New Years Eve Fireworks (Sydney, Australia)

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Every year, many cities around the world welcome the new year with a burst of fireworks, showcasing their city's special landmarks and culture. Being the middle of summer, Sydneysiders jam-pack both shores of the harbour or jockey for prime position among the thousands of pleasure craft and yachts, enjoying picnics, family, friends and frivolities in the warm Sydney air.

For around a quarter of an hour on the stroke of midnight, fireworks shoot and tumble from around and upon the spectacular Sydney Harbour Bridge. They make for a joyous and uplifting start to any year. A special symbol is lit on the bridge marking the significance of the particular blossoming year. To all of you, best wishes for 2009. Enjoy some photos from the new year of a couple of years ago.

Merry Christmas and 100 Posts

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To all my readers, my best wishes for the festive season. Appropriately it represents the one hundredth post to Travel Wonders. Gathered from a wide number of websites are wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in forty different languages.

Afrikaans - Geseknde Kersfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar
Amharic (Ethiopian) - Melikam yelidet beale Melikam Addis Amet (መልከም ልደት)
Bulgarian - Vesela Koleda i chestita nova godina!
Chinese Cantonese- Sing Dan Tung San Fae Lok. Gung Hai Fat Choi (聖誕節同新年快樂. 恭喜發財)
Chinese Mandarin - Shen Dan Kuai Le Xin Nian Yu Kuai (聖誕快樂 新年快樂)
Cherokee - Danistayohihv & Aliheli'sdi Itse Udetiyvasadisv (ᏓᏂᏍᏔᏲᎯᎲ & ᎠᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ ᎢᏤ ᎤᏕᏘᏴᎠᏌᏗᏒ)
Croatian - Sretan Bozic
Czech - Stastne a vesele vanoce a stastny novy rok!
Danish - Glaedelig Jul og godt nyter
Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar
English - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Eskimo (inupik) - Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Estonian - Rõõmusaid jõulupühi ja head uut aastat!
Finnish - Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta!
Flemish - Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French - Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année!
German - Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!
Greek - Kala Christougenna kai evtichismenos o kainourios chronos!
Hebrew - Chag Molad Sameach v'Shanah Tovah (חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה)
Hungarian - Kellemes karacsonyi uennepeket es boldog ujevet!
Icelandic - Gleðileg jsl og farsælt komandi ar!
Indonesian - Selamat Hari Natal dan Selamat Tahun Baru!
Italian - Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!
Japanese - Meri Kurisumasu soshite Akemashite Omedeto!
Korean - Meli Kliseumaseu jal ji naego saehae pog manhi pateuseyo (메리 크리스마스 잘 지내고 새해 복 많이 받으세요)
Latvian - Priecigus Ziemsvetkus un Laimigu Jaungadu!
Lithuanian - Linksmu Kaledu
Norwegian - God Jul Og Godt Nytt Aar
Polish - Wesołych Świąt i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!
Portuguese - Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Romanian - Craciun fericit si un an nou fericit
Russian - S nastupaiushchim Novym godom i s Rozhdestvom Khristovym! (С Рождеством Христовым и С наступающим Новым Годом)
Serbian - Hristos se rodi. Srećna Nova Godina (Христос се роди. Срећна Нова Година)
Slovak - Veselé vianoce a Štastný nový rok
Slovene - Vesele bozicne praznike in srecno novo leto
Spanish - ¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo!
Swedish - God Jul Och Ett Gott Nytt Ar
Thai - Suk san wan Christmas sawatdii pimaï (สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส และสวัสดีปีใหม่)
Turkish - Noeliniz kutlu olsun ve yeni yilinis kutlu olsun!
Vietnamese - Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ và Chúc Năm Mới Tốt Lành

Gorge-ous Flume (New Hampshire, USA)

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In the heart of New Hampshire, a few miles south of the Old Man of the Mountain in Franconia Notch State Park lies a natural travel wonder carved out of rock over millennia. A superb three kilometre (two miles) walk traverses covered bridges, glacial rocks, tumbling waterfalls and a staggering narrow passage called Flume Gorge. In fall, the reds, bronzes and yellows of the surrounding trees provides a dazzling backdrop to nature’s work. One youthful tree demonstrates the fight for life as it seemingly grows out of a rock, its eager roots exploiting small flaws in the rock face to soak nutrition from the soils below.

The walk starts crossing a 200 year old covered bridge, one of the oldest in the country. Protected from the elements with a roof, covered bridges extended the life of typical wooden bridges tenfold in areas of savage winters and provided better footing for people and stock animals during the icy months. Today they appear as a footnote in history littering the New England states with a feeling of yesteryear.

Following a dirt path, you soon arrive at the walk’s highlight. Named after artificial waterways used by loggers to transport heavy tree trunks from mountainous areas, natural Flume Gorge extends for a length of 250 metres and narrows to around five metres – the towering walls encroaching till you feel like you can touch both sides at once. A narrow boardwalk with stairs clings to the sheer rock wall only metres above the dark gushing waters which have eroded through the granite bedrock. You can feel the passage of time as you look up to witness the rock walls stretch over 80 metres skyward, permanently covered in a rich mat of mosses, ferns and flowers from the scant light which penetrates the gorge’s depths.

Exactly two hundred years ago this year (1808), this gorge was discovered by a 93 year old woman named Aunt Jess who stumbled across the gorge while fishing. It is difficult to imagine such an elderly woman strolling this rocky and uneven country and being the first to sight such a stunning offering of nature.

Walking upstream, Avalanche Falls creates a huge din as it cascades towards the gorge. Further on, past further falls, a second covered bridge sits above a peaceful pool constructed primarily from a centuries old Sentinel Pine which fell in a hurricane. This statuesque tree was estimated to be over 50 metres high and almost five metres in circumference.

Through further woodland paths, dripping in vibrant autumnal shades, the loop path circles back around to the starting point. Take a gentle hour and a half to contemplate a meandering stream shaping nature’s path through this little natural treasure trove deep in the heart of New England.

Other USA Posts
The Fall Kaleidoscope (New England)
Unveiling Nature’s Grand Masterpiece (Grand Canyon)
Rifling Through the Mystery House (San Jose)
Feeding Frenzy (Alaska)
Bears, Crabs and Eagles on the African Queen (Alaska)

Photo of the Week - Elephants at Night (Kenya)

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Two favourite photos taken outside my hotel late at night-time with a family of elephants digging at the salt-pan with their tusks and eating the mud. The photo was on a very slow exposure, hence the somewhat ghost-like qualities of some of the elephants because they just simply wouldn't keep still for me.

The Crystal Wonderland (Lake Cave, Western Australia)

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Margaret River, south of Perth in the remote south-west corner of Australia, is a travellers delight rich in great sights and experiences. Blessed with a Mediterranean climate, fine soils for wine production, world class surf beaches and towering karri forests which blaze in a kaleidoscope of colour in spring during the wildflower season, Margaret River has dramatically grown in popularity in the last ten years.

With its limestone base, nature has worked its magic over many years leaving a number of mesmerising show caves, including Lake Cave, to wander and enjoy.

Starting with a long walk down some 350 stairs (though you are reminded that this is the path out too) past groves of slender statuesque karri trees, which stand over 20 metres in height, the cave entrance beckons in a gaping collapsed cavern. It feels like entering Middle Earth with spider webs hanging from above and a deep ladder marking the first steps into the inky depths below.

As your eyes adjust from the dazzling sunshine, you can see a tranquil lake covers much of the main chamber in this underground wonderland. Upset only by the occasional drip from above, it creates a perfect mirror for the delicate expressive crystalline formations. Giant straws fall from the cave’s ceiling built over many thousands of years as a miniscule ring deposit of calcite remain from each delicate drop of the limestone-enriched water.


Undoubtedly, the highlight is the Suspended Table. A large crystalline slab supported from above by a pair of columns hangs tantalisingly a few centimetres above the subterranean lake. The floor on which it once sat was swept away leaving this five tonne formation dangling in thin air.

At the end of the cave there are seats where you can enjoy the peaceful environment, the unusual decorations and the remarkable reflections in the lake. Lights are extinguished to get a true feeling of suffocating darkness (and no, you can’t see your hand even an inch away from your face!) before an array of coloured lights transforms the cave into a fairy grotto shimmering before your eyes (see lead photo – note the suspended table in the centre of the image).

Lake Cave is one of several caves in the Margaret River region and makes for a worthwhile hour to explore this crystal fantasy world.

Other Australia Posts
Climbing the Coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge)
An Obsession with Size
Invasion of the Termites (The Pinnacles)
And Then There Were Eight (Great Ocean Road)
Photo of the Week - Olympics and Opera House


Other Cave Post
Underground Fantasy (Skocjan Caves, Slovenia)