Even though it is Winter and the nights have been getting down to 2C, we have had two lovely 18C sunny days. I went out yesterday with my camera and visited my neighbour's garden and spotted two bees flying around her Jade plant.

This is another photo from my day with Pat (Larigan here on Flickr) during our stay in Bexhill. We visited the Bentley Waterfowl and Car Museum and saw so many different species of waterfowl. Something seems to have caught their attention.

I am wishing I was back in the UK - 39 C yesterday and 41 C today, and it isn't even Summer yet.

Ludlow is one of my favourite places to visit. It is like stepping back in time and has many wonderful places to see. It has a castle, market, many B&W buildings and Stokesay Castle (another favourite) is nearby. We have stayed in the Wheatsheaf Inn twice now - a true old fashioned English pub.

I was taking some photos of some birds from a hide in Kruger National Park when I heard a splash in the water. I turned around and spotted this Hippopotamus looking at me.

Before we went on our river cruise on Saturday, the owner of the property took us on a game drive. He took us up a steep (and rocky) mountain road to the top of the hill. At the top of the hill there was a flat outcrop which offered 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside.

We have been on some very rocky roads in four wheel drives and seen some very wild countryside during our 10 day stay - what an adventure.

Closeup of a beautiful Petunia that was was growing in my wheelbarrow garden. The weather is cooling down fast now, so most of the flowers are disappearing.

Cango Caves is regarded as one of South Africa's foremost natural wonders. The fascinating calcite caves comprise an underground wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites.

I am quite claustrophobic, but I was determined to enter the caves when we were on our tour of the Eastern Cape. I am so glad that I did - they were beautiful. There was only one part where I began to feel uncomfortable, but it was just before I could see daylight, so not too bad.

I was laid low yesterday with either food poisoning or the worst tummy bug that I have ever had. I am feeling almost back to normal today, thank goodness.

When we first arrived in Kruger, we stopped near the shop at Lower Sabie and I spotted this beautiful Glossy Starling having a bath in the bird bath. Sorry for so many photos, but I couldn't decide which photos to leave out.

I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to add a flower photo a day for 365 days.

www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/

I little bouquet of Everlasting Daisies from my garden.

During the week we visited one of Peter's friends. I asked how his pet Yellow Crested Cockatoo was going as I couldn't see him wandering around and his wife told me it had died early this year. I took this photo in 2012 when he would have been 56 years old. He reached the grand old age of 59 years and her husband had him all of his 59 years.

This is another huge Giraffe that we saw as we were driving around Kruger National Park. When you see them in zoos, they look big, but when you actually see them in the wild they are much bigger than you imagined.

The National Memorial Arboretum is a national site of remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, which honours the fallen, recognises service and sacrifice and fosters pride in our country. It is a spiritually uplifting place and is emerging as a world-renowned centre for remembrance

The Arboretum is situated just south of Alrewas on approximately 150 acres of old gravel workings, 5 miles north of Lichfield, Staffordshire. It is adjacent to the confluence of the River Tame with the River Trent, and directly neighbouring Croxall Lakes. The Arboretum contains over 50,000 trees, with more being added each year. There are nearly 300 memorials for the armed forces, civilian organisations and voluntary bodies who have played a part in serving the country.

This is one of the memorials that I saw when I visited the gardens.

When we were in Kruger I arranged to meet up with Piet at the Satara Rest Camp. There were plenty of photo opportunities with lots of birds flying around. I love the Hornbills - such unusual birds. It was lovely to meet another Flickr friend face to face.

www.flickr.com/photos/oom_piet/

Another photo from our outing the other day. Taken with my Tamron 150-600 lens without the filter attached. I completely forgot to try some with the filter on to compare whether it makes any difference to the photos. I googled and found a site which identifies them as Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)

www.ozanimals.com/Bird/Chestnut-Teal/Anas/castanea.html

Taken at a local lagoon with the Tamron 150 - 600 lens. I am still unsure about the lens which I bought to take to Africa on our next trip there (hopefully next year). I like the quality, but have had a couple of episodes with it and not sure I could trust it for such a trip. Unsure which way to go at the moment.

The Eurasian Coot is recognised by its snowy white bill and forehead shield. The remainder of the bird is dark sooty grey, except for its bright red eye. Immature birds are generally paler than adults with a white wash on the throat. Nestlings are downy, black with fine yellow tips. The head is orange-red and the bill is red with a cream-white tip.

I am having so much trouble with Flickr today - what is going on. I am having trouble commenting and adding tags to my photos. I have to go out for a while and hope it is all sorted by the time I come back home - so frustrating. Why can't Flickr just leave everything alone - every time we get used to one way, they decide to make more changes??

One from the archives that I found when I was looking for something else, which is always the way LOL.

It is another lovely, sunny Winter's day here in Sydney - still a little cool, but this is how I like the weather to be.

A beautiful dahlia with two centres that I saw in France.

It has been a Bank Holiday weekend here in England and it has been so crowded with people taking advantage of the nice weather, especially today.

Another photo of my favourite African animal taken in Kruger National Park.

9 days to go.

This is another lovely flower from th garden of the Tudor Cottage in Barton, Warickshire. It is a quaint 17th century cottage filled with beams and wonkey floors - a lovely place to spend some time.

I love swans - they are so graceful. In Australia we rarely see black swans, only native black swans (which I love). It is always so exciting to see the many white swans drifting along the waterways of the UK.

Christmas Eve is almost over here in Australia (two minutes to go). I would like to wish all my friends a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to add a flower photo a day for 365 days.

www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/

I was taking photos of this unusual flower during our visit to Parramatta Park yesterday, when this Noisy Myna decided to join in.

We walked along Vincents pier at Scarborough and found this lighthouse with this lovely statue in front of it. I am not sure what the statue represents, but it did have a plaque in memory of a few people at the base.

Lighthouse and Diving Belle The statue, erected in 2007, is one of a pair. Its counterpart, the Bathing Belle, is situated in the Westborough shopping precinct.

This is my photo for the challenge 52 in 2014 #10 Door or Doorway. This is the side door on our garage. I think it may need repainting LOL.

After we followed the Wildebeest down the road (see yesterday's photo), we came around the bend to see this huge male elephant walking down the road towards the dam. There was a car coming up the other way and it stopped. The elephant kept going towards the car and the driver of the car kept reversing. In the end he had no where else to go and we began to think it was getting a bit tricky. Then another elephant came out from the bushes and began walking towards the car and now there were two. The second elephant then walked off into the bushes on the left hand side and started walking up the hill. After a few minutes of deliberating, the big elephant followed the other one up the hill. When the driver of the car stopped next to us, Peter said "that was a bit tricky" and the driver said "yes, I didn't really trust him".

This Lavender is growing beautifully in my neighbour's garden. After a few lovely warm days, we are back to around 17C today with clouds. It keeps looking as though it will rain, but none so far.

This time tomorrow we will be boarding the plane for our trip to the UK. I am not looking forward to the 23 hour flight, but can't wait until we touch down and we can begin our journey.

This is my photo for the 52 in 2015 Challenge - #51 - Backlit. Even though we are well into Winter, my neighbour's tree still has some Autumn colour, which is lovely to look at. It is cold and wet today - a good day to stay inside.

We drove to the Central Coast today to see Peter's Dad who is now 95.5 years old. He is still going pretty good for his age, but slowing down and finding it a bit more difficult to get around.

It was a lovely Spring day - sunny with temps of around 28C with a nice breeze which is in complete contrast to the next few days where the temps are supposed to be between 39-41C. I hate our long, hot Summers and can't wait for Autumn LOL.

This is my photo for the 52 in 2015 challenge - #22 - A peaceful place.

This is taken not far from the

Aged Care home where Peter's Dad resides. We often drive there for a while when we take him out for a few hours.

Peter's Dad is still quite frail and confused, but is walking a bit better with his walker - hopefully he will recover from the effects of the anaesthetic so we can continue taking him out for lunch and a drive around the area. He is now 96 and has done quite well up until now for someone of his age, which is quite an achievement.

This is some of the large herd of elephant that we saw during our visit to Addo Elephant Park.

It is another beautiful Winter's Day here in Sydney today - sunny, cool but not too cool - just how I like it.

I am having problems with my wrist again, so I may not be able to comment on your photos for a little while as I am wearing the splint to try and ease the pain. It is only 6 weeks until we go to South Africa and I hope it is a bit better by then. The splint usually does the trick.

When we cleared out my brother's unit after his passing, I came across this crystal ball. I had been thinking of getting one for quite a while and I was so pleased that I found it. This is my first attempt from today with some flowers from Peter's Dad's floral arrangement.

This is also my photo for the 52 in 2016 Challenge - #46 Plant

Ohhhhhhh I do love a stormy sky.

Living on the coast seems to give me a huge variety of clouds to ohhh and ahhhh over, especially when they are overhead one's house.

I waited and waited for the rain thinking we were going to have a belter of a storm but all we got was a dribble as the cloud headed out to sea.

At least I got an impressive cloud to photograph!

This is my photo for the 52 in 2014 challenge. It is #18 - Canine. I couldn't decide which one to add,so I added two subjects this week.

This is the gatehouse of Stokesay Castle near Ludlow in Shropshire, UK.

We are now home after a nine hour flight from Hong Kong. The flight wasn't too bad, but I didn't manage to sleep during the night, but we then had a half hour wait on the plane due to the fact that there was not a bay available for the plane to park and let us off - not sure what happened there. We had a bumpy liftoff which was a bit off-putting to say the least.

I spotted this tree when I was wandering around Bristol zoo. It reminds me of Christmas for some reason (would look even better with a dusting of snow).

I found these photos whilst going though my archives the other day. The Noisy Myna birds love our grevilleas and often drop in for a visit.

So far so good with my wrist - the pain has eased so much. Hopefully it will continue this way and I will be able to cancel my visit to the hand surgeon.

I have decided to join Nina (www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/) on her challenge of taking a flower photo a day for 365 days.

I am not sure what I will do when I am out of action after the surgery - I will just have to add some from the archives until I can pick up the camera again.

Well, I am home from hospital. There were a few emergencies so I wasn't operated on until nearly 8 p.m. and with painkillers I had a good rest, only waking when the nurses came to check on me. The surgeon came to see me this morning and said that the operation went well. I am feeling a little weary, so I will catch up with you all later.

I spotted this beautiful Kingfisher as we we were walking down the path to the hide in Pilanesberg.

This street performer caused quite a stir on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. I think I have worked out how it is done - can you??

I spotted this cactus in Peter's friend's garden the other day and really liked the pattern and colour.

For some reason I haven't seen too many bees around for a couple of weeks, but I spotted this one in my neighbour's garden on her beautiful bleeding heart vine.

Flickr has been giving me grief for the last couple of days and I haven't been able to upload photos.

0 days to go - finished!!!!

We went for a walk around a lake in Shepparton and while we were feeding the ducks, this Malamute decided to go for a swim. He was quite interested in the ducks for a while, but the ducks soon moved on.

Another photo from our drive to Mt. Wilson yesterday. The leaves were beautiful, but I think in another week, they would be spectacular. I wonder if I can talk Peter into another drive LOL.

We got up early this morning to go on an early morning game drive. The light was beautiful and we came across a group of Waterbuck standing in the long grass.

Our holiday is now coming to an end - only four more nights and we will be homeward bound.

The fairies had to beat a hasty retreat on this side of the log because the lichen seed pods were on the march.

When I saw the seed pods on screen I thought of the Martians in the latest War of the Worlds movie.

Yeah, I know, only I could equate seed pods with Martians!

Shane has just asked me why I was putting this photo on Flickr for my dad's birthday, and the answer is simple, because I like it!

So, Happy Birthday to my father Peter, who at 79, and despite nodding off once in a while at his Masonic Meetings, is still going strong.

Love you Dad!

EXPLORED AND A VERY FAST EXPLORE! no.2

A pretty plant that is growing in my neighbour's garden. I think it is called Crocosmia Spitfire