My Books of the Year

After a lean year in which I only got through 120 novels, there is a clear standout favourite above the rest.

1. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bauman is so mind-blowingly ridiculously entertaining, it's difficult resisting the urge to constantly re-read it. I can't explain the plot because it's too warped, but just the name of the hapless protagonist Egon Loeser is enough reason to read it.

2. Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland

3. The Book of Skulls by Robert Silberberg

4. Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

5. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

6. Vengeance by Iain Irvine

7. Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson

8. Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams

9. The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees

10. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

My Top Ten Films of 2013

These aren't necessarily the best, but rather the ones I've personally enjoyed and appreciated most. In no particular order:

• Cloud Atlas - I'm keen to see the 8 hour director's cut
• Side Effects - Steven Soderbergh's last film? Surely not.
• Oblivion - despite Tom Cruise
• Gravity - plenty of gravity plus a little Clooney levity
• American Hustle - this one will take most of the Oscars
• How I Live Now - how Saoirse Ronan lives now
• The Great Gatsby - the best film set in West Egg
• The Way Way Back - thanks to Sam Rockwell
• Anna Karenina - due to budget constraints, the director was forced to stage the whole film in a theatre.
• What's in a Name (Le Prénom) - a French dinner party farce in which one of the family pretends to name their new child Hitler, and another brother might be having an affair with their mother

And special mentions go to: Wolverine, Pacific Rim, Pictures of Superheroes, World War Z, The Host, I Give it a Year, and Beautiful Creatures.

Vermin

Meet young Vermin, the Central Park squirrel.

San Remo

These be the San Remo apartments, Central Park West.

Dreamy Park

It's a park and it's central. It's ummm Central Park. Yep it's late and I'm uninspired. Don't hold it against me - I'm a photographer not a writer.

From the Elevated Park

This is the view from the High Line elevated park, previously a railway. It resembles a movie set.

Grand Central Station

It's a station that is both grand and central. Do you get the feeling I'm not very creative with my writing today?

Sun Dogs over Portland

Two of my favourite cities are Portland Oregon and Portland Maine. And visiting the latter, it was wondrous to see these Sun Dogs in the sky. These mock suns are caused by ice crystals high in the atmosphere, and indeed the next day a storm (the remnants of a hurricane) hit the region.

Near Lake Sebago

The autumn colours near Lake Sebago in Maine were so vibrant.

Stowe's Covered Bridge

This shot was taken from the covered bridge in central Stowe. There's no definitive explanation for covering bridges other than their propensity to attract tourists.

Corn Chowder

In gorgeous Stowe, northern Vermont, we had a delicious pub meal. Here is my scrumptious corn chowder with hard cider and oyster crackers.

This was my first sampling of chowder and I wish hadn't waited so many decades to discover it.

Still on the Mountain

Mountain Tragedies

It was poignant to read the stories of some of the 160 or so people who lost their lives on this mountain. Most succumb to hypothermia, as the temperature can plummet rapidly, catching out those without adequate preparation and warm clothes. The coldest temperature recorded there unofficially was below -50 C.

More Mt Washington

Windy Time

Mt Washington in New Hampshire is one of the windiest places on earth. Luckily the weather was tame the day I drove to the summit, but there was still evidence of a storm a few days earlier, with sheets of ice still sitting in the shade.

Maine Lake #1065

Artist John Constable would have loved Maine. There's a new lake to paint every mile or so.

Mmmmm funghi

I couldn't resist biting a chunk out of this New Hampshire mushrooom.

Hitchcock Lighthouse

Here's the same lighthouse but in a more Hitchcock thriller style. Please try to imagine the scary soundtrack.

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

How pretty is the lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth, just outside Portland, Maine? I'd love to return midwinter in the midst of a storm, as the waves crash over it.

New Hampshire

It's poignant to think that that beautiful foliage has by now all fallen to the ground and is rotting underfoot.

Maine Lake

Here's an unknown lake I passed in the early morning, driving through Maine to Lake Sebago. Fog was shrouding the far bank, or was it an approaching cataclysmic death cloud?

Woodstock again

Did I boost the saturation enough?

Woodstock VT

There are numerous Woodstocks. The Vermont one must be the prettiest, especially in autumn.

White River Junction

Arriving in the Vermont town of White River Junction in darkness (in the midst of an awesome storm that spawned a tornado which hit New York), I was pleasantly surprised to see this gorgeous view out of the hotel the next morning.

Washington Irving

Among others, the following notable people are buried in Sleepy Hollow:

Elizabeth Arden; Brooke Astor; Walter Chrysler; Andrew Carnegie; William Rockefeller; and of course Washington Irving.

Sleepy Hollow

The first stop out of New York was Sleepy Hollow. This is the Old Dutch Graveyard. It was appropriate visiting here just before Halloween, although not having time to linger longer for the evening ghost tour was disappointing.

Plaza Hotel

Not being able to afford to stay at the Plaza, I still snuck inside for a peek at one of the most renowned New York hotels. I've been dreaming of this place since seeing Cary Grant visiting in Hitchcock's North by Northwest. It's also been featured in Crocodile Dundee, Scent of a Woman, Sleepless in Seattle and The Great Gatsby.

Before my next New York trip, I'll start saving early so I can finally spend a night there.

Lights of Broadway

Looking south down Broadway, the wattage of illumination is so powerful that the air is glowing in the distance.

Skating at Rockefeller

My favourite part of the Rockefeller Center is the skating rink. Visiting on the opening day of the season in late October, several professionals were showing off their fancy moves, but it's probably more entertaining watching less skilful proponents trying to stay upright.

Escaping from New York

You'd think that navigating through Manhattan would be simple. The grid pattern of conveniently numbered streets and avenues mean that in theory you should be able to find your way without the use of maps or a GPS. But if you look closely at the map below, you'll see that most streets are one-way. And when trying to plot an escape route upstate to Sleepy Hollow it became apparent that simply heading north wouldn't work because eventually you reach water, so a bridge or tunnel is needed, and you need to find the exact route onto the correct bridge or tunnel lest you end up in Brooklyn or the Bronx rather than on an expressway in the right direction. It took hours of planning the evening before but eventually I found a path, and the actual driving the next morning wasn't too tricky, but without the preparation it could have been a nightmare. One factor that does help is the dominance of pedestrians, who flood across streets, allowing you plenty of thinking time before you need to move.

Radio City Music Hall

It was exciting to see crowds gathering outside the Radio City Music Hall as I passed, and I imagined a famous entertainer was performing. But no. All enthusiasm evaporated when I saw the posters - Hill Song Church Conference.

More Rockefeller Center Art

There was so much nude art installed at the Rockefeller Center that the prudish John D. Rockefeller was so embarrassed, he would only enter via the one door that contained fully clothed art. Below is above the doors to the Radio City Music Hall.

30 Rock

30 Rock from another angle. The plants along the pools here are replaced every couple of weeks depending on the season. By now, this would be Christmasified.

Fakey HDR

I do love the fake HDR (high dynamic range) effect from the Camera+ app on the iPhone. Here's a particularly egregious example, from Madison Avenue I believe.

New York Atlas

At last I'm back. Thousands of photos are in the memory cards and I've tidied up a tiny fraction of them. Here's the first: Atlas in front of the Rockefeller Center. This pagan god is provocatively facing St Patrick's Cathedral, but to appease the church, he was designed to mirror Christ bearing the cross from the rear angle.

Preparing for Travel

Despite the conveniences of living in the modern information age, I do reminisce about earlier decades when preparing for a holiday comprised finding appropriate clothes and luggage, buying a ticket and flying off, with a guidebook and map and a camera.  By comparison, this is how I've been getting ready for a round-the-world trip, starting in a few days.

1. Loading appropriate apps onto the iPhone and iPad. For example, interactive maps of the New York subway, timetables for Italian trains, Italian lessons,

2. Planning optimal driving routes through New England, avoiding congested areas at rush hour, understanding tollways and payment methods, weather conditions in the mountains, where to find the prettiest autumn foliage.

3. Travel adaptors and double adaptors are tracked down, so that appliances can be recharged in different counties.

4. Memory cards for cameras are cleared. Appropriate USB cables for each camera are found.

5. Electronic banking accounts and passwords are oganised such that I can access them from overseas and bills can be paid.

6. Ebooks are selected and loaded up onto the various devices.

7. Podcasts are collated and loaded onto the iPhone to listen to while driving.

And that's only half of it. If it all works, it's fabulous, but it takes weeks and weeks of work. Aaaagghh.

More from the Underworld

This is Aslan's wife, Aslana.

Stony Canine

A marvellous exhibition at the Perth Museum on the Egyptian afterlife included mummies and various funereal artefacts. But I did enjoy the sculptures most of all. This is a kelpie called Bluey.

Glowing Winthrop Hall

Winthrop Hall isn't often lit up, but it was glowing inside last week for a graduation ceremony. Here is the scene at sunset as graduands and their families try to find the entrance without stepping in duck poo.

Chittering Teeth

Visiting the Chittering Valley a fortnight ago was a wet affair, with the rain not stopping for even a minute. So I was forced to take refuge in a cosy winery restaurant, right in front of their log fire, with a glass of raspberry cordial.

Flowery Car

Spotted in King's Park last week, this happens when you park too long in the same spot. The air is so dense with wildflower seeds that they'll even germinate in your hair if you stand around.

Leaky Sky

I don't recall ever seeing a 24 hour period filled with so much rain across the country. Yesterday the capital cities received:

Sydney (airport): 57 mm
Melbourne (airport): 31 mm
Brisbane (airport): 24 mm
Adelaide (Mt Lofty): 22 mm
Perth: 12 mm (Bickley: 34 mm)
Canberra: 58 mm

Only Hobart missed out. And these falls are dwarfed by those in other locations in each state. Whoops, yes, Darwin also stayed dry.

Calytrix

Meet Calytrix.

Micro-Torrents

When I popped out of my car for a quick inspection of wildflowers, the ground was dry. A minute or two later, torrents were flowing. Another minute later and I had to jump across a fast flowing stream to reach my car.

Chittering Valley Wildflower Festival

In Saturday's unrelenting downpour, the only wildflowers visible were in glass jars in a Bindoon hall.

Rialto

This is the modest interior of the Rialto Intercontinental Hotel Melbourne. I went on a brief tour of the place a few weeks ago. I wonder how bad their heating bill is in winter.

Confusing Light Installation

This is modern art, from the National Gallery of Victoria. The unknown bloke in front is dazzled by the lights and has momentarily been frozen still.

Hamer Hall Foyer

Those are genuine gold bars suspended from the ceiling.

Inside St Patrick's

In Melbourne.

South African Proteas

Having no knowledge of South African flora, I call everything from that country a protea. At least some of the time, I must be correct.

Triffid

Seen in the South African part of the King's Park Botanic Gardens. Later its tendrils grabbed a small child and absorbed him into itself.

St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

Note the eerie orange glow in the rear tower as the windows are backlit by the sun.

Gothic Anomaly

Amongst the shiny skyscrapers, this old gothic construction sits alone in central Melbourne. It's St Michael's, on Collins Street.