The Grey Headed Flying Fox

The internet tells me the Grey Headed Flying Fox is one of the largest bats in Australia (Wikipeida, that old beacon of accuracy, even claims it's the biggest).

And as it turns out, there's a rather large colony at Parramatta Park. So, here are a couple of pictures:

Sydney by night - again

I better post this, so nobody can say I've gone a full year without putting up anything. And to get back into it, I might as well pick up where I left off.

These nighttime shots were taken from Mrs Macquaries Chair (Sydney).

Sydney by night - part 2

And because it was so much fun, some more nighttime shots, this time of the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge.



The Sydney Opera House at dusk



The Sydney Opera House by night



Wide angle shot of the Sydney Harbor Bridge



The Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney by night - part 1

Some dusk and nighttime shots of Sydney, more specifically the city, taken from across the harbor



Sydney harbor just before sunset (panorama image composed of 11 photos; panorama generated by Hugin).



The skyline of Sydney at dusk (with some inevitable light streaks from passing ferries)



The skyline of Sydney by night



Another image of the city and harbor by night, but with much more colorful reflections on the water

Parramatta Centenary square

From the Better late than never desk: A couple of photos from Parramatta's Centenary Square (formerly known as Church Street Mall), taken around Christmas.




Another attempt at HDR


For the artsy fartsy inclined: Colorful Xmas tree in an otherwise b/w Centenary Square


Panorama image created from 10 individual photos, stitched together with the help of Hugin.

Taking photos in Parramatta

Just a heads up to those who consider taking a few photos of the fancy water feature on Parramatta's all-new Centenary Square (aka Church Street Mall):

If there's just one kid, fully dressed, frolicking among the water fountains (say, to cool off on a hot day), some over-protective asshole will call the cops, the boys in blue will come down on you like a ton of bricks, they will take your details, and they will bully you into deleting all the photos you have taken.

To keep all the hysteric, super-PC, hyper-concerned douchebags happy, here's a nighttime photo of said water feature. No kids anywhere, and a shutter speed of 2 minutes has made sure no moving objects, such as persons, remain visible.

Rhine Falls

At just 23 meters (75 feet), the Rhine Falls are by no means the highest waterfalls. The Swiss Alps alone feature numerous falls that are much higher and, for that matter, probably look more impressive. Still, thanks to a flow rate ranging from 250,000 liters / second (winter) to 600,000 liters / second (summer), these falls are regarded as the "biggest" in Europe.

And that makes them worthy of a couple of photos:




HDR image by Luminance


Panorama image by Hugin

For visitor information, please check out the Rhine Falls official website.

Parramatta Winterlight

Once again, Parramatta is putting on the Winterlight Festival. Due to extensive construction work currently in progress in Church Street Mall, the event has been moved to Price Albert Park, and therefore has to do without the impressive backdrop of the illuminated Town Hall building (check out photos from last year here).

Still, the light installation above the ice rink is quite impressive:


There's also a winter bar, a couple (well, three) food stalls, and a giant snow ball for the kids to climb inside. Apart from the ice rink, the event mainly features activities and workshops for kids.

Warm lights around the food stalls add to the cozy atmosphere


At the German hut, you can get some authentic bratwurst for a mere $ 8.


Another food stall

Bob's Barbershop

Bob is what you might call an old school barber. He has been in the business for 52 years, starting as an apprentice, then getting his license (back then, you needed one), before taking over the business and buying all the equipment for the grand sum of $ 40.

There's no big menu of options to choose from; Bob's range of services consists of precisely 2 (two) products: Haircut and beard trim. And you won't be charged extra to have your hair cut by the "Senior Art Director"; once you're sitting in that single, 100-year-old barber chair, it is always Bob The Barber who gets to work, because, well, there is just him. And when he's done, that antique cash register will take your money (the whole $ 14.50) even during a power blackout.

In 1980, Bob moved his business in Parramatta from Church Street to Victoria Road, opposite Prince Alfred Park. There, he has been the last shop still operating for at least 5 years now.

At the end of June, Bob will close his door for the last time; the block of shops is due to be demolished so that McDonalds, who owns the site and the building, can extend their car park. This development has brought Bob to the attention of the local newspaper, and even the TV news found room for a brief segment on this classic, local business.

Fortunately, things have changed slightly since these news items were produced; as it turns out, Bob is not retiring, at least not completely. Instead, Bob is moving his business to 321 Concord Road, Concord West, where he will set up shop in / near his wife's antiques store.

Meanwhile, I've decided to immortalize Bob's old place with a couple of photos before the bulldozers show up:

The Queen Mary 2 in Sydney

About a week ago, the Queen Mary 2, shipping company Cunard Line's flagship once again visited Sydney. The 151,400 ton ship is 345 meters (1,132 ft) long, 41 meters (135 ft) wide (45 m / 147 ft 6 in) at bridge wings), and with a height of 72 meters (236 ft 2 in), it's too high to fit under the Sydney Harbor bridge.

14 of the 17 decks are available to the guests / passengers. The maximum capacity is 3,090 passengers, with a crew of 1,288 looking after the guests and running the ship.

Further technical data and key figures are available on this technical fact sheet (PDF).

You can also explore the QM2's deck plans (PDF).

And now, as you've probably guessed already, I'm gonna show off some of the photos I took during the QM2's visit:








Note: Photos have been processed with GIMP; composite images have been created with Hugin.

Australia Day 2014 fireworks display at Parramatta

Immediately after Jessica Mauboy finished her concert, the fireworks display marked the official end of the festivities with a bang or two.

Australia Day 2014 concert

As usual, Parramatta had booked a first class act to conclude the local Australia Day festivities. After performing in the city earlier in the day, Jessica Mauboy headlined the traditional evening concert at Parramatta Park.











And the cops kept a close eye on proceedings

Rubber Duck

Finally, a duck face worth writing about. As part of this year's Sydney Festival, Florentijn Hofman's Rubber Duck is visiting Parramatta.

So, here are some pics from said Duck at Parramatta Park:














And just because it's an art festival, here's Rubber Duck in an artsy fartsy black and white setting, making it all profound and deep and meaningful and shit...