Bart Bear's Blog

Gungagai is a small town on the Murrumbidgee river in New South Wales, about a 2 hour drive from Canberra. The town was originally built in the early 1800s on the the flat land near the river. On June 25, 1852, a flood completely destroyed the town and killed around 1/3 of the population. The town was rebuilt on higher ground and today contains examples of many types of old architecture, including some good Art-Deco examples in the main street. There are also some of the old buildings that survived the flood. The heroes of the 1852 flood were 4 local Wiradjuri men who used their bark canoes to rescue more than 50 people. A statue of 2 of them, Jackey Jackey and Yarri is in the main street. The other 2 were Long Jimmy and an unknown man.

Labels: buildings, Gundagai, New South Wales

 

Labels: birds, buildings, Canberra

I have been helping Dad with his hobby/craft as well.We have added another aircraft carrier to our fleet of 1/700 scale ships. This is the third Royal Navy ship to be named "Ark Royal". The Ark was the first carrier to have steam catapults to launch aircraft and the first to have the hangars and flight deck as integral parts of the hull (earlier carriers of all navies had them as "add-ons"). She had a fairly short life, launched in 1938 and torpedoed in November 1941, but she served in actions off Norway, the hunt for Bismarck and in the vital Malta convoys. Her aircraft made some of the first aerial U-boat kills. Our model shows her on her last trip,about to launch Sea Hurricanes for Malta and with Fulmars and Swordfish on deck. Another thing we have been working on is our card lighthouse collection. These are 1/250 scale and mostly UK lights. And of course we had to do another dragon. The big green one we made in November left us at Christmas to live with an Asian family, so we made a smaller version to keep our red one company. It is amazing what you can make from sheets of card and a good template.
 

Labels: boats, buildings, card models, lighthouse, models

Just a year ago I was investigating more of Hawaii than I had on previous trips. What a sorry year it has been. One of the interesting buildings is the Ali'iolani Hale which houses the Hawaiian Supreme Court. Most people recognize it as the headquarters of Hawaii Five-O. When I visited there was no sign of the Five-O crew, not surprising as they don't actually have their HQ there. I was hoping that they would be there filming and I could get a job as an extra. Anyhow, the building is a fascinating museum of the legal history of Hawaii with rooms devoted to the Hawaiian royal dynasties and the efforts they made to train a cadre of political and military specialists trained at European universities and academies. The central staircase features in several episodes of my favourite TV show, so I got Mum to photograph me acting like one of the casualties in the episode where the HQ is being attacked. A word of warning to small bears and children - it is quite painful if you slip while climbing on the upstairs railings. I sat in the Supreme Court in the spectator seats, behind the bench where the judges sat and in the dock where prisoners sat during their trial; that's the photo the Oldies like. This is a place visitors to Honolulu should spend time checking out. It is just across the road from the 'Iolani Palace.

Labels: buildings, climbing, Hawaii

"La haina" is Hawaiian for "cruel Sun". Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1820 to 1845. The town is much older, being the royal capital of Maui for centuries before being conquered by Kamehameha the Great in 1795. The oldest European buildings date back to the 1820s. A few of the early buildings remain and can be seen along Front Street, along with examples of American Colonial architecture. During the 19th century, whaling fleets used the town as a place to restock provisions and give crews shore leave. The whalers often caused riot and mayhem, fighting with the Hawaiians and missionaries. In 1831 a fort was built to protect the town and to act as a gaol for rioters. The fort was built of coral blocks enclosing about an acre. It had 47 cannons of various sizes. The cannons were never fired in anger, being used only as saluting guns on royal occasions. The fort was demolished in 1854, but a small memorial was built on the site in 1964. I always assume signs only apply to people, not small bears. Small bears will climb anything and Lahaina has a couple of fantastic trees. Largest is a huge Banyan in the town square. It was planted in 1873 and is the largest banyan in the USA. Tourists, locals, musicians and small bears find shade here during the heat of the day. The Oldies found 2 places on Front Street that they really liked. If you like pineapple, the Maui Gold shop sells the sweetest pineapple they ever tasted, you can even get pineapple whip (ice cream); you really have to try this if you visit Lahaina. Then they found a bar/cafe called Kimo's. Mum's name is Kim so of course they had to have lunch here. It was the best lunch place they found in the whole 3 Hawaiian islands we visited. Lunching on a waterfront lanai, sipping cocktails, nibbling on fish and chips (striped marlin, would you believe) and watching the ships, boats and boards in the harbour and the turtles feeding in the sea just below the table is a lunchtime we will never forget. We want to go back......

Labels: buildings, Hawaii, trees

What a long break. I have been away from the keyboard for 9 weeks!! I was overseas for 5 of those weeks, 16 days in Hawaii and 19 cruising back home; reports and images of happenings during that time to come (Dad has just finished archiving the images and videos of the trip). However, fun things have been happening since we got home. Last weekend we went down to Sydney to see Bro Trent and Unka Nathan off on their first cruise, on the biggest ship operating out of Australia, "Ovation of the Seas". This is twice the size of the ship we cruised back from Hawaii on, "Radiance of the Seas". I was really impressed with the size of their ship, and would like to see it alongside the largest one I have sailed on, "Queen Mary 2"; it would be an interesting comparison between a giant cruise ship and a giant ocean liner. While we were waiting for the ship to leave, we went on a cruise around the harbour. This is something we do every Sydney trip so that we can keep up with the new buildings and parks around the foreshore. Sydney harbour is the prettiest one I have sailed into/out of.
Yesterday was my 17th birthday. I don't think the Saturday night fireworks near our hotel at Darling Harbour was in my honour, but it could have been...

Labels: boats, buildings, Sydney

If you watch the TV program "Hawaii Five O" you will recognize these two buildings. Actually, they have nothing to do with Honolulu Police, apart from providing film locations. They are historic buildings from the time of the last Hawaiian royal family and the takeover of the islands by the USA. The first building is the Ali'iolani Hale. It was originally built in the early 1870s by King Kamehameha V. He intended it to be the royal palace, but changed the plan to be the central offices of the Hawaiian government. Today it is the Hawaiian Supreme Court building. The statue in front of the building? More about that later. Across the road is the 'Iolani Palace, which was the royal residence of the rulers of Hawaii from 1882 to 1893. It was built on the site of an earlier palace, which dated back to 1845, by the last king of Hawaii, David Kalakaua. The last monarch, his sister Queen Liliuokalani, spent a year under house arrest here after a coup ended Hawaiian royal government. Both buildings are designated as National Historic Landmarks. The palace is open Tuesday to Saturday, so naturally the Oldies took me there on a Monday and I couldn't see the inside. However, there are some spectacular banyan trees in the grounds, just right for a small bear to climb (my Aloha shirt made it easy for the Oldies to keep an eye on me), so the visit was not wasted.

Labels: buildings, climbing, Hawaii, history

While I was away, two interesting things happened at home. Firstly, the empty block across the road is now a building site. There will be a two-story childcare centre there in a few months. That's OK by me as the building won't block my view of the mountains; there is snow on the highest peaks today. The really exciting thing is that testing has started on the new light rail vehicles. The workmen are still finishing laying the track and stringing the power cables on some of the route, but the trams have arrived and one is being tested on the first completed sections, just up from home. The complete route between Gungahlin and the City Centre is due to be operating by Christmas and it looks like the project is actually running on time. In a few months I will be able to watch trams running along the street at the front of our apartment complex, and (of course) ride them.

Labels: buildings, Canberra, train

Most of the really old buildings and engineering structures in Australia were built by convict labour in the early 1800s. Tasmania has some outstanding examples of their work. Here are two historic bridges on the roads between the capital, Hobart, and the second largest city, Launceston. The top images are of the oldest stone bridge in Australia and is still in use. Completed in 1825, it crosses the Coal River at Richmond. The bottom images are the bridge across the Macquarie river at Ross. This is the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia, completed in 1836. The bridge has great carved ornamentation around the arches. and the sides. This work was done by one of the convict stonemasons, Daniel Herbert. Both he and the convict foreman, James Colbeck, were freed when the bridge was completed.I think they deserved their freedom, it is a beautiful bridge. Both bridges are on the Register of the National Estate and the Australian Heritage List. Although the highway between Hobart and Launceston now bypasses Richmond and Ross, it is worth the short detours to see these wonderful bridges.

Labels: buildings, Tasmania

One of the long drives we did in Tasmania was to the Nut. This is the remnant of a huge volcanic plug near the town of Stanley in far north-west Tassie. The Nut has been used as background for several films. You can walk to the top, or take the chairlift. The Oldies didn't do either; they just stopped at the cafe at the end of the road for coffee and photos. I found a seat on a rail and watched the seabirds. Back in the 1820s, Stanley was the headquarters of the Van Diemen's Land company (VDLC), set up by a group of London merchants to farm the new colony, using convict labour for some jobs. You can see the ruins of one of the guard barracks near to the entry of Highfield House. This house was the residence of the company manager and it, along with a lot of the old farm buildings, has been restored and is open to visitors. The road from the Nut to Highfield has lots of great spots to get great photos of the Nut. Personally, I was really happy to see that the local cows have such a great view. On a sad note, it was the bounty that the VDLC placed on the head of the Tasmanian Tiger that was largely responsible for the tiger's extinction.

Labels: buildings, history, Tasmania

Labels: buildings, history, New South Wales

Our second port in New Zealand this cruise was Wellington, the capital. Wellington is known as "Windy Wellington" because the wind gets funneled down Cook Strait between the North and South Islands and hardly ever stops blowing. The sign on the hill near the airport tells how the locals see it, look close and you will too. We had a magnificent guide for our day in Wellington. Robbie took us around the city and bays showing us stuff that we didn't have a chance of seeing last time. We started by visiting two of the most unusual buildings. The one at the top is called the Beehive by locals. It is in fact the parliamentary office building. Parliament House is under renovation next door. The building on the bottom is the Old Government Building. It looks like it is made of stone, but is the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere. It was built in 1876 to be the offices of the NZ civil service. Today it is Law School of the University of Wellington. Even close up, you find it hard to believe that it is actually all wood. The other interesting thing in the photo is the electric trolleybus. These have been in use in Wellington since 1924, but are due to be phased out shortly. I think they are an interesting idea. After looking at buildings (more photos to come), Robbie drove us up to the top of Mt Victoria. There are a couple of lookout points there which give spectacular views of the city. You may be able to see Voyager of the Seas in the background. It was very windy up there and the Oldies wouldn't let me loose to climb on anything.

Labels: boats, buildings, cruising, New Zealand

Last weekend we stayed at a special historic building, the Hydro Majestic Hotel. This series of linked buildings is at Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. First building was the Belgravia Hotel, built in 1891. Sydney businessman, Mark Foy, bought the place in 1902 and built a much larger hotel which he hoped would be a hydropathic spa. Unfortunately, the local water wasn't mineral rich so he imported spa water from Germany; it tasted horrible. The big dome covers what was called the Casino. Despite the name, it was a ballroom, not a gambling place.The hotel is on a clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley. The views are superb and there are many walking tracks for the fit and keen. Bushfires destroyed parts of the complex in 1905 and 1922, and have come close many times since. Because of the mix of Edwardian and Art Deco architecture, the Hydro Majestic was put on the Heritage list in 1984. Major restoration work was completed last year, so naturally my architecture-freak Oldies had to check it out. It is a wonderful place for a "lost weekend". The highlight for us was Saturday night dinner; great cuisine (this small bear had to have that word explained), new cocktails for Mum to try (Dad usually sticks to beer), piano playing softly in the background, and watching sunset over the valley. Highly recommended for Oldies and small critters.

Labels: Blue Mountains, buildings, New South Wales

So many pictures from past trips... Here's a few from Dubai, a place where anybody interested in architecture can find amazing stuff everywhere. The surprising thing is that Dubai is desert, but there is water incorporated in many groups of structures. The top left is actually on the shore of the Arabian Gulf. It is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and from many angles it looks like a wave. At night it looks spectacular; I will try to find an example somewhere in our thousands of Dubai images. Top right and bottom left are of the hotel and lagoon of Mina A'Salam. We stayed here for a few nights on our last Dubai trip and I really enjoyed cruising around the acres of lagoon and browsing the treasures in the souk in the lower floor of the hotel. The last photo is my favourite little bridge. It connects the Palace Hotel complex with the Dubai Mall. The structure of the bridge is like that of bridges in the old Arabian cities, art combined with function, well worth visiting. Once again, there is a large artificial lagoon here, the site of the fantastic Dubai Fountains. When the fountains are operating in the evening this bridge is jam-packed with spectators, at other times it is a nice cool spot for overheated small bears to cool off.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

Papeete has a great mix of architectural styles. Most of the new buildings are rather uninteresting concrete and glass, but the older buildings are fascinating. Just across from the cruise terminal is what was obviously once a splendid hotel. Today it is closed up, the main door has been covered by a roller shutter and the only sign of its former glory is the staircase leading up to it. Even the fire escapes have class; no ugly ladders and landings, but recessed spiral staircases. It must have been an impressive hotel when it was in its prime.  I haven't been able to find out what it was called, Google is quiet on the subject. If anybody knows, please let me know too. Lots of the older buildings are very colourful. The red and yellow one in the photo is part of the market district. Papeete markets are well worth wandering around. All sorts of things on sale, but I really do wonder how all those millions of mangoes ever get sold. And of course the modern graffiti kids are active as well. Mind you, I think this wall in downtown Papeete is really a work of art and maybe will be kept and appreciated. The problem I had was that time was so short, there is lots more to see next time.

Labels: buildings, cruising, South Pacific, Tahiti

Egypt is one of the highlights of the Oldies' lives, so they say. Actually, I thought having me around should be the continuing highlight. Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures that show just how colossal some of the ancient Egyptian monuments are. Dad is busy photographing hieroglyphs on the columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall in the temple at Karnak. The columns are 24m high and were covered in carvings. Many of the carvings were broken when some of the columns fell and the restored columns are smooth in the lost areas. You can see how much darker it is inside the Hall by comparing it with the second photo, where Mum is standing near a statue of Ramses the Great and his daughter, Bent'anta. Ramses wasn't that much bigger than Mum or his daughter; the size of the statue indicates how important he considered himself. In this case he is about 7 times bigger (i.e. more important) than Bent'anta and Mum. I dispute that; nobody is more important than Mum! The Oldies took over 9,000 photos in Egypt and Mum and I have been translating the hieroglyphs ever since they got back from the trip.
It's a real shame to see Egypt in the troubled state it is in at present. I hope that common sense will prevail and it will be once again a beautiful country full of beautiful people.

Labels: buildings, Egypt

On Saturday we went for a walk to the historic Duntroon Dairy. This is one of the oldest buildings in Canberra, dating back to the early 1830s. It provided dairy products to the early settlers on the Limestone Plains, where Canberra would be built, starting some 80 years later. Over the years a lot of other structures were built on the site; houses, feed pens, milking sheds, even a tennis court. The last people to live here left in the 1960s and the site slowly decayed. The other buildings were demolished and all that is left now are the concrete floors and foundations. The old dairy was restored around 2004 and is on the Register of the National Trust. The building is locked except on special occasions, so I couldn't see the most interesting thing about it. The dairy is built from the stone cut from the hill to make the platform it is on and the walls are around 60 cm thick. There is also a deep well inside the building, built of unmortared bricks. Water seeps into the well and keeps the dairy cool and humid, just right for storing milk, butter and cheese in the days before fridges. I really would like to have seen the place in the days when it was in full operation.

Labels: buildings, Canberra

Singapore at night is a magical place, all lit up. I think that buildings and monuments look their best like this, so here's a building and a monument all aglow. The building is the Marina Bay Sands Resort. Dad calls it the "cricket stumps" building because with its three towers and the Skypark across the top it does look like wickets and bails. We stayed on the other side of the marina and this photo was taken from our balcony. Actually, Mum got so excited filming a light show one night that she accidentally locked Dad outside and it was a while before she remembered him :) The bottom photo is the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore. He really glows when the light is on him. The great thing about Singapore at night is that it is a bit cooler and the humidity is a bit lower, so lots of people are out and about, making the city buzz. When these photos were taken it was only 30 degrees Celsius and 85% humidity, and that is a tad better than daytime. I am looking forward to our next Singapore stopover; I have done lots of homework and found lots of extra things to see.

Labels: buildings, Singapore

One of my favoritest buildings is the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. You will find pictures of it scattered through my blog, because I like it a lot. During our trip to the Emirates last year we stayed right next to the Burj Al Arab and the Oldies took gazillions of pictures of it. Here are three that show it in different colours. During the day it is just white and blue, still spectacular against the blue of the sky and sea. At night it is illuminated by coloured lights that change through many colours.  Here are just two of them. Two things that you really do have to see in Dubai are the Burj Al Arab, the prettiest hotel in the world, and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I love them both.

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates

The biggest aquarium tank I have ever seen is the main one at Atlantis in Dubai. As well as gazillions of fish, the tanks have been made to look like the remains of a sunken city. It is very impressive and the fish really like the artificial reefs that the "ruins" make. The main tank holds all the sorts of fish that live in the Arabian Gulf, and smaller tanks hold examples of species from around the world. The other thing that makes Atlantis an interesting place to visit is the way that the paths through the aquarium are all made in tunnels and the walls are covered with fantasy artifacts and writing, supposedly Atlantean. I found some of the stuff a bit scary, particularly this giant warrior. I think he is not real, but I can't be sure; I was climbing on his axe thingies one minute and the next thing I was grabbed and Dad had to rescue me.  (For a bigger view of Bart in the grip of the Atlantean Giant, just click the image. - Dad)

Labels: buildings, Dubai, Emirates, fish