My Car on a Photoshoot

Having just returned from almost a week in chilly Dunsborough, here's a pretty pic of my car, taken with my iPhone and post-processed with the Camera+ app, the best photography app in the known universe.

Mature Content Warning

Seen in my garden last week, a ladybird giving another a piggyback ride. It was obviously weary after a day of eating and flying.

Where Is This?

Scary Forecast

This forecast from last week looks similar to Perth's next week.



 And here's Perth's.

But I don't care ! I'm heading south to chilly Dunsborough where it will struggle to reach 30 degrees.

Quito Cloisters

Monks built this monastery in Quito from 1550 onwards, for me to photograph it nearly four centuries later. Thanks very much padres. It's the Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco.

Majestic Clouds

Another sunset shot from my iPhone.

Atomic Sunset

At a Simple Minds concert in Kings Park a couple of weeks ago, the most wondrous sunset unfolded. It resembled a nuclear explosion.

From my iPhone.

Santiago

Just minutes before catching a taxi to the airport to go home, this was the view from my hotel in Santiago, capital of Chile. The Andes tower over the city, but most days its too smoggy to get a good view. So it was fortunate that as the sun was setting on the final day, the view cleared up nicely.

Why You Should Order from Overseas

The funnest part of ordering from overseas is tracking the shipping. My new watch from Amazon was ordered on Friday evening and travelled from Louisville Kentucky to Perth by Monday. I had expected it would be held up by the huge volume of mail at this time of year, or by Australian customs, but no.

Monday, December 17, 2012		Location	Time
14	Forwarded for delivery	PERTH - AUSTRALIA	14:03
13	Clearance processing complete at PERTH - AUSTRALIA	PERTH - AUSTRALIA	13:15
12	Scheduled for delivery	PERTH - AUSTRALIA	10:06
11	Arrived at Delivery Facility in PERTH - AUSTRALIA	PERTH - AUSTRALIA	09:52
Sunday, December 16, 2012		Location	Time
10	Departed Facility in HONG KONG - HONG KONG	HONG KONG - HONG KONG	19:02
9	Processed at HONG KONG - HONG KONG	HONG KONG - HONG KONG	18:54
8	Clearance processing complete at HONG KONG - HONG KONG	HONG KONG - HONG KONG	18:30
7	Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG - HONG KONG	HONG KONG - HONG KONG	14:48
Saturday, December 15, 2012		Location	Time
6	Departed Facility in CINCINNATI HUB - USA	CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA	04:20
5	Processed at CINCINNATI HUB - USA	CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA	02:40
4	Arrived at Sort Facility CINCINNATI HUB - USA	CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA	00:01
Friday, December 14, 2012		Location	Time
3	Departed Facility in LOUISVILLE - USA	LOUISVILLE, KY - USA	20:47
2	Processed at LOUISVILLE - USA	LOUISVILLE, KY - USA	20:47
1	Shipment picked up	LOUISVILLE, KY - USA	16:58

Meet the Moai

From Easter Island.

At High Altitude

Quito, Ecuador's capital is 2,800 metres up in the Andes, surrounded by mountains and volcanoes up to 6,000 metres. It's on the equator but the elevation keeps the temperature mild.

Easter Island Moai

Having just returned from Easter Island, the iconic statues still haunt my dreams. They are called moai, and traditionally they have a topknot "hat" balanced on top.

Varied Roofs

Of Valparaiso. From our hotel balcony. On a foggy morning.

Living Sans iPhone

Since losing my iPhone last week, my quality of life has plummeted by over 20%. I can no longer sit in my lounge room and know in which direction the International Space Station is flying over my head. I can't be watching a tv show and see a familiar actor and work out where I've seen them before. I can't play chess whenever I want. I can't listen to podcasts while gardening, or check the weather every 30 seconds. I now have gaps in my schedule that can't be filled since I've now lost the ability to amuse myself. If I get desperate I'll pick up a book or find a radio to listen to, but my fingers are itchy, wanting to fiddle with a smartphone that is no more.

It's a sad tale, but there's a happy ending. Father Christmas is likely to reward me with a replacement phone if I behave for the next two weeks.

A Light Lunch

At the same winery, here's the finale to our light lunch - a desert platter to end all desert platters. Please have sympathy for me - my lunch companions only nibbled at the edges so I was left alone to polish this off. And I was only halfway through a full day of winery visits so I somehow had to find space to accomodate yet more drinkies.

Wine Tasting in Casablanca

This is the third winery of the day, and you can tell by the size of the samples, it was a struggle to get through it all. Casablanca is a commune between Chile's capital Santiago, and the port of Valparaiso.

Chilean Cemetery

Even the cemetery in Valparaiso is exuberantly colourful.

Films of the Year 2012

With over a hundred cinema visits this year, I should be well qualified to nominate a top ten. But I've slept through over half of them. Of the ones that were stimulating enough to keep me conscious, here are the best.

=10. The Skin I Live In - Pedro Almodovar's horrific thriller

=10. Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows


9. The Avengers - rated highly for Joss Whedon's subversive humour alone


=8. Girl with a Dragon Tattoo - better than the book, and better than the Swedish adaption

=8. Goodbye First Love - a French story of lovesick youths

7. Hugo - the most effective 3D I've seen

6. Arbitrage - a rivetting thriller in the world of finance

5. The Dark Knight Rises - I had to see it twice

4. Ted - funniest film of the year, saw it twice

3. Cabin in the Woods - saw it twice to understand the complex story from Joss Whedon

2. Carnage - stunning adaption of a play about two couples meeting to talk about their sons who fought in a park. The couples end up fighting each other and eventually themselves as relationships unravel.


1. Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson's masterpiece was so moving I saw it three times and would happily live in this film world forever

Colourful Streets

I for one am thankful that Valparaisens are fans of vibrant, gaudy colours. Their lack of taste mirrors mine. In an unrelated factoid, both Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet were both born there (two Chilean leaders known worldwide).

Thinly-Legged Tourists

These people have thin legs so are not locals from Valparaiso.

Valparaiso

Chile's historic port city of Valparaiso is built on the side of steep hills. Residents have muscled legs like tree trunks. And cars need extra low gears.

Quito is Quite-O Nice-O

I'm back from South America, and here's photo number 1 (of 2,594), from Quito, Ecuador's capital, taken from the roof of a cathedral in the rain. Thankfully health and safety hasn't reached this part of the world, and so we were at liberty to wander around on a slippery tile roof without any safety railings in a thunderstorm. I also noted numerous electrical cables lying around, not firmly attached to anything.