Gallery Pick of the Week
Instead of just showing pretty pictures only, here we have space for contributors to discuss their images every week.
This is a great opportunity to get some insight from the original photographer and the content is entirely open. It could be anything from the personal feeling of the photographer about the image to any photographic techniques or location knowledge he/she would like to share with our visitors.
Gallery Pick of the Week > November 2008
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A Short Story for the Tourists to Down Under, 28/11/08, Pele Leung On 18 January 1788, HMS Supply entered Botany Bay and three days later the entire fleet arrived. On going ashore they found the glass dry and coarse... |
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What are the hottest topics these days? Financial turmoil and environmental crisis? Beating the potential recession by improving our environment is a sword with two edges. But you have to imagine first and then act later. |
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Our Outback Experiences, 10/11/08, Barbara Bryan "By doing less driving distance, we feel like we are getting to know a place more. Have seen awesome wildlife and birdlife so far including heaps of emus and chicks but less kangaroos..." Barbara Bryan, our contributor, shares her Outback experiences with us. |
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Will Australian Tourism Slow Down?, 3/11/08, Pele Leung Does a media exist between still image and video? If so, what is it? Is it useful for illustrating a scene? Should we all jump on it immediately? Where does it stand in the current fast moving technological world? This short introduction is our answer. |
Pele Leung - A Short Story for the Tourists to Down Under, 28/11/08
Sydney Harbour
On 21 March, 1421, the Chinese admiral, Zheng He, was blessed by his emperor for his sixth voyage of exploring the outside world. His treasure fleet consisting of more than a hundred of huge junks with ten of thousands people was the largest fleet on Earth at that time. The great armada's ships could sail for over three months covering more than 7,000 kilometres without refilling land supplies.
The fleet was later spilt into four voyages individually and two of the voyages had claimed to reach the west and east coasts of Australia before returning back to China in 1423. If this was true, Chinese had visited Australia more than 300 years before Captain Cook, the Englishman who claimed Australia for Britain.
Obviously this article is written in English so the Chinese visitors had escaped the painful settlement journey leaded by Captain Arthur Phillip. On Sunday 13 May 1787, the eleven ships departed Portsmouth and sailed for Botany Bay. It was an everlasting voyage of 19,000 kilometres and took more than seven months.
On 18 January 1788, HMS Supply entered Botany Bay and three days later the entire fleet arrived. On going ashore they found the glass dry and coarse, the timber unsuitable for building and the soil was infertile. As we all know, they had arrived in the middle of the Australian summer, when all is dryed out. Obviously it was a complete different experience from what Captain Cook had. Cook had seen the landscape in April, when the autumn brings water and life to the land.
On 21 January, Phillip and his men headed further north for better harbour and land. Finally, on 26 January, the fleet was at anchor in Sydney Harbour that Cook called Port Jackson. This is why we have Australia Day on the same day. Now after 220 years, most visitors would include Sydney in their journey to Down Under but they obviously do not need to take a seven-month voyage as the early settlers.
If you plan to visit Australia, here is the story for you.
Pele Leung - Imagine, 20/11/08
Chambers Pillar, Central Australia
I had not washed my hair for more than two days and the already scarce resource on my head all laid down like the abandoned hay in the bush!The only way to keep this horrible look was to hide them with a cap. Big deal? Of course not. There was something even worst - we were only given a small glass of water each day for cleaning our face and brushing our teeth. I could almost hear the mumbling voice of my dentist!
Imagine there were a nice cubic bathroom (a mobile one if possible) to serve our physical need in this arid country. If we are almost ready to fly humans to Mars, what makes us so difficult to build such a bathroom powered by solar and wind energy and facilitated with recycle water. With this treasured bathroom, we could take as many 4-minute showers as we wish without violating the green peace. Also the extra water flowing into our catchment will all be the bonus to us. Even better, we need this cubic bathroom installed in every household in this country. Presumably twenty million installations would make this simple invention affordable.
Now if you know how to source the following items, drop me a line. I am not kidding!
- Two water tanks to store recycled and to-be-recycled water
- Affordable solar power cells and windmill
- A simple system to recycle water
Don't we want more constructive and productive projects to beat the potential recession? Here is an opportunity.
Barbara Bryan - Our Outback Experiences, 10/11/08
Hi Friends,
We are currently staying at Colac Station (www.colacstation.com.au) north-east of Quilpie (4th night tonight) in South West Queensland, as it is so nice here and we have wireless Internet whilst sitting on our cottage verandah! Lovely hosts (who have driven about 180km each way to Charleville this morning just to do errands etc), and who have a huge sheep & cattle station here.
We went out with Duncan to do some stock water trough cleaning one morning thru rough country tracks, with Ralph helping sweep out the grime and dirty water in the troughs too (I took the action shots!). Then we had a big storm come in mid afternoon - with the lot including a dust storm first! All the ground was covered in water after the downpour (15mm), so it was impossible to move a vehicle till late the next morning but we were fine in our farm cottage with birdlife (and frogs) all round.
We have enjoyed two other farm stays in NSW - Willies Retreat near Macquarie Marshes, then Kilcowera south of Thargomindah, Queensland - on our way north with camping at the others (near billabongs/water for bird watching and superb sunrises/sunsets). This is our MOST relaxing trip as we have made more time to read, reflect and soak up the wonders of nature, the absolute silent, peaceful atmosphere as well as me taking many photos of course!
By doing less driving distance, we feel like we are getting to know a place more. Have seen awesome wildlife and birdlife so far including heaps of emus and chicks (breeding quicker and more abundantly with better rains this year outback) but less kangaroos. Wonderful waterbirds and many other types of birds including many budgerigars, parrtos, finches, woodswallows etc so have a long list already. We have our comforts including camp chairs, coffee plunger, wine, beer, good meals and lots to read plus our laptop computer. The seclusion of our camps, huge starry skies, full moon nights and wide open space is very special and something most Australians have never or rarely experienced.
We are sitting here right now with views of the mulga country which stretches for vast distances out here but also have waterholes nearby and homestead with its lush gardens only 300 metres away. Having a drink there with the hosts after dusk tonight. We are the only guests and have our own real farm cottage with screened in verandah. Early today, I drove 3km down the road to two big dams and a huge lake to view birds and saw dozens of species not seen before on this trip so far! Fantastic diversity of birds also seen around the nearby shearer's quarters, woolshed and larger tree areas. Going back late arvo as just so amazing there! We discovered how good it was on shorter visit last night.
Nearby Quilpie was a lovely little town with good feel to it and go ahead council promoting it with excellent visitor centre/museum etc. We now plan a night at at Cunnamulla then staying at Charlotte Plains Station about 50km south-east of there, then onto Surat and Toowoomba followed by Brisbane. These areas have been hard hit by the long drought so stocks heavily reduced and jobs scarce. However tourism is increasing with lots of interesting features, history etc to see out here. But it is now getting quiet as we head into the hotter season. So far we have been fortunate except for two hot days before the two storms at Willies and here....
Pele Leung - Will Australian Tourism Slow Down?, 3/11/08
The short answer is yes. Would it really hurt us much? We really do not know yet. While the New Zealand tourism authority has already signalled a drop at their side, we probably would experience the impact shortly afterwards. If we think the challenge in 2008 has been tough, our preparation for 2009 is definitely vital as many people believe that the situation next year will be even worst.
Stormy weather is scary but it is still safe as long as we know how to ride with it but not against it. Phillip Island, Victoria.
While the Earth is still rotating and the amount of physical wealth is basically the same, the only trouble is with the record of our bookkeeping. Therefore, there is actually no reason to panic. We hope this could calm you down a bit so do not close your tourism venues yet! As a tourism operator, what should you do to get ready for the stormy ride? Here are a few ideas:
- Instead of focusing on cutting cost, ensure all expenses are relevant and effective. There is no reason to stop spending money as long as each expense transaction can help your business. But be prioritise.
- It is important to review your current business model and ensure it is suitable for the new economic climate. Will your product still sell well or survive? If you are an accommodation provider, you may like to consider value added service such as complimentary breakfast without reducing your room rates.
- While many people would choose to drop advertisment and service quality to reduce their running costs, this is actually an act of long-term suicide. If your business is healthy, this stormy ride is actually an opportunity as long as you have a good plan and sufficient capital to run with it. If you play it right, you will be one of the winners when the storm is over.
If your customer base is dependent on foreign visitors, there is at least one good news. The historic low of Australian dollar can certainly help in winning more business. In fact, this should also attract more local travellers because of the extra costs of travelling overseas.
All in all, the whole situation is probaby not that bad as we thought. As long as we do it right and also be patient, we will overcome the difficult time.
Sometimes rainbow is a companion of stormy weather so bad weather can have a beautiful face behind its ugly appearance. Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island, South Australia.