How do you get down off an elephant?

Tags

ALP, animals, Barcaldine, Dumbo, Elephant, Germany, Mongolia, photographs, photography, photos, Queensland, Schwebebahn, Tarzan, Tree of Knowledge, Tuffi, Ulaan Bator, Western Queensland, Wupper, Wuppertal

You don’t get down off an elephant, you get down off a duck!

Three elephant’s jump out of a plane. Two land on the ground, one in the water – badoom-chish!

Okay, I’m out of elephant jokes – well, nearly.

Why did the elephant paint his toenails red?
So he could hide in the cherry tree.

How did Tarzan die?
He went cherry picking.

Now, I’m tapped. Ooo, hang on.

What did Tarzan say when he saw a herd of elephants coming over the hill?
Here comes a herd of elephants over the hill.

What did Tarzan say when he saw a herd of elephants wearing sunglasses coming over the hill?
Nothing, he didn’t recognise them.

How many elephants can you fit in a Mini Minor?
Five – two in the back, two in the front and one in the boot.

How do you fit an elephant in your fridge?
You open the door, put in the elephant, then close the door.

Okay, really, that’s enough. Stop it now. Enough with the elephant jokes. And what’s with them anyway? Isn’t this supposed to be the Friday photo?

Well yes it is but this time I am using a different pic for the lead in to some of my work. We have a German exchange student staying with us from the town of Wuppertal which is near Cologne. She kindly presented us with some gifts on arrival and one was a book – Faszination Schwebebahn – celebrating the unique and somewhat famous rail system in the town.

One of the photos in the book was a snap taken in July 1950 when a baby elephant called Tuffi went for a ride. Tuffi was obviously not happy with something, or had always wanted to be Dumbo. Either way, Tuffi exited the train a tad prematurely.

Luckily Tuffi landed in the Wupper river and survived – cured of his desire to join the troupe over at Disney. Tuffi died in 1989 at  the ripe old age of 43.

Click on the pic below to see this week’s Friday photos – which are NOT of elephants.

PS: “Do they have elephants in Mongolia?” he asks knowing the answer but wanting to see if he  can get a visitor to hos blog from Ulaan Bator or anywhere else in Mongolia. Shameless.

 

Huzzah – Greenland has landed!

Tags

animals, end of the world, Greenland, Mayan, Mongolia, Montville, Nuuk, photographs, photography, photos, places, Queensland, travel, Ulan Bator, water, water dragon

What a wonderful Christmas surprise. Well, a couple of days before actually but I have only just got to putting finger to key now, which makes it post Christmas day but… ah well, I am babbling.  What I mean to say is that finally I have had a visitor from GREENLAND. Huzzah!!

Dani Henriksen from Nuuk dropped by to see my last post – Breakfast with Audrey.  Aluu Dani and Juullimi Ukiortaassamilu Pilluarit (thanks omniglot).  Dani is a Filipina whose blog can bee seen here. Maligayang pasko at manigong bagong taon (and apologies for my rusty Tagalog).

So now, the 2013 challenge begins – to have a person from Mongolia visit. So, brush off your penpals and if they live in Mongolia, get them to drop on by. Of course Ulan Bator is somewhat larger than Nuuk but, unlike Nuuk, I have actually been to the Mongolian capital.

When I was there in 1991 the world was a different place. The USSR was coming to an end, China was reluctantly allowing in foreigners and  a ticket on the trans-Mongolian could be purchased cheaper on the black market. Mongolia is definitely on my list of places to visit again.

Now, just because I like this pic, here is a lovely juvenile water dragon spotted near Montville in Queensland the other week. Have a wonderful journey into 2013 and remember, it’s only 981 more days until the revised Mayan end of the world. So, keep smiling.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking bee two?

Tags

animals, apiary, bee, bugs, flowers, honey, insects, nature, photographs, photography, photos

Okay, sad title but found another of the bee shots which is kind of nice. It was taken with my 70-300mm lens which meant I had to stand about a metre away from the flower, crank up the zoom and hope I didn’t shake too much. I like it and hope you do too.

Busy as

Tags

animals, australia, bee, bees, honey, insects, photographs, photography, photos, pollen, spring, travel

Yesterday  we went for drive in the cold, windy south of Australia. Despite the bleak conditions, it  seems that Spring is in the air – for the honey makers anyway. Came across this little fella hard at work.

Friday Photo

Tags

animals, australia, brisbane, conservation, endangered, photography, photos, savetigersnow, tiger, tigers, wildlife, zoo

Last week, the last of school holidays here in Sunny Queensland, we took an eruption of kids to the zoo. It was a great day – albeit overcast and a little rainy at times. (Note to weather gods; please see first sentence which gives Queensland its proper title. Please adjust weather accordingly!)

Anyway, the zoo we went to was Australia Zoo, started by Bob Irwin in the 1970s , made world famous by his son Steve and now run by Steve’s widow, Terri, with help from kids Bindi and Robert.

It was a lovely day with the five kids wee had with us at times sounding like fifty and at other times quietly looking on in awe at the beautiful animals. Yes, they are caged, and yes, it would be better if they were not. But it does give one an appreciation for their mere eexistance and if one animal in captivity can raise enough awareness to save hundreds in the wild, maybe that is a good thing.

Enough rambling. Today’s photo is over here. As a teaser, here is a photo of his/her room-mate at the zoo. Let me know what you think.

Italy

Tags

animals, italy, photographs, photos, pompeii, rome, sorrento

Some photos from Italy are now in the Photographs section for your viewing pleasure. Click on the photo below to see the gallery or use the links at the top of this page.

“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson