Read Today: Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I finished reading this book today.

At the BookShelf

Treasure Island was the first major novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in 1883 and has remained a much-loved book. First penned as a story for boys, it was as a young boy that I first came across Treasure Island. It was the first real book that I ever read – certainly of my own choice. If I remember correctly, the copy I had was a small book, not much bigger than my hand and illustrated throughout. The illustrations weren’t coloured as such, but I think I may have started to ‘colour them in’ as I read the story several times. The name of the ship, ‘Hispaniola,’ came back to me in one of my first compositions at school. In that early attempt at writing I wrote a story about piracy and a ship called the Hispaniola. I believe I was written into the story, along…

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Australia: Queensland – Illfracombe

 

This photo was taken during my first major trip around Australia in 1998. The small township of Illfracombe has a great display of machinery, tractors and vehicles alongside the road. This photo shows a Dodge 4, 1932 Model DM Series. There were only about 2000 of these cars ever built.

Capsule

I have been having some problems with Internet connectivity over the last few days, so my attempts to return to daily posts are suffering a few setbacks at the moment. Hopefully this will all be sorted soon.

Today’s post is a link to a new social network called ‘Capsule.’ It is a place for setting up a private place for event planning and groups. I have started to use the site and will see how it goes over the longer term, but at the outset it seems to be a very useful private social network type site for small groups and the like. It is in beta development and you need to request an invite to be able to join.

Have a look for yourself at:
http://trycapsule.com/

Dorrigo National Park: Rainforest

Today’s photo was taken during my recent visit to Dorrigo National Park in New South Wales, Australia. The photo was taken on the Rosewood Track within the Never Never region of the national park. This is a section of rainforest with a small stream flowing through it.

 

Online Video Rotator

From time to time when taking a video you sometimes find it better to shoot the video ‘on its side.’ Of course when this is done the video is only able to be viewed side ways. If only the video could be turned and viewed the correct way up. Online Video Rotator does this job for you, though it is limited to 3MB only. Does anyone know of a place for converting larger files – that would be very useful? Still, having an online tool that does the job even for small files is a great help.

For more, visit:
http://www.rotatevideo.org/

 

Small Wreck on the Myall River

Firstly I must apologise again for not posting on a regular basis this last week. There have been some changes in my employment which have kept me from posting. The changes are all good, so nothing to worry about there – just too busy to do so.

This photo is of a small wreck on the Myall River in Tea Gardens, New South Wales, Australia.

Trial Bay Gaol: Arakoon State Conservation Area

Trial Bay Gaol is located within the Arakoon State Conservation Area, not far from South West Rocks in New South Wales, Australia.

The gaol was originally built in the 1870s and was used during World War I as an internment site for Germans. There is a small cemetery located outside the gaol grounds for those who died during their internment.

For more information visit:

http://www.kevinswilderness.com/NSW/arakoon.html

City Hall – Newcastle

Just a quick shot of Newcastle’s City Hall. Another grand old building in Newcastle.

When I was in Newcastle recently, this was the place you had to go to visit the men’s, as the one in Civic Park was closed. Just a small community notice 🙂

Walk to the Top of Yacaaba

Yesterday I went for a walk along the beach at Hawks Nest. When I reached the end of the walk I arrived at the beginning of the Yacaaba Walking Track in Myall Lakes National Park. I saw the sign and thought – ‘well, I might as well do it – I’m here now.’ So I did.

The walk to the top is a 1.5 km walk, with some fairly steep sections – though these are fairly small. The views along the way and at the top make the small amount of effort to get to the top well worthwhile. From The clubhouse at Hawks Nest’s Ocean Beach to the top of Yacaaba and back took me about 2.5 hours, however, I did the entire walk without shoes. I’d recommend shoes for the Yacaaba Headland part of the walk.

For more photos visit:

Myall Lakes National Park – Yacaaba Walking Track

HAWKS NEST – OCEAN BEACH

Today’s photo was taken at Hawks Nest, the neighbouring town to Tea Gardens (where I currently live). I went down to the beach and decided to take a few shots of the coastal scenery close to where I live.

As can be seen, the weather was fantastic and the surf pretty small. The scenery however, was still pretty special I think. The water here is of great quality – crystal clear. Not a bad beach.

For more photos visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmatthews/sets/72157622123626697/