slip would waken the dead.
2. New Zealand Railways who seriously overcharge foreigners for no good reason.
3. The restaurant manager at the Plaza Resort Tahiti who complained about too many customers being a problem!
4. The 'very important' guy in the lounge at Toronto airport who plugged his mobile phone into the wall behind my left knee without saying a word, then called me an asshole for telling him to take it away when it rang. I suppose office furniture doesn't usually speak.

I got a Perseid!!

13 Aug 2010 about 2359 local time.
From Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario. 30sec at f5.6/Canon400D on 1600ISO (unadjusted or photoshopped).
Our view was restricted by trees but extrapolating for the wole sky we easily acheived 150/hour.
At least half left trails for a fraction of a second after. Nearly all the trails had a greenish tint. The one in the image gives a good impression and one can see the colour change fron green to orange during the descent. This one had a considerable radial velocity towards the camera, being close to the radiant.
The trail ends just below Algol. M34 is visible above and the Pleiades at edge bottom right.

Last night (15th) we were treated to thunderstorms in the area.....

The orange light on the lake is public lighting for the boat dock.

Canadian History

I have just been delving into Wikipedia's history of Canada (and Louis Riel for the sake of balance) in view of finding this banner hanging in a cafe....

If you zoom in and look carefully you can read the mottos* above and below the famous image of King Billy.
Suffice to say the passion has died since 1945. I'll say no more, but feel free to Google the subject.

*If you do not like this plural, replace with 'motti'.

Torrance Barrens

Three new blogs today after a break. This one needs no text, you will need to zoom in.....

Humming birds of Ontario

I have better pictures of these birds but this is the best one taken in flight. Taken through glass the feeder is hanging outside our friends weekend cottage. A more difficult shot would of them be feeding the young, which I saw them do in flight. Why an animal succeeds in such a difficult evolutionary niche is beyond my explanation...

They migtrate for the winter. Everyting here will be frozen solid for weeks.