10,000

is the number of visitors to this blog as of today.

I lost the page counter on the blog's first page and don't know why it stopped working after 18 months or so. Fortunately I have also been running a smart little programme called "Google Analytics" which allows me to track the blog site via an interesting collection of varying data. (Interesting that is for those types that find numbers and graphs interesting!)

Although it does NOT allow me to know WHO is accessing the blog it can tell me some interesting things such as in the last 3 months:

- there were 1,288 visitors

- 57% were first time visitors
- 30% had visited 200 times or more (THAT surprised me!)

- they came from 454 different cities around the world


cities accessing the blog

- 69% used Firefox whilst
- 25% used Internet Explorer

- search engine keywords that led them to the blog included:

* "closing down" "soaps" "guest soaps"
* has anybody driven from vinales to trinidad?
* blundstone boots dangerous in icy conditions

It's a relief to know there are actually people out there looking!!

remembering sue

I know I am in danger of turning this blog into a memorial, but I wanted to mark the passing of a close and longtime friend of 20 years who took her life 9 years ago today.

Sue Howard was a very talented Sydney painter who won several awards for her work. I really felt that at the time of her death she was just hitting full stride with her creative development.


sue in my Paris studio

She and I met when we both worked at the 'salubrious' Old Spaghetti Factory in the Rocks, Sydney in 1980. (A nasty fast food joint that churned out third rate pasta for the masses.)

We clicked immediately as we both shared a love of artmaking and travel.

Many years ago she and I discussed how great it would be to be able to buy a little house in the south of France and settle there to live and make work. My desire was little more than a whim really, but Sue went ahead and did it. Unfortunately the fantasy was a long way from reality and she had many years of hardship because of it.

In 1995 I was awarded a studio through the Art Gallery of NSW to live and work in Paris. This was an incredible opportunity to spend quality time in a city that I have been to many times and love dearly. It turned out to be one of the best times of my life. Every day all I had to think about was either making art or wandering the streets of Paris investigating its lanes and alleyways, monuments and cafes.


the studio workspace

The studio was situated in the Cite Internationale des Arts, on the banks of the Seine right alongside Ile St. Louis (the smaller of the two islands) on the edge of the Marais. My studio was on a corner of the building that housed around 250 or more different ateliers. From my windows I could see the Seine, a beautiful old Palais and a Gothic arts library.


view from studio


night view from window


view from window

The Cite, I believe, has around 300 studios in several locations around Paris and they provide live in residencies for artists across all media - visual artists, writers, musicians, singers, dancers etc. My neighbours included a Swiss sculptor, a Croatian painter, an American Opera Singer and a Romanian concert pianist.


some friends made

One afternoon there was a knock at my studio door and when I answered there was Sue. She had travelled up from Italy where she had been staying to Sue-prise me! I almost fell over. It was incredible to be able to spend some time with her in that amazing city.


small abstract by sue (oil on paper 20c x 18cm)
(poor photo quality - taken under glass.)

the plan as it now stans...

Further consideration of my next trip i have expanded the idea to cover two of Iran's neighbours - Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

I have long harboured the desire to see Bukhara and Samarkand, so this seems like the perfect opportunity. Turkmenistan popped up as it is sandwiched between the two places I want to see.

Preliminary investigation seems to suggest that Turkmenistan will be the most difficult to organise. It appears the simplest visa to obtain is the transit visa which gives you about 3 - 5 days to skip across the country (which in itself seems to suggest there is not a tremendous amount to see in the place...)

I have found a place called Merv which has considerable historical significance, but a quick Google image search shows Merv is a long way to go for not a great deal.

So the plan so far is to fly to Iran - preferably Shiraz (to avoid backtracking), then continue on to Isfahan, Qom, Tehran and Mashhad in Iran, cross to Ashkabat in Turkemneistan and head overland to Darvaza in the middle of the Karakum desert.

Then I cross the border at Urgench and hopefully visit Khiva before heading down to Bukhara, Samarkand and finally ending in Tashkent. Will then try and fly to Norway and London en-route home.


proposed route (click to enlarge)


bukhara (photo source)


the registan, samarkand

germinating...

Now is as good a time as any to begin thinking about my next trip.

There are about a dozen potential plans sitting quietly in the back of my head - it's a matter of deciding which are the most desirable/practical/logical.

Kilimanjaro was a good example of all three. At my advancing age I seriously need to consider which places require greater physical stamina than others - and do them first! The Trans - Siberian rail trip has been on the back burner for years - but lets face it - I could be loaded onto a train in a hospital bed in my 90's to do a 10 day rail trip.

But I think I have settled on the next choice: Iran.

These images helped convince me!


landscape
(photo from here)


history (palace of persepolis)


islamic architecture (nasir-ol-molk_mosque shiraz)


mountains to climb (mt. damarvand)



Well - the idea has been planted - let's see what this year brings!

hippo histrionics

As mentioned earlier, this is the piece of filming I was doing when we were under threat from a hippo in the Serengeti!!

happy birthday

Happy Birthday mate. Miss you.

tarangire panorama

kili route

(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

phurther photos...

kili climb day one in the rainforest


neil and terry kili day one


kili breakfast day two


kili day two - porters' trail


kili day three - terry in the trees


kili day three landscape


kili day three landscape


the breakfast wall


neil resting kili day four


kili trail day four


hippo pool lake manyara


acacia thorns - detail


the beloved baobab


dik-dik tarangire national park


stonetown harbour zanzibar

safari collage

olduvai gorge panorama

more olduvai gorge info here

more zanzibar...

stonetown waterfront


Chlorocebus pygerythrus - prettier than its name
(vervet monkey)


six o'clock dhow


stonetown crumbling away


crumbling abstract


yellow prisoners


upwards abstract


tabletop abstract


corrugated abstract

singabore

OK - I admit it. I don't like Singapore.

The suburbs look like a giant lego town and the city is basically one massive shopping mall.

I have been there about 4 times now but to be honest never for longer than one day.

It's just that it's so...so..so...clean! It feels like Disneyland rather than a city. I feel no soul there, it's as if the plastic wrap has just been taken off.

I spent 11 hours there on my way home. I wandered around the Orchard Rd area watching the general public overloaded with shopping bags for several hours, tormented shopkeepers by window shopping but not going inside. Then finally went to the movies to kill a couple of hours. ("Blindness" - don't rush, it makes you wish you were)

It doesn't help the place that it is usually the last stopover before getting home, which doesn't really help enamour the city to one.

However, their train system makes Sydney's look like Kazakh State Rail.

kili summit glacier

panorama of a glacier at the summit of kilimanjaro
*click to enlarge

random zanzibar

Some random pics from around Zanzibar:


small sails


door


door


door


dhows at sunset


i wondered why there were no cows


mask


world game