A Nautical Miscellany

Some times it's better to be lucky than good looking...

I checked into the old (and I do mean OLD) Parmelia Hilton in Perth. I didn't realise at first but having a room that faced the river meant that I had a view of the Red Bull airplane races:

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And yes, the sky is really that blue.

Art Deco Madness

We recently returned from a visit to New Zealand. One of the places we spent a lot of time in was Napier on the north island. Napier is renowned as ground zero for Art Deco buildings. Almost the entire city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and as the city was  wholly rebuilt in 1931-32 the buildings are uniformly Art Deco.

Out of 160 odd buildings built about 140 have been preserved to modern day. There's a lot more to recommend this area of New Zealand (and NZ itself!) but it's a fascinating aspect if you are inclined this way at all. I have about 90 pictures that I took of the buildings as we toured around, I plan on posting them some time real soon now...