Hello everyone,
it is Earth Day once again (also known as International Mother Earth Day since 2009), making it the 42nd anniversary of increasing environmental awareness around the world.
I'd like to share this link with you showing an Earth Day entry on The Big Picture, the photo blog of The Boston Globe. Enjoy!
-Jan
Melbourne, nowadays the capital of the state of Victoria, Australia was established in 1835 by John Batman (yes Batman, an identically named suburb still exists today).
Four images representing the main activities of mid19th century Melbourne grouped around the red Saint Goerge cross (a Christian martyr and patron of England). The Cross contains a red-golden crown symbolising the city's monarchal affiliation to the English royal dynasty. The four images (starting from the top left and proceeding clockwise) are a fleece hanging from a ring (wool shearing), a bull (livestock breeding), a three mast-ship (shipping) and a whale (if you hadn't already guessed, it is whaling). The flag reoccurs within the city's coat of arms. Until next Time!
Cheers
G'Day to all of you!
So the day of departure finally arrived last Friday, and thus my ~30 hours journey to the Southern Hemisphere began. Almost 12h of flight to the city-state Singapur, a 4h break at Airport, 7 more hours to Sydney, where every outsider (and locals alike) needs to pass thorough quarantine checks until allowed to proceed his or her jouney, 4 more hours of wait before the final flight to Melboune (short hop of 2h). When travelling to Australia its best not to bring anything organic beside yourself, otherwhise fines can be charged up to AUD $1000 and in severe cases you might be put into jail. So it is probably for the best to leave those muddy shoes and the original Rembrandt with the fancy wooden picture frame at home (foreign wood worms are considered a threat to the Australian ecosystem).
Although well into the fall season, to be greeted by 25 degrees Celsius and sunshine in Mid March is not too uncommon in Melbourne. Too bad I literally fell straight into bed as soon as arriving at the hostel, but no need to hurry, as Melbourne can be found on the same latitude as Santa Cruz County (California). Anyhow, as this small blog entry concludes, I'd like to my best wishes to all of you, especially to the ones I hadn't had the chance to see off in person. Take care and hopefully you'll stick around, as there are more entries on their way. Cheers!
-Jan
