SUNDAY BEST #436 - ALBURY-WODONGA

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.
The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.
Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Albury-Wodonga is the broad settlement incorporating the twin Australian cities of Albury and Wodonga, which are separated geographically by the Murray River and politically by a state border: Albury on the north of the river is part of New South Wales, while Wodonga on the south bank is in Victoria.

This is an aerial photo I took on a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne and Albury is the city on the left of the photo, while Wodonga is on the right of the photo. It pays to have a window seat!

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Last week, Violetta from Austria shared some photos from a trip to Amsterdam. Please visit her blog for more excellent shots of this wonderful city.

SUNDAY BEST #409 - NO TRAIN

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Last week, Veredit in Germany posted the lovely B&W shot below. Please visit her blog for more great photos.

SUNDAY BEST #350 - MORNINGTON

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Mornington is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, located 57 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula. Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beautiful beaches. Mornington is a popular tourist destination with Melburnians who often make day trips to visit the area's bay beaches and wineries. 

The Post Office opened on 21 May 1856 as Schnapper Point and was renamed Mornington in 1864. The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach, which features a yacht club, restaurant and park with playground facilities. Mornington is an attractive destination for shopping and features some excellent restaurants and cafes. The north of Mornington is also home to several horse breeders and stables. 

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Last week, Roentare in Melbourne posted this lovely shot of sunset in the Mornington Peninsula! Please visit his blog for more great photography.

SUNDAY BEST #296 - FLOODING

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

Thousands of people across Australia's southeast were asked to evacuate their homes on Friday, including many country towns close to overflowing rivers and dams, after two days of incessant rains triggered flash flooding and fast-moving waters burst river banks. Large parts of Victoria state, southern New South Wales and the northern regions of the island state of Tasmania were pounded by an intense weather system with some taking more than a month's worth of rain since late Wednesday. The town of Rochester in central Victoria was inundated as you can see in the photo above.

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Last week, Betty in New Zealand shared this lovely photo of a fern frond opening up. Please visit her blog for more great shots!

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Victoria (abbreviated as Vic) is a state in southeastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall (at September 2020 Victoria's population was at 6,681,000). Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.

Geographically, the smallest state on the Australian mainland, Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales is to the north, the Tasman Sea is to the east, and South Australia is to the west. Named in honour of Queen Victoria, who signed the division's separation from New South Wales, the colony was officially established in 1851 and achieved self government in 1855.

The Victorian gold rush in the 1850s and 1860s significantly increased both the population and wealth of the colony, and by the time of the Federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city and leading financial centre in Australasia. Melbourne served as federal capital of Australia until the construction of Canberra in 1927, with the Federal Parliament meeting in Melbourne's Parliament House and all principal offices of the federal government being based in Melbourne.

The city of Melbourne has many attractions, including shopping, the Crown Casino, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Docklands, Southbank and St. Kilda. Melbourne is also the home of cultural and sporting icons such as The Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which held the 1956 Summer Olympic Games. The historic cities of Ballarat, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Daylesford which were all towns built on the goldfields during the 1850s.

Natural attractions include The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, Wilson's Promontory, The Grampians, Buchan Caves, Gippsland Lakes and the penguins on Phillip Island. The Dandenong Ranges just east of Melbourne has the Puffing Billy Railway and Healesville Sanctuary. The Murray River which is the state's northern border, has towns including Echuca and Mildura. Boating, fishing and other water sports are popular along the river.

Geelong, south west of Melbourne on Corio Bay, has many beaches, and hosts the Australian International Airshow. Nearby is the Bellarine Peninsula, which has many famous beaches such as Bells Beach, Torquay and Queenscliff. The Mornington Peninsula is well known for its beaches and wineries. The Victorian Alpine Region in the Australian Alps is popular for skiing with resorts at Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, and Mount Buffalo.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

SUNDAY BEST #242 - ORANGE

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

This post is also part of the Photo Sunday meme

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Last week, Lydia in Sydney had a great shot in her blog, which I liked very much. Please visit her pages to see more great posts.

SUNDAY BEST #226 - WINTERGREEN

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;

2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;

3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;

4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

This post is also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Last week, Taken For Granted shared a photo of an iconic American invention, the ice cream sundae served at an ice cream parlour. Please visit his blog for more interesting and beautiful shots!

SUNDAY BEST #213 - AFTERNOON SUN

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging.

Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;

2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here; 3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;

4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Last week Jesh from the USA posted some delightful Winter photos with lots of snow! Please visit her blog to have a look at some more.

NIGHT SKY

The old General Post Office in the City of Melbourne, illuminated for Christmas. 

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #197 - BRIDGE

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in. 

The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;

2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;

3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;

4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Last week, Lydia from Sydney shared with us a couple of lovely seascapes, which I really liked. Please visit her blog for more wonderful photos.

HEALESVILLE COUNTRYSIDE

Countryside near Healesville in the Yarra Ranges Shire. The Shire of Yarra Ranges is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. It has an area of 2,469.9 square kilometres, and at the 2011 census, it had a population of 144,541.It was formed in 1994 by the merger of parts of the Shire of Sherbrooke, Shire of Lillydale, Shire of Healesville and Shire of Upper Yarra. It has rich farmland, vineyards and magnificent areas of native forest.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

TREES

As we are in Australia, Summer brings with it not only the hot weather and fun at the beach, but also the real threat and danger of bushfires. For the past few weeks, devastating bushfires have been burning thousands of hectares of bushland in NSW and Queensland. As the hot and windy weather is now with us in Victoria, bushfires are expected here also.

Not only do we see devastating losses of homes and property, but also loss of life as people struggle to save their homes and livelihoods. There is a profound environmental loss also, with trees, wildlife and natural resources burnt and reduced to ash.

Climate change has been quoted as a major cause of our increased incidence of extensive bushfires, but also there are other causes - and for many of these humans are directly responsible:

  Poor preparation for the fire season with lack of back-burning and land clearing in forests;

  Building of homes too close to bushland; 

  Electric power lines in direct contact with trees; 

  Careless behaviour involving fire - cigarettes, campfires, power tools, etc;

  And the most reprehensible of all, arson!

Trees are a valuable resource and we depend on them for not only wood and other products, but also more importantly perhaps, as the conditioners of our atmosphere, our oxygen producers and removers of carbon dioxide. Without trees, our planet is doomed. It is up to us to save our trees, our planet, our lives and the lives of our children.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

LIBRARY

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N.. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

In 1853, the decision to build a state library was made at the instigation of Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe and Mr Justice Redmond Barry, Q.C. (Sir Redmond from 1860). A competition was held to decide who would design the new building; local architect Joseph Reed, who later designed the Melbourne Town Hall, Ormond College and the Royal Exhibition Building, won the commission. On 3 July 1854, the recently inaugurated Governor Sir Charles Hotham laid the foundation stone of both the new library and the University of Melbourne. The library opened in 1856, with a collection of 3,800 books chosen by Mr Justice Barry, the President of Trustees. Augustus H. Tulk, the first librarian, was appointed three months after the opening.

The library underwent major refurbishments between 1990 and 2004, designed by architects Ancher Mortlock & Woolley. The project cost approximately A$200 million. The reading room closed in 1999 to allow for renovation, during which natural light was returned. The renamed La Trobe Reading Room reopened in 2003. The Library’s vast collection dates back to 1854 and includes material on almost every subject you can think of, with a special focus on material from Victoria. From art, children’s books, war and family history to film, business and industry, and Australian history, there is plenty for curious browsers and serious researchers alike.

While most people know about the Library's extensive book collections, there's plenty to surprise in other historical collections, which date back to 1854. They include more than 350,000 photographs, personal manuscripts & diaries, maps, old magazines & journals, newspapers, comics, and even old advertising and theatre programs. There is also an eclectic array of textiles and personal items.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

SUNRISE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SERENE

A moment of reflection and serenity while looking up at the sky...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #133 - SPRING, WAITING

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:

1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;

2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;

3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;

4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity! Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services.

This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

The theme is of your own choosing, so post on any subject you desire.

Our Winter dragged on for a while this year and it felt as though Spring was tarrying somewhere, reluctant to come to us...

Last week, Jesh from the USA had a post with some wonderful photos, the one below being my favourite this week. Visit her blog for more great images!

FIRE

Making a fire by a campsite provides flames for a cheery sight as night falls. Then it's time for some fireside tales by the warmth and flickering flame light... Be sure to put the fire out afterwards as the fiery friend can become a fiendish foe that can devastate a whole forest!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

SUNBURST

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

WINTRY WEATHER

We are in June, the first Winter month in the Southern Hemisphere, and the weather is being suitably cold and wet. Compared to some other places, Winter in Melbourne is fairly mild, with no snow and tolerably low temperatures.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.