Pictures from the Floriade, Canberra’s way of celebrating spring (which took place a few weeks ago): 
Selten bloede Nachrichten
Zugegebenermassen schau ich immer wieder mal auf www.orf.at, um meine fast taegliche Lektuere des Standard zu ergaenzen. Der ORF macht ja bekanntlich hin und wieder der Kronen Zeitung Konkurrenz. Heute aber erreichte die Qualitaet der Schlagzeilen auf der Titelseite wohl ein Nadir. Hier eine Auswahl der besonderen Art:
„The finest natural harbour in the world“
Ein kleiner Teil von Sydney Harbour von der Harbour Bridge aus seewärts blickend.
Sydney Pictures
Pictures from our trip to Sydney in the Australian winter… 
This picture was taken by Andrew on Bondi Beach in Sydney-click on it to enlarge. From left to right: Lucia (Italy), Miloud (France), Elena (Italy), Francois? (France), Ben (Australia/Tonga, kneeling), Mari (Japan), David, Margarita, Christian (Austria), Sebastien (France), Tina (Denmark), Lee (UK), Sophie (Denmark), April (USA), George (UK). Yes, George is bathing.
book review: down under
Bill Bryson’s book „Down under“ is probably one of the best-selling Australian travel diaries of the last years. Bryson writes about his travels in a very entertaining and easy-to-read style. Down under is quite entertaining and full of supposedly well researched peeks into Australian history, geography, foreign relations and politics. However, while „Down under“ might be an entertaining read, Bryson hasn’t done a great job in portraying the places he visited. Even though Bryson seems to have done a lot of research, he hasn’t done a great job in planning his itineraries and researching the destinations.