Sydney Part 2

Here are the rest of my photos from Sydney. I hope you like them!

ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park.

Long walkway in Hyde Park.

St. Mary's Cathedral, across the street from Hyde Park.

Another view of St. Mary's from The Domain, which is another park space.

The trees are enormous! There is a person sitting under the tree having lunch. He looks so small comparatively.

Looking back at the city in one of the parks with a city train rolling through.

At first I thought this guy was a bunny, he was nibbling away at the grass but he is a cockatoo.

Navy ships, swimming pool and blue skies.

This was part of our running path while we were visiting. So pretty, nice paved path along the parks with great views and beautiful trees. The weather was perfect while we were there. 

Kookaburra bird :)

Another Kookaburra. 

View of the city and Circular Quay. 

Friendly pelican at the Sydney Fish Market. The seagulls could have taken lessons from this guy. He was very polite and never tried to attack me, much unlike the seagulls! We did not stay at the Fish Market for very long.

They do have a nice view of the ANZAC Bridge.

The Sydney Botanic Gardens. There is a kid running down the stairs, gorgeous park!

Loved these trees with their roots spilling over the edge of the rock wall.

This tree was top heavy.

One last beautiful giant tree. Thank you Sydney! 

Happy Friday!!!

The Super Tree Grove After Dark

Thursday night was my lucky night. On Tuesday I took my camera out and took pictures for 4 hours, all over town, photos of things that I have been wanting to shoot for a while now. I got home and they were terrible! Such a bummer to spend so much time and get nothing. So I was starting to panic by Thursday night knowing that I have nothing for Photo Friday. My hubby was busy tonight so I decided to go to the Gardens by the Bay Super Tree Grove Light Show. This is on every night at 7:45 and 8:30. Free show, lasts about 10 - 15 minutes and the Gardens are such a pretty place to be anyway. I love it there and I go often since its so close to home. There are always a lot of people out, lots of runners in that area, lots of families and kids on scooters and bikes. Good place to be, good vibes. Here are my photos, hope you enjoy them!

This is an older photo I took of the Super Trees during the daytime. There are plants growing up from the bottom and the plan is to have them totally covered in plants. The tallest tree has a restaurant at the top. I haven't been, yet, but I think it is sooooo cool! I would love to go (hint hint hubby). The Super Trees range in height from 25-50 meters. 

One of my first shots of the night. Sun it almost down, getting close to show time!

Pan to the right just a bit and you can see a peak of the Singapore Flyer in the bottom right of the photo. There is also a walkway near the top of the super trees going from one tree to another, not a full loop but plenty long enough to enjoy some great views.

Pan to the left a little and you can see the city skyline and the super tree elevated walkway a little better. 

Here is a zoom shot of the walkway. Now you can see it! 

Show is starting! 

There is music playing and the super trees lights are changing along with the rhythm. There are families and couples gathered to watch the show. I would guess there are 50-60 people tonight. Some are sitting on the benches and some are sitting on the ground, enjoying the night breeze.

Maybe 10 photographers are here with tripods. Wonder if they are all tourists?

I am just constantly shooting, left with over 300 photos.

And it just occurred to me that after posting a dozen or so photos of the same fake trees in different colors that it might not be all that interesting to anyone other than me who finds it absolutely amazing that I can get out there and take half decent photos all on my own. So I apologize if this is not so interesting. Fingers crossed next week I find some really neat things around town to photograph. I'm always open to suggestions if there is something you'd like to see.

Happy Friday!!!

Marina Bay After Dark

My photography group met at Merlion park for some night shots of beautiful Marina Bay. Geoff and I live very close by and we run here at night and enjoy the beautiful sights. I hope you enjoy the photos.

This is a long exposure shot since it is after sunset with little light. The long exposure allows more light to hit the camera sensor and also makes the water shooting out of the Merlion to look more silky, less like droplets. The Merlion is the Singapore mascot, half fish and half lion. The fish represents Singapore's start as a fishing village, the lion represents Singapore's original name, Singapura, meaning lion city. 

Another viewpoint, standing close to the same spot but looking at the front of the Merlion. Beautiful skyline. It is dark so its hard to see but there are steps leading into the water and people are sitting on the steps enjoying the cool-ish breezes. 

Another angle with more of the skyline. See the tall building on the far left of the photo? That is The Sail condos and our condo is sort of behind those buildings.

I like the way the long exposure makes the water in the bay look. Very soft and dreamy. 

Laser light show twice every night. If you are at the Marina Bay Sands they have a pretty cool show projected onto water that is sprayed up from the bay. For this photo the water in the bay looks more realistic since the exposure wasn't as long.

Me playing around with the zoom. The Merlion made it into the shot.

Happy Friday!!!

Pink Kites and Night Lights

It wasn't a beautiful sunset like I hoped. It rained all morning and afternoon and the clouds stayed into the evening after the rain had stopped so the sunset was pretty boring. However, the city lights at night did not let me down. Here are some shots taken at the Marina Barrage. Enjoy!

This is Marina Barrage. You can walk up to the roof top, there is a nice lawn, have a picnic and fly a kite. Many families come here on the weekend to fly kites.

This is the view standing in front of the Barrage, looking back at the city. They must have sailing lessons here.

Pink kite, lots of families enjoying the evening.

Quite a large space on the roof top lawn.

Spider man kite!

City view, a little hazy but not bad. The fountains at the barrage are off to conserve water. It rained all day but we really needed it. The last few months Singapore has been experiencing an unusual dry spell. 

Hello kitty kite on the lawn of the Marina Barrage.

Boring sunset...wish it was more dramatic.

Night lights :) Love the reflections too! This was taken from the bridge at the Marina Barrage.

I love love love this soft focus. Very dreamy like.

Happy Friday!!!

I've got wheels!!!

My birthday is Saturday and my wonderful hubby gave me my present a little early. I have a new bicycle and I love it!!! I haven't ridden a bike in maybe 15 years. Everyone rides bikes here, it is a very popular mode of transportation and recreation. Since we live so close to Gardens by the Bay, I thought it would be fun to ride my bike over, put my camera bag in my basket and have a fun time, and I was right! It is soooo fun. This morning I ran 6.5km at the gym and then I jumped on my bike for my first ride. Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Look at that gorgeous bike! It has one speed, mud guards, a basket, a bell, headlight and taillight, handle bar breaks and a small rack on the back for extra stuff. This picture was taken at the Marina Barrage, top level. Great skyline pictures to be had there. I was pretty worn out by the time I got here and I had to push my bike up the ramp. Totally worth it, great picture. In the skyline you can see from left the tall blue buildings are Asia Square and the Marina Bay Financial Center, which is right in front of our condo, then the Marina Bay Sands is the three towers with a platform on top. You can see the Super Trees and Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. Feeling very lucky to have so much space to ride my bike so close to home without having to ride on streets or through traffic. That makes it much more relaxing and fun. If I had to ride on the street I don't think I would like it as much. 

Here is a view of the Marina Barrage from the bottom looking up. The first picture was taken from the top. See what I mean about being tired after pushing my bike up the ramp? When Geoff and I go for a run we usually run up the barrage ramp, good hill workout!

Nice long stretch of sidewalk with no people to crash into, love it here before 11am. Once lunch hour hits it is much busier by the mall. I am not so steady on my bike just yet and I am sure I frighten pedestrians if they see me coming. I am steering all over the place and sort of giggling because it is just so fun, must look like a crazy lady!

Kids often play in the water fountains here and I have to admit I really wanted to ride my bike through but I didn't. It would have felt sooooooooo good!

Not many pictures this week but I will try to make up for it next week. The Mid Autumn Festival is coming up and lanterns are going up all over town. Hopefully I can get some good pictures. The rain has been pretty heavy this week, hard to get out with out getting soaked.

Happy Friday!