A relic from the past in Norbiton Station

Beautiful photo ren!

Here's a church with a difference. It's the Serbian Orthodox Church in Coober Pedy, South Australia. Because of the extreme temperatures that can occur in this (desert) area, many shops, dwellings and other buildings are underground. This is the entrance to the church which has been carved in sandstone between 3 and 17 meters under the ground level.

Tractor emerging onto snow lined road in the Raincliff/Kakahu area of South Canterbury after the early August snowfall. I am thinking this photo will be part of the 2017 calendar.

The sunrise yesterday morning

This is inside the underground church mentioned above:

This is an area of South Australia near Coober Pedy called The Breakaways. It got its name because the mesas and low hills appear from a distance as if "broken away" from the escarpment. Because of the unusual terrain and remote location, it is an area that attracts film-makers and some well-known movies have been filmed here, such as "Mad Max" and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

That looks just like Mars- maybe that's where the films are really coming from? (minus the vegetation anyway).

A country church west of Reading

"That looks just like Mars- maybe that's where the films are really coming from? (minus the vegetation anyway)."

It's funny you should say that - our tour guide told us that this area is popular for movie producers of science fiction films and that films that are set on other planets, such as Mars, are often filmed there because of the unusual terrain. In fact, there was a sci-fi movie called "Pitch Black", starring Vin Diesel, which was filmed there. After filming was over, they left the spaceship behind because it cost too much to transport it out. It was moved to nearby Coober Pedy and is now a tourist attraction. I'll post a photo of it later.

The spaceship, as promised.

This painting was inspired by a photo taken by David Godney of the Kalahari dusk. Thank you Mother Goose for your kind comment.

You do some lovely work, chorister! MotherGoose, I love the 'Martian' landscape, and the spaceship.

I took a day trip to the Toronto Zoo this week, with seeing the pandas (who are only there on loan, for about another year) as one of my main reasons for going. Had to wait in line about half an hour, but it was worth it especially as they weren't all sound asleep.

This is the mother panda, Er Shun, and one of her babies born in Toronto last October. Not sure if it is the male or the female though. The other one is just out of the photo to the right, on another structure. The adult male was outside eating bamboo.

To show art (and music but I can't demonstrate here) runs in the family here's one of my paintings of Midholm in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Resident gardening expert informs me that this is an example of strip farming. I posted it newly ploughed recently and here we go this week after weeks of torrential rain .

A lion guarding the Chain Bridge in Budapest

Who remembers these? Discontinued in 1964 I just turned a corner and there it was. We share locations online but someone has to be the first to find one.

Satguru, you did demonstrate your musical ability once, in an AFT question you posed by playing a piece of music by ear on video. I was able to recognise it and identify it!

Here is another pic from the Zoo, this time one of my favourites, a hippo! This one is heading for the water hole.

I remember that Liz (I've done a few now I can), a couple had beaten me for over 40 years and was able to hear them again as a result. One was Living it up by Bert Kaempfert which was on the radio a lot in the 60s.

Another view of last week's sunrise.

The Dalmatian gum digger statue in Dargaville, New Zealand. In the late 1800's/early 1900's, kauri gum was a major industry in Northland and was Auckland's main export between 1850 and 1900.

Part of our recent holiday was spent in Adelaide, South Australia, visiting family and friends. The friends that we stayed with live in the heart of the wine country. This is the view from one of the (many) wineries we visited.

I've been a bit quiet lately - blame the Olympics. For someone who is completely not sporty I've spent a looooooong time watching people do strange things with sticks (we won the hockey), whizz round on wheels (cycling was good), and paddle backwards (I like rowing).

I've also been harvesting tomatoes - I put four plants in two hanging baskets this year and they went nuts. Which is good. They also ripened on the vine, which is better. So as Ren's resident gardener... nice veggies! Shame they're not yours, lol.

Your last pic, MotherGoose, reminds me of when I went to Oz and to the Clare Valley in particular. Australian wine wasn't common in the UK back then so I asked someone in a winery shop "does Australian wine travel?" because I couldn't see the point of lugging bottles of booze around with me if it was going to be sour when I got home. The woman looked at me as though I was a pommy idiot who should be pitied, and then said "no one's complained about the corks coming out so far". Er...

The photo above was taken in McLaren Vale. I've been to the Barossa but haven't been to the Clare Valley yet.

Speaking of wine traveling - there is a vineyard called Houghton's close to where we live. They do a very nice "white burgundy" which we used to buy directly from them for about $11.50 AUS. Imagine my surprise when shopping at the supermarket in the Netherlands to come across the same wine for the equivalent of $6.50 AUS. I know it's all to do with taxes and excise duties etc, but it doesn't seem right that it costs twice as much to buy it directly from the cellar door!

This is a view of Bayeux Cathedral in the city of the same name located in Normandy, France.

Unbeknown to many English people, this building played a prominent role in English history. Although the Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux wasn't consecrated until 1077 in the presence of William the Conqueror, it is believed that Harold Godwinson, the future Saxon King of England, swore his oath not to bar William in his claim to the throne of England within this building some years before. The act of swearing this oath has been immortalised in the Bayeux Tapestry and his later reneging caused William to invade and conquer England in 1066.

It was another weird sky evening in the village. It feels like a typhoon is coming;
very still and quiet. The birds seem to know it.

I saw this photo and enjoyed the tranquility of the scene.

I am not sure where I got to with the Taranaki photos so if I have posted this view of the volcanic Mt Taranaki over Lake Mangamahoe then I apologise.