Photo of the Week - Scribbly Gum

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The Scribbly Gums are unique to the Sydney area and feature strange wiggly marks around its trunk. A particular moth lays its eggs underneath the outer layer of the light coloured bark. The resulting larvae bury into the tree leaving a series of tunnels. When the tree sheds its bark, the new bark shows the various trails like a child had drawn on the tree with a felt pen.

These wonderful trees can be seen walking around any of the national parks in or around Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Kurringai Chase, Lane Cove and Royal National Parks. When damp with the morning dew or rain, they can make for some unusual and artistic photos.

A Bit of British (Gibraltar)

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I was asked by a friend planning a trip to Europe whether a visit to Gibraltar was worthwhile, whether I treated Gibraltar as a travel wonder. It made me reflect on my two visits on this tiny territory held by the British since the Spanish yielded it in the early 1700s.

Entering Gibraltar from Spain, the famed Rock of Gibraltar stands in front of you, majestically standing guard over the once strategic waterways on Europe's border. Bizarrely, you cross the runway for the airport and stroll a kilometre of so and you are in the main street (Queensway) of the country. In that short distance, visitors change from paella, tapas and fine riojas to fish and chips and pints of ale; from Euros to pounds and can again be acquainted with several well known English high street chains.

Before indulging too much, the highlight of Gibraltar is walking (or driving or cable-car for those looking for an easier path) up the rock and enjoying the views. As you walk up the rock, pay a thought to the numerous kilometres of both natural caves and man-made tunnels which thread through this limestone monolith. Past the elegant botanic gardens (see top photo) is St Michael's Cave is richly decorated with elegant lighting and worth a quick detour half way up the climb.

Most visible up the climb are the symbol of Gibraltar, the Barbary Apes (technically Barbary macaques), tail-less monkeys which both entertain with their precocious nature and infuriate with their bold thieving from inattentive tourists. They'll happily snaffle items from handbags, backpacks and straight from unsuspecting hands. Cute babies cling to their parent's stomachs as they race around the rock walls.

Towards the top as the road turns back on itself is the Moorish Castle with its distinct Tower of Homage flying the Union Jack and the long snaking walls down almost to sea level. Though much has been reconstructed, elements of the castle are over 1200 years old. The whole of the upper area of the rock is preserved as a nature reserve.

The very southern tip of Gibraltar is Europa Point where you can view the busy shipping of the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean and on a clear day, the continent of Africa. A lighthouse, mosque and church share this stunning vista.

Gnawing into my fish and chips at The Angry Friar on the main road and rinsed down with a pint of ale, Gibraltar seems a strange anachronism in modern Europe. The population are fiercely protective of their British status (as shown in recent referenda) and so Gibraltar is likely to stay in this form for many years to come. As for a visit, I personally wouldn't travel too far out of my way, but if you are heading to Africa or nearby in Spain, it makes for a different and pleasant one day journey to enjoy the views, the antics of the Barbary Apes, a touch of history and a small feel of a gentler, comfortable Britain.

Other British Posts
Soaking Up Culture (Bath)
Half-Timbered Houses (Lavenham)

The Seventeenth Century Titanic (Stockholm, Sweden)

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Today, the Vasa, the world’s only surviving 17th century ship, is visited by over one million people per year in its own five storey building on a Stockholm island. Similar interested crowds gathered to witness its grand launch in 1628 for battles against Poland, including the king of Sweden and numerous dignitaries. Imagine the shock as the pride of the Swedish armada, the royal flagship Vasa, sailed less than one nautical mile for only 20 minutes on its maiden voyage before it foundered in a gust of wind. Weighed down by 64 heavy cannons and with insufficient ballast, it listed badly and water gushed into the open gun-ports, the Vasa sinking with the loss of over thirty lives. Forgotten over time, it lay in its watery grave at the bottom of Stockholm’s harbour for over 330 years.

Discovered in the 1950s on the seabed, all the metal had corroded away but the wood of the ship was in remarkable condition. A combination of the polluted nature of the waterway, low salt levels and the frigid temperatures kept the shipworms and other nasty micro-organisms which normally devour wood at bay. Over a number of years, a recovery was planned and successfully executed.

The preservation was a long drawn out affair. First resurfacing in 1961, the Vasa was sprayed with a special glycol for a painstaking seventeen years to replace the water in the wood and to prevent shrinkage on drying. For a further nine years, the Vasa was carefully dried until it was ready for display.

Carefully monitored, it was moved into its own purpose-built five storey building (complete with fake external masts to show how tall the ship would have been in real life) on the Stockholm island of Djurgården, several blocks from the city centre. Certain elements required replacement such as the rigging and masts (all made to the standards of the time), though these are distinctly newer in appearance due to the lack of discolouration in the wood. To maintain the idea that it has sat on the sea floor for three centuries, it has been left in its natural state and not repainted with the vivid colours that scientists believe it was first adorned.

Though displayed in low light conditions to help preserve this old ship, the museum (Vasamuseet) is a superb experience with the imposing 70 metre ship standing majestically in the centre of the building from all five levels, showing the various levels of the ship itself. Around the edges on walkways are detailed explanations, videos on the restoration and life on the Vasa, walk-through recreations of parts of the ship, and displays of the many hundreds of objects and artefacts from clothing, crockery, cutlery, coins and the seamen’s personal effects to ship fittings, weapons and parts of the sails.

The Vasa is one of Sweden’s great travel wonders with the museum offering enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff and an excellent portrayal of not just the detailed craftsmanship in building wooden sailing ships, but in the seamen's harsh life in past centuries.

Notes
More details are available at the Vasa Museum website.

Photo of the Week - Virgin Village (Utah, USA)

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On the road to Zion National Park in Utah, some years ago, I stumbled upon this bizarre cartoon wild-west village called Virgin, complete with jail, saloon, stagecoach, bank and shop. When I was there, it was kind of eerie with not another soul in sight and an ominous storm cloud brewing overhead. Why do people build such strange places - a Virgin ghost-town.

The Secret Hospital (Cerkno, Slovenia)

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Only twenty kilometres from both the stunning resort town of Bled and the towering three-headed travel wonder Mount Triglav, the small village of Cerkno showcases the Yugoslav partisan ingenuity during World War Two. From early 1944 to the end of the war, a secret hospital supported the resistance movement against the occupying Italian, German and Nazi forces.

Named after the remarkable physician Franja Bidovec, the Franj Partisan Hospital is an evocative reminder of the humanity that exists even in the harshness of war. It contains thirteen basic buildings strewn along a rough path including operating theatres, isolation units, an X-ray room, electric power plant, kitchens and general wards (see entry ticket at the end for rough layout of the hospital - unfortunately in Croatian).

Located in semi-permanent dinginess in a deep, remote and spectacular gorge and protected by minefields, drawbridges and nests of machine guns, injured soldiers were blindfolded and taken into this remarkable medical facility at night. Food and medical supplies were airdropped by Allied forces, though many medical instruments were fashioned by the creativity of the local staff. A printing facility churned out a hospital newsletter for the convalescing patients. Despite coming under attack on occasions, the hospital was never discovered during the war.

Over the year and a half, over 1000 soldiers were treated including over 500 severely wounded men and at peak operations, the hospital managed 120 patients.

Though you don’t need to be blindfolded and carted in at night, the original entrance of bridges and narrow pathways over a rapid-running, energetic stream remain. This evocative reminder of people's ingenuity and compassion in difficult times of battle has been preserved in its form at the end of the war, highlighting the inventiveness, the desperation and pure tragedy of war.

Postscript
Tragically, in September 2007, heavy rainfall engulfed the narrow gorge and swept away many of the hospital’s buildings. With both government and private support, the hospital is being reconstructed to preserve this valuable historic museum.

Other European Memorial Posts
Remember! (Oradour-sur-Glane, France)
A Humbling Experience (Villers-Bretonneux, France)

Other Slovenia and Croatia Posts
Bountiful Bled (Slovenia)
Underground Fantasy (Skocjan Caves, Slovenia)
The Aquamarine Necklace (Plitvice Lakes, Croatia)
Visiting the Smallest Town in the World (Hum, Croatia)