The miraculous disappearance of the tourists

I have never seen so much empty space here.

Last Sunday afternoon, the heavens opened and the rain came down — much needed rain, actually. It came as quite a surprise to the hundreds of tourists in the vicinity of the Sydney Opera House and Circular Quay. Five minutes before I took this photo, you could not have seen 10 feet in front of you, let alone all the way to end. Everyone is cowering behind those columns to the left, jammed together as tightly as pencils as in a box. I did feel rather smug with my showerproof jacket and umbrella. Walking along this east side of Circular Quay is usually immensely frustrating, trying to dodge and weave around strollers and families and tour groups; for once, though, I could walk at will!

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Square Sky 27: Sky and surfer

Sky reflected in wet sand, Bondi Beach.

When the tide and wind and light are right, there’s a moment after a wave has rushed ashore when the sand is covered by a thin, reflective sheen of water. Such as in this photo at Bondi Beach.

Square Sky December

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Square Sky 24: Watery sunrise

Who knew the North Sea could look so mysterious?

“Watery” not online because it’s at sea, but because there’s a wavering, watercolour look to this photo. This is off the coast of Belgium, shot on a morning watch from the tall ship ‘Tenacious’ in 2006.

Square Sky December

Square Sky 2: Billabong

Upside-down sky!

The sky reflected in the still waters of a billabong, Northern Territory.

Square Sky December

Random Fridays: Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves against a shiny office tower reflecting the sky and another building.

Most native Australian trees don’t lose their leaves when autumn comes, but the imports certainly do. This plane tree near Circular Quay in Sydney is displaying about as much autumnal colour as we get. With late afternoon sun shining through the leaves, they glow against the reflection of the pure blue sky seen in an office tower behind.

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Random Fridays: Buttons

How cool are these buttons? I came across this shop that sells nothing but buttons, but not ordinary boring buttons! My first thought when I saw the window displays was that these were little cakes or chocolates. If you look at the feature image, you can see that the out-of-focus buttons in the foreground do look like chocolates.

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Random Fridays: Sunset over infinity

Sunset over the infinity pool

If not infinity, then an infinity pool! This was taken at Wildmans Wilderness Lodge, Northern Territory.