The view from my "office"

[Flashback]

Some more shots.... worth the early start!

 

[love_the_life]

Some more shots.... worth the early start!
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Did you overnight in one of the tents at the camp?

 

[TomVexille]

Stunning @Flashback

 

[ellen10]

Great photos @Flashback ! Beautiful!

 

[Flashback]

Did you overnight in one of the tents at the camp?

Gosh no, although our "lodge" was only a small step above

 

[VPS]

The Serpentine:

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A metaphor for UK politicians debating Brexit:

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Views from Tate Modern:

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London, United Kingdom

Love those views from Tate Modern (and it's free)

 

[Captain Halliday]

Love those views from Tate Modern (and it's free)

Also free is the London Skygarden, from which you can see Tate Modern on a good day.





I wasn’t so lucky with a mix of smog, mist and rain making visibility poor. But luckily they have stickers on the windows identifying all the landmarks you can’t see:



The viewing terrace has an airport feel to it:


Meantime, those taking part in the City of London run probably appreciated cool and drizzle.





London, United Kingdom

 

[VPS]

Also free is the London Skygarden, from which you can see Tate Modern on a good day.

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I wasn’t so lucky with a mix of smog, mist and rain making visibility poor. But luckily they have stickers on the windows identifying all the landmarks you can’t see:

View attachment 159619

The viewing terrace has an airport feel to it:
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Meantime, those taking part in the City of London run probably appreciated cool and drizzle.

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London, United Kingdom

And I love the Sky garden too - I need a holiday

 

[JohnM]

Punte Del Estes, Uruguay. Basically, the Gold Coast or Miami of Uruguay.

Out of order as the upload tool is wont to do, but not bothered to upload one-by-one to get order.

 

[love_the_life]

Punte Del Estes, Uruguay. Basically, the Gold Coast or Miami of Uruguay.

Out of order as the upload tool is wont to do, but not bothered to upload one-by-one to get order.

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Actually there seems to be even more sea front development than when we were there in 2011.

 

[JohnM]

There are cranes up at a couple of large towers under construction out along the bay. But it’s very quiet down on the point right now as I indulge in some excellent scraps for dinner.

I sense that a lot of places in those towers are empty.

Uruguay is an interesting place. Flies under the radar. Feels just like Australia.

 

[Hvr]

Walking to the train this evening for my trip home.

 

[Flashback]

Walking past Pokhara airport on the way to the International Mountain Museum. The barbed wire fence was about waist high.... I believe a new airport is in progress, being built for international operations. I think we could see that particular runway on the drive back from Sarangkot yesterday.

 

[JohnM]

Today, for about 7 hours, my office was a VW Gol (and no, I haven’t left off the ‘f’) as I did a c. 500-click transect across Uruguay from Punta Del Este to Tacuarembo.

Why? Just to see, of course . I like geography - and a bit of a drive in the country.




It was fascinating for an Australian agriculturalist and forester.

Uruguay is very agricultural and ultra-modern in its systems and does it highly efficiently on a large scale. The growing season is clearly summer as crops are ripening and the monster combines are out in force on the sorghum crops, while the hay-rollers are also going flat out. A joy to behold .

I did mention last night that Uruguay looks just like Australia. Fundamentally, it is a modern middle-class country with no obvious pockets of a poor under-class or ratty half-built buildings that one can see in other South American countries.

Roads are excellent and toll stations (probably why the roads are so good), while cash-only, take multiple currencies. When I ran out of UYU, I just used USD. Too easy .

But, on top of that, Eucalypts are extremely naturalised here - and they grow like fury on the rich soils and with the good moisture. Driving across the landscape, it is so hard to not to think one is in Australia (but the roads are better here.)

Furthermore, the plantation Eucalypt industry here is gigantic. I passed literally hundreds of log-hauling trucks and overtook many empties going back to re-fill. There were plantations all the way, but they seem near their zenith around Tacuarembo.

The trees are lush, ultra-tall and super-straight. My guess is that they would be getting through a rotation in about 75% of the time taken in most parts of mainland Australia.

Naturalised Eucalypt trees typical of the roadways everywhere.



Lush Eucalypt plantations - and some large wind-farms in this northern region.



Another great day in somewhere a little different .

 

[Flashback]

The view from this mornings office.. Pokhara airport. Interesting check in experience, some people were weighed... we weren't!


Loving the hand written boards...

Showing on time.... weather isn't great today so we will see if that is true or not


I had a look around but couldn't find any lounge, guess we'll have to slum it with Joe public!

 

[OZDUCK]

Because it was another, as per usual, Perfect Perth day today I went for my normal morning ride. Today I passed a large pleasant park on the south banks of the Canning River. Situated in this park is a memorial site to the Sikh pioneers of Western Australia. This site was chosen because it was the initial informal, and later legal, site for cremations under their religious rules. The last one done here was about 1930. This memorial was only built about 12 months ago. One of the two Perth Sikh Gurdwara's is a few Km from here.

The site is in set in a nice parkland with about six separate plinths displaying details of the Sikh history in WA. The path wanders past the displays. The history is detailed on photo engraved stainless steel pieces with various symbols etc spread around the area.



Some details about the cremations - on one of the smaller displays.



The largest display - it also mentions the history of the local Aboriginal people. And just to prove I was riding, my bike is in the photo.



This is another information panel. This person was killed in the Japanese attacks on Broome in 1942 which destroyed a number of Flying Boats fleeing the Indonesian Archipelago.

 

[VPS]

Today, for about 7 hours, my office was a VW Gol (and no, I haven’t left off the ‘f’) as I did a c. 500-click transect across Uruguay from Punta Del Este to Tacuarembo.

Why? Just to see, of course . I like geography - and a bit of a drive in the country.

View attachment 159873

View attachment 159875
It was fascinating for an Australian agriculturalist and forester.

Uruguay is very agricultural and ultra-modern in its systems and does it highly efficiently on a large scale. The growing season is clearly summer as crops are ripening and the monster combines are out in force on the sorghum crops, while the hay-rollers are also going flat out. A joy to behold .

I did mention last night that Uruguay looks just like Australia. Fundamentally, it is a modern middle-class country with no obvious pockets of a poor under-class or ratty half-built buildings that one can see in other South American countries.

Roads are excellent and toll stations (probably why the roads are so good), while cash-only, take multiple currencies. When I ran out of UYU, I just used USD. Too easy .

But, on top of that, Eucalypts are extremely naturalised here - and they grow like fury on the rich soils and with the good moisture. Driving across the landscape, it is so hard to not to think one is in Australia (but the roads are better here.)

Furthermore, the plantation Eucalypt industry here is gigantic. I passed literally hundreds of log-hauling trucks and overtook many empties going back to re-fill. There were plantations all the way, but they seem near their zenith around Tacuarembo.

The trees are lush, ultra-tall and super-straight. My guess is that they would be getting through a rotation in about 75% of the time taken in most parts of mainland Australia.

Naturalised Eucalypt trees typical of the roadways everywhere.

View attachment 159874

Lush Eucalypt plantations - and some large wind-farms in this northern region.

View attachment 159876

Another great day in somewhere a little different .

Interesting comparison of how Uruguay coped with the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 compared to the UK - you can read the whole article if you're really bored but below is the synopsis.

Foot and Mouth Disease in Uruguay, 2001 Foot and mouth disease (FMD) also occurred in Uruguay at the same time as the epidemic in the U.K. Although these two countries are approximately the same size, their livestock composition is quite different. Uruguay has nearly seven times as many cattle as the UK (10.6 million compared to 1.6 million) but fewer sheep and pigs. Faced with a similar number of FMD-infected farms, the two countries’ approach to this disease was drastically different. The UK used a stamping-out policy with no vaccination, while Uruguay culled few animals and concentrated its efforts on a massive vaccination campaign. In the UK, more than 6 million animals were killed. In Uruguay, a little over 6,900 animals were killed, and over 24 million doses of vaccine were used. The two outbreaks lasted about the same time, but the overall cost to control the epidemic was far less in Uruguay. The FMD outbreak in the UK is estimated to have cost approximately US$5 billion to agriculture and the food chain and an additional US$5 billion from loss of tourism. The cost of the outbreak in Uruguay was US$243.6 million, with much of this due to the loss of export markets. This outbreak illustrates how vaccination can be effective in controlling and eradicating FMD.


https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c921/2e27c49793f53c8757c7d957b864659867c1.pdf

 

[JohnM]

I should have mentioned in my post that further north cropping petered out in favour of predominantly cattle-grazing and plantations. Sheep grazing was also a large industry in the past. I wonder if, like Australia, as the wool industry declined, a lot of sheep-grazing land was turned to plantations.

The north is traditional gaucho country of the baggy pants, tucked into boots and large floppy beret type. Basque-type culture runs deep in Uruguay.

 

[drron]

Have worked in Latrobe many times but today looked out the window and realised the MEL-HBA flights follow the Bass highway direction from the hospital to the Cherry shed.

.

 

[Flashback]

Interesting comparison of how Uruguay coped with the Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 compared to the UK - you can read the whole article if you're really bored but below is the synopsis.

Foot and Mouth Disease in Uruguay, 2001 Foot and mouth disease (FMD) also occurred in Uruguay at the same time as the epidemic in the U.K. Although these two countries are approximately the same size, their livestock composition is quite different. Uruguay has nearly seven times as many cattle as the UK (10.6 million compared to 1.6 million) but fewer sheep and pigs. Faced with a similar number of FMD-infected farms, the two countries’ approach to this disease was drastically different. The UK used a stamping-out policy with no vaccination, while Uruguay culled few animals and concentrated its efforts on a massive vaccination campaign. In the UK, more than 6 million animals were killed. In Uruguay, a little over 6,900 animals were killed, and over 24 million doses of vaccine were used. The two outbreaks lasted about the same time, but the overall cost to control the epidemic was far less in Uruguay. The FMD outbreak in the UK is estimated to have cost approximately US$5 billion to agriculture and the food chain and an additional US$5 billion from loss of tourism. The cost of the outbreak in Uruguay was US$243.6 million, with much of this due to the loss of export markets. This outbreak illustrates how vaccination can be effective in controlling and eradicating FMD.


https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c921/2e27c49793f53c8757c7d957b864659867c1.pdf

Sounds like the UK approach to Brexit.