On a recent trip to Cairns in North Queensland, I took a trip up to Kuranda in the hinterland behind Cairns. One of the attractions is the Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary where thousands of these beautiful creatures flutter about a huge enclosure for the public’s pleasure.
This Australian Birdwing Butterfly is just one of many species that can be seen. The sanctuary offers education on the life cycle and habitat of butterflies as well as a breeding facility.
Have you been to the Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary: what did you think of it. Please feel free to leave a comment below……..
After spending the last four years as a Trainer/Assessor, my voice has finally gone from a sexy growl to a downright rasp. Time then to take stock at what is important in the work/life balance and so have decided to tip the scales more in favour of the life scale. To that end, I have taken a few months off to rejuvenate and headed south to a little village on the NSW South Coast. I am house sitting for a relative who is away for a bit so it has worked out nicely.
Now I would tell you the name of the village but no one here is keen to see the crowds that exposure would bring. Suffice to say, it is a sleepy little village that somehow managed to survive the fires that ravaged this part of the coast earlier this summer. Surrounded by burned out National Parks, this village is nestled in a small oasis of bush where the native fauna and flora can recuperate peacefully as they rebuild their numbers. The fire ground is starting to show signs of life although there are many places where there seems to be little green showing through.
Waking early when there is little that needs urgent attention seems so much easier and, to make the most of the day, the lake calls for a spot of fishing. The choice here is to fish the shore, paddle the kayak about or perhaps take a surf caster to the ocean to try for a tailor or two.
The easy option is always fishing the lake shore where this morning it yielded two nice flathead; not big, but big enough for the pan.
Now it doesn’t come much fresher than hooked at 0730, on the barbecue at 0830, and eaten before 0900.
And so it would seem that the work balance is fading fast as an appealing option for this traveller. Maybe it is time to get serious about seeing what there is in this world. Please leave me a “Like” as that is what it takes to get a blog like this off the ground. Would love to hear comments you may have about your travel experiences.
South of Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia, the road divides an endless sea of grassy plains and rolling hills. Big sky’s and endless horizons are a constant feature that draws travellers from all over the world. Leaving the main roads to follow the lesser travelled byways opens up opportunities to see the real country.
On Anzac Day I found myself filling in time near Brisbane while waiting for a response from a person I had arranged to meet up with. As the day dragged on I found myself at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens near Mount Cootha.
There are themed displays under domes and in shade houses that would take days to see properly. The gardens are lovely with nicely laid out pathways and beautifully manicured plants.
It was here that I met Stranger No 3…. Hector was sitting quietly on the stone wall at the side of the path totally absorbed in something on his tablet. My first impression was that one could check out Facebook anytime, anywhere and it seemed that social media had claimed one more addict.
When I came up alongside him, I noticed that he was sketching the scene before him on the tablet. The treescape on the tablet was impressive and I stopped to ask him about it. He old me that there are quite a few apps that can be used for sketching and with the help of a stylus he was able to create a pretty impressive picture.
The app he used allowed him to choose the medium for each drawing…. this one was an oil painting and of course the beauty of this is that there is no cleaning up of brushes etc when the job is done.
Hector is from Chilli and has been here for two months to study. Clearly art is his passion and while his palette may be a tablet, art is art no matter what the form. One wonders what Picasso might have done if he had an iPad.
