Adventure with Emma

Emma and I went into Civic by bus and rode on the merry-go-round.

Emma was very excited waiting for the bus.

And she enjoyed the trip.

We rode on the elephant on the merry-go-round.

And then Emma explored some of the artwork in Civic.

Unexpected visitor

I nearly trod on this little chap when I went to check the letter box recently.

Crab apple blossom

Spring has sprung and the crab apple is covered in pretty pink blossom - and attracting lots of bees.

Gum trees

I am always fascinated by gum trees, especially their leaves and barks. I noticed these on my way from the carpark to the office this morning.

Roots and bark

On our last day in Hong Kong, we visited the botanic gardens - a green oasis among the high-rise buildings - and found this tree with its intricate roots.


And I love the colours on the bark of this tree.

Critters of Hong Kong

John braves putting his hand in the lion's mouth.


We came across a street exhibition of artistic (and large) piggy banks and particularly liked the Pigasso.


This strange creature adorned the lookout at The Peak.


And this brightly coloured turtle (or should that be tortoise?) was one of the inhabitants at the zoo.

Flowers

Hong Kong is very densely populated, leaving little space for gardens and flowers but we found these pretty flowers on The Peak.


And flowers abound around Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year

The highlight of our tour of Hong Kong was the Chinese New Year parade, complete with a dancing lion and dragon. Both were fantastic, although very difficult to photograph because of their constant movement.

More boats

Chinese junks

Our bus trip around Hong Kong took us to Aberdeen, where we went for a ride on a fishing junk. I assume it was decorated for Chinese New Year, complete with all the lanterns hanging from the bamboo roof.



Despite, or possibly because, I've lived most of my life hundreds of kilometres from the ocean, I love boats and I also like the beautiful textures and shapes of these.

We went on a bus tour of Hong Kong island and once again we found ourselves at The Peak but we hadn't noticed this interesting character on our previous visit, so it was worth going up again.


And the tour guide took our photo at the lookout.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year was on 3 February and small shrines suddenly appeared outside lots of businesses, with fruit, vegetables and incense.



We particularly liked this little character.

Stanley

Stanley is a small fishing village on the north of Hong Kong island. We could have taken an express bus trip but, not being in any hurry, we chose the scenic route of the hilly centre of the island - definitely scenic.

At Stanley we headed for the vibrant markets.


We had lunch overlooking the water and this sampan.


Here's John and me on the Stanley waterfront.

Hong Kong by night

What do New York, San Gimignano and Hong Kong all have in common? Distinctive skylines. And in the Chinese New Year period, Hong Kong lights up their buildings. This photo was taken from the ferry crossing from Kowloon to Hong Kong island.


And here's a photo of the skyline, also taken from the ferry.


We loved travelling around Hong Kong in the narrow, double-decker trams. We always headed upstairs for the view of the city along the way. There was a tram stop just outside our hotel with a tram at least every 10 minutes, even on public holidays. And the HK$2 fare worked out at less than 30 cents Australian. So it was a very cheap and efficient way of getting around.

The colours of the rainbow

The cable-car stop at the top of the Peak featured this interesting sculpture. I like it's industrial style, as well as the constantly changing colours - red, blue, yellow, green, purple (not necessarily in that order). Here are two phases:



A few days later, in a shopping centre, I came across these beautiful butterflies, which also changed colours.

The Peak

Hong Kong is a small island with a steep hill, known as The Peak. One of the 'must-do' tourist things in Hong Kong is to go up The Peak, which was fine with me because of the views and the cable-car ride up and down. There was a large queue waiting for the cable-car but we only had to wait about 10 minutes. (We saw the queue again later in the week and it was much, much longer - people must have been waiting hours).

Here's John enjoying the view - he's even smiling.


We were in Hong Kong in mid-winter and there was some haze, so this photo isn't great but it shows the city below.


As with so many tourist spots, there were indicators of the distance to various far-flung cities. Sydney was the closest to home for us, so John did the classic tourist thing of lining his foot up against the footprints in the concrete, although we certainly weren't heading home that early in our stay.


And I lined up for a photo with this cardboard construction, presumably a replica of old Hong Kong.