The Shifting Sands

The old OM10 on the left and the new boy on the right When I was 12 years old I was in Manilla with my parents. Now this sounds exotic and it is not a spelling error. Manilla is actually a very small town in northern New South Wales and my Dad's home town.  My Dad's cousin had a subscription to National Geographic and he gave me a pile of old magazines. I was immediately a fan due of the articles from exotic destinations that made country New South Wales seem so bland.  I was also captured by the advertising for the cameras.  Camera's seemed indellibly linked with adventurous travel and the one camera that stuck in my memory was the OM10. Later in life I could afford my own SLR, although not an OM10, but I still loved the classic lines and the sliver and black finish of the OM series.   Note the slim and small camera body on the OMD EM5 on the right.  Can't wait to try the 50mm lens on the digital Later, when film became a distant memory for many and

Captain Underpants enjoying the run-off at the entry to a Chaitya Mumbai is a crowded city with over 20,000 people per square kilometre which makes it the most densely populated of the worlds large cities. By means of comparison, New York's population density is half Mumbais!  You would think that, given my love of green space, I would have visited Sanjay Gandhi National Park which is on the boundary of the City.  Perhaps I was scared of what I would see but it has taken 2 and half years for me to make the short journey.  What is even funnier I ended up visiting twice in a month. A stupa in the main chaitya.  You can zoom in to see the 19th century graffiti on the stupa They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Jules, the 17 year old son of a good French friend was staying with us for a few weeks while working for an NGO.  He is of the X-Box generation and, in an effort to get him out of the apartment, I had arranged with him to

Not a bad backdrop for an evening drink. When we decided to go to Kalymnos, Lucy was very disappointed that our planned itinerary did not include significant Greek historical sites. She has developed a recent fascination with the Greek Gods, thanks to the Percy Jackson series of books, and was keen to see some relevant sites.  It was easy enough to include Athens, a quick Aegean flight from Kos and a taxi to the city saw us on the roof top bar of The Central hotel enjoying a drink with the illuminated Acropolis in the background. Is it Poseidon or Zeus?  We decided it was Zeus:) The next day Kate and I got out for an early run through the parks near the Acropolis before returning to the hotel to pick up the girls for a hop on hop off bus trip.  The stop at the Archaeology Museum proved to be a false start as it was still closed but we did a little shopping the enjoyed walking around this amazing Museum.   The girls were tired of eating out

Fast, comfortable and the best way to arrive in Venice When planning, we discovered that the easiest way out of Rovinj to an international airport was to catch a ferry to Venice.  Kate and I had visited Venice in the mid-90s and we did not have a good experience. Good accommodation and great weather makes any city better Aside from the fact that it was in the depths of winter, our accommodation was dreadful.  We had a musty room, the floor of which was at a such a steep angle that we struggled to stay in the bed at night.  The owner looked like one of the witches from Macbeth and she always seemed to be standing at our doorway sweeping and would give us a toothless grin and cackle at us when we left our room.  Not good memories! Our aspiring Venetians Ada..... and Lucy (with her rosary beads!) If it wasn't for Lucy and Ada we would have gladly bypass Venice but it remains a city that someone  should see if they have the opportuni