Prayer Wheels - Prayer wheels are a well-liked and vibrant sight within the monasteries and gompas of Buddhist Nepal, Tibet and India. Engraved in Sanskrit, folks spin the wheels (always clockwise) to send out their prayers or mantras and are apparently the equivalent of speaking the mantras. Watching monks slowly walk and spin the wheels looks to bring a really serene and peaceful state.

Hey, Good Looking! in North America

Hey, Good Looking! in North America - This most majestic brown bear is caught in a reflective moment in the spectacular Misty Fjords National Monument of South-East Alaska.

Pothole (Africa)

Pothole (Africa) - Hitching a ride on a truck through central Africa, you witness some very good natural scenery however presumably ought to expertise what should be the worst roads within the world. With potholes massive enough to swallow a bull elephant, the trucks support one another with tows to confirm passage through these treacherous roads.


Sadly, this photo is taken not an extended means from Goma, in east Congo, that has created the news for all the incorrect reasons. Civil war once more is killing and starving individuals during this most majestic mountainous space.


Your body gets battered and bruised however the possibility to expertise Africa's greatest travel wonders makes it all value whereas, although it takes a good few days to hide solely a brief distance.

Photo of the Week - Osprey Family

Photo of the Week - Osprey Family - Driving around within the Rockies, we have a tendency to noticed variety of cars stopped on an innocuous river bridge. Curiously, we have a tendency to turned off to envision what was happening to seek out a family of ospreys nesting and frequently feeding from the river below. Mum swooped majestically to pluck a fish from the chilly waters below. 

the kids weren't nonetheless totally fledged however were commencing to flap their wings. Their sharp eyes swept left and right, patrolling the surroundings viewing the camera-wielding humans with suspicion. What an excellent place for a nest.

Photo of the Week - Tombstone in Tombstone (Arizona, USA)

Photo of the Week - Tombstone in Tombstone (Arizona, USA) - Tombstone lies within the south-west of the us not faraway from the Mexican border. With solely a population of 1500 individuals, it still dines out on its most famous incident with the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Indeed, you'll be photographed with the most characters from this gunfight (for a fee of course!). Though much more sedate, its main street still has several reminders of these times with its dusty streets and sprawling saloons.

Nearby may be a rugged however moving cemetery with hand-painted grave markers with some nice remarks as well as those photographed on top of. Life was less sure in those times as is described by the pithy poem concerning poor George Johnson who was wrongly hanged.

Photo of the Week - Toucan (South America)

Photo of the Week - Toucan (South America) - Our tiny cluster had walked for an hour in extreme humidity and climbed a rickety, picket tower to be at the peak of the tree-tops. We'd been standing around for an extra hour with very little activity when a toucan fluttered into a so much branch. The photo is taken at most zoom, scanned in and then zoomed some a lot of with Photoshop, that makes it a bit bit hazy. however the thrill of seeing this most iconic South yank bird with its outsized beak and vibrant plumage was one thing i'll forever keep in mind. some minutes later it flew away however those couple of minutes are to be treasured.

We were told it absolutely was a red bill toucan however as long as the bill is black, yellow and blue which the sole red could be a tiny dash on its breast and tail, I've never been terribly convinced. perhaps somebody who is aware of their toucans will make sure that species of toucan it truly is.

The Fall Kaleidoscope (New England, USA)

natural wonders, North America, travel wonders, USA

Photo of the Week - Notre-Dame du Haut (Ronchamp, France)

Photo of the Week - Notre-Dame du Haut (Ronchamp, France) - Perched on a hill and inbuilt the mid-1950s in japanese France, this uneven chapel is one among the world's fashionable architectural travel wonders. Designed by a man named Le Corbusier, it options a wall with several irregular, completely different sized windows that provides a unprecedented lighting result particularly with the stained glass within the interior. The roof seems galvanized by a crab shell and appears to float on top of the building itself. Apparently when it rains, the water pours off this roof making a powerful natural fountain.

"Space and lightweight and order. Those are the items that men want simply the maximum amount as they have bread" - Le Corbusier

Unlike Santa Clauses in Australia with their cotton wool facial hair, the jolly red fellows in Santiago's main square of Plaza de Armas grow their own beards. Being the middle of summer, it is hot work for these joyous folks who distribute their Christmas cheer. The poor reindeer look like they have seen better days...

To all my readers, compliments of the season to you all and best wishes for a healthy and fun-filled 2010.

Germany's Black Forest is home to cuckoo clocks, shimmering lakes, rich cherry chocolate cakes and small half-timbered villages frozen in time (such as Gengenbach). It is also home to Germany's best known waterfall in Triberg Falls. Tumbling in small steps down a rocky path, the setting in verdant green forests creates a soothing scenic image.

As the northern hemisphere cools for the winter months, Australia blossoms into spring. This year the flowers appear especially vivid with a combination of hot sunny weather and short periods of soaking rain.

As a child, I recall reading Mark Twain's wry and witty account of travelling through Germany, Switzerland and Italy in A Tramp Abroad. It was one of the books that captured my interest in travelling the world. Twain spent three months in Heidelberg mystified by the world's largest wine barrel and including a wondrous description of the semi-ruinous castle and its stunning location overlooking the Neckar River and the city itself. It goes as follows:

A ruin must be rightly situated, to be effective. This one could not have been better placed. It stands upon a commanding elevation, it is buried in green woods, there is no level ground about it, but, on the contrary, there are wooded terraces upon terraces, and one looks down through shining leaves into profound chasms and abysses where twilight reigns and the sun cannot intrude. Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees & shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes improved it.

In the midst of spring, Sydney is awash with colourful flowers and blooms. The state floral emblem of the waratah is spectacular with its large deep red flower. The hardy waratah scrub suits the sandy soils of the area and even regenerates if burned to a crisp after a savage bushfire.

In a small rural village in north Vermont, stacks of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes await Halloween enthusiasts to carve their lanterns. Celebrated the night before All Saints or All Hallows Day, the name derives from hallow evening, shortened to halloween. Every year, this primarily American tradition sneaks further into Australia with shops adorned with witches, ghosts, bats and skeletons while children in the suburbs run around the houses trick or treating.

Last Sunday, several thousand lucky people drawn from a ballot had breakfast on the Australian travel wonder of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic and transformed into a parkland of fresh grass for the picnic rugs, eskies (local slang for the portable ice boxes that keep everything cool) and baskets full of tasty pastries, juices and other breakfast goodies. I wasn't one of the fortunate few to be selected from the 195,000 entries.

Along with the breakfast, Sydney hosted its annual Seven Bridges Walk, a testing circuit of 25 kilometres around the harbour, crossing seven bridges including the Harbour Bridge and ANZAC Bridge. I completed the circuit in pouring rain, raising a couple of hundred dollars for Diabetes Australia, along with several thousand others drenched but determined participants.

Remarkably a few hours after hosting thousands of people on luscious green lawn, the bridge was again hastily converted and had traffic roaring across its eight lanes - not a blade of grass in sight.

Source: Photos

In the cold icy surrounds of Antartica, the Chinstrap penguin stands strikingly with its thin black neck stripe. Parenting is a truly shared occupation with one guarding the eggs or chicks while the other heads off to feed, returning with a full belly and regurgitated feeds for the chicks. They then exchange places and the cycle starts again. As the chicks grow, both parents head out to feed leaving the chicks in a creche with other chinstrap chicks, racing the short summer Antarctic months to have the chicks sufficiently matured to swim and fend for themselves.

Other Wildlife Photos of the Week
Leopard Seal
Mountain Gorilla
Brown Bear
Hoary Marmot
Cheetah
Top Ten Wildlife Wonders of the World

The cathedral, built in 1835, stands majestically in Plaza Murillo, in the world's highest capital city of La Paz. At 3800 metres above sea level (12,000 feet), the more affluent people live below the city where there is more oxygen rather than above La Paz with its panoramic views.

In the midst of a skyline of glassy, towering skyscrapers, this quaint colonial relic tries to preserve the times of yesteryear. Especially grand at night, visitors flock to the colonial Long Bar with wicker chairs and elegant bartenders for the over-priced syrupy Singapore Slings and a chance to shamelessly throw peanut shells on the floor. If you close your eyes, it is easy to believe that you could be enjoying afternoon tea as the owner of a tea plantation. By contrast, the Writer’s Bar is an elegant, regal affair that summons the memories of authors past, including Rudyard Kipling, James Michener and Joseph Conrad.

The cruel deceit of the Sahara Desert lies in its ability to suggest water is nearby. The mirage is simply a reflection of the sky caused by the incredibly hot afternoon sand temperatures and light refraction, leaving such a realistic suggestion of a refreshing lake.

Constructed from over three million plastic Lego blocks, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln gaze down at visitors to Legoland in Denmark. Squeezing the world into a small area, alongside Mt Rushmore are a number of other famous world landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, Copenhagen's harbour, Amsterdam's canals and Bangkok's Royal Temple. An African safari and a driving school reveal the almost limitless imagination that can be rendered with simple plastic interlocking blocks.

Billund Vacations

The southern Tuscan town of Pitigliano (about 100 kilometres south of Chianti) perches splendidly on a volcanic plateau, its ancient honey-coloured houses, city gates, aqueduct, churches and fortress built right to the edge of the rocky ridge. Etruscan tombs over 1500 years old dot the hill-face. With some of the more timeless Tuscany hotels, it is a wonderful small town that warrants exploring for a day with typical narrow alleys of houses that date back centuries and tiny hidden wine and food bars serving local wines such as the refreshing and light white, Poggia Al Tufo. In a surprise, along with a cathedral and a number of churches, there is also a Jewish history with a synagogue, kosher butchering area and bread oven which date back centuries.