Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kings Canyon - Photo heavy

We arrived at Kings Canyon very early:
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I was quite nervous because, well, I'm scared of heights. I think it does show:
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Note Amandine holding me... Susan, I do think you were brave to say Yes.
The path is very steep at the beginning of the walk, but it does not last that long, and when you are on top, you don't regret the effort, believe me. It is all flat, well almost.
The colors are gorgeous. In Uluru and Kata Tjuta, the stones are red to their core. Although the stones in Kings Canyon are also red, they are white, covered with red dust from the two others.
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After walking on the top, we went down the stairs (there are the same on the other side to climb up again)
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to reach the Garden of Eden at the bottom. As you can see, the vegetation is quite dense. And there are birds singing all the way down.
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This is the other end of the pool. The white marks are the droppings of the birds nesting there.
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After climbing back to the top, we had a little snack
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hosted by these two cute and funny pigeons.
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This is the last view before going back.
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If you watched The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, you may have recognized the landscape.

If you like it, go to my Flickr page, there are more pictures...

Monday, August 23, 2010

Corset by Emilie

My daughter Emilie has spend a couple of weeks at home with me.
I had purchased a corset kit from VogueFabrics for her and she had fun sewing it.


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The kit comes with the parts already cut to your size, with busk, bones, binding and lining.
You have to add the gromets but I had some in my stash (in fact I had them since I was a teenager and never dare trying for good :-)) We took the time to practise, and well, we did pretty well.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Kokeshi - blocks 3 and 4

Meet Emi and Kiriko

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Mayumi, Hiromi, Chiromi and Natsu
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Ulur, another point of view

In fact, not much different from mine.
After Emilie and I left, Amandine found a job as a translator for tourists.
Go and see her post: http://amandineinwonderland.blogspot.com/2010/06/french-translator-in-red-center.html

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Uluru, some more

I'm glad you liked the slideshow of Uluru.

Kerri, the Northern Territory is so huge, it is difficult to see every part of it, even if you live there.

Nekki, speaking of colors, Uluru was the only place I had expectations about before going there. I would have been upset if the weather had not cooperated, because I was eager to see the sunset and the sunrise, and the changing colors. In fact, I was slightly disappointed at the moment, because watching the rock so intensely, I did not really see the drama of the colors changing. Of course, they change progressively, so it is not so spectacular. I should have watched, taken a cup of sparkling, and watched again. I would have noticed the changes more. Silly me :-) But watching the pictures afterward, I enjoy the show at its best. And don't misundersand me, I'm in love with that rock.

This was in the late afternoon. I love this picture, not only for the background!

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And this is the morning after. The temperature was around 0Degree Celsius, and yes, we had slept outside, on the ground, in a swag. I would gladly do that again, I enjoyed the night, but the morning was really cold :-)

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I fell in love with Uluru when we came near. It has a soul... I can't define it but it has "something". 
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This is one of the very old messages board, dating from many thousand years back. There are several more around Uluru.
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This is the only way up, and down. There is a rope along the path. Of course, aborigenes in the past, (and I suppose still now) climbed by themselves. I did not climb, because I'm not fit enough to do so, and also because aborigenes don't like it. They let us enjoy the site, but they need their privacy too, in my opinion.

The path is dangerous, this is explained at the start, in an usual way. The shield explains the dangers, and ends by reminding people that they may get hurt or even die, and that their family would miss them terribly, and that climbing on the rock is not worth the pain their parents would endure.

The path is not always open, depending on the weather, but also on religious constraints. On certain dates, Uluru is out of reach of non-aborigenes. And pictures are not allowed at all all the time on some locations, also for religious reasons. Aborigenes are not happy that there are so many tourists in the area, but they tolerate them. I thank them for that. 
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If you enlarge the picture below, you can see the path, just at the limit of the shadow on the foreground edge.
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Do you realize this is one single rock?...
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All around the rock, there are rooms, used since ages by aborigenes, as a kitchen, a kindergarden, etc. They make Uluru very special. In fact, there is no gap between pre-history and today in Uluru. 

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sunset and sunrise at Uluru

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Click button below!

View slideshow

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Kokeshi - blocks 1 and 2

Please meet Kaoru and Mion, and their bonsais

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and Yoko and Mari, with their umbrellas
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Yoko has got some wrinkles, maybe the age, or maybe too much seam allowance left by me ...

Those ladies are photographed on the fabric I chose for the borders.