192 Days Later doesn't end here...

...pics are getting posted up on Flickr once I get a chance to fine tune them:
Click here: Flickr Collection

Day 192 - Weds 16th Sept: 192 Days Later

USA & New Zealand

Australia & Japan
What a trip! Countless memories, a ton of great experiences and a load of new friends (plus some 12,000 photos to sift through).

192 Days Later: done.

Day 191 - Tues 15th Sept: Capsule Hotel, Tokyo

Well, while in Tokyo do as the Tokyonians/Tokyoites (?) do. So I thought I'd spend my last night in one of these capsule hotels.

Day 190 - Mon 14th Sept: Ryōgoku Kokugikan Arena, Tokyo

Sumo! Sumo! Sumo! One of this year's six tournaments is taking place in Tokyo in September. The guys in the photo may look big, but they're two of the smaller amateur wrestlers - the pros are even bigger.

Day 189 - Sun 13th Sept: Mori Tower, Tokyo

Here's the view of Tokyo 52 stories up. The Mori Tower has 360 degree views of the city via their massive floor to ceiling windows.

Day 188 - Sat 12th Sept: Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Kyoto

This shrine has hundreds of these red torii that line the route up the mountainside to the shrine. Great for fans of repetition in their photos. Great for fans of repetition in their photos.

Day 187 - Fri 11th Sept: Iwatayama Monkey Park, Kyoto

Did some temple hopping around Kyoto and also visited the Iwatayama Monkey Park today (where they have over 200 macaque monkeys living there). I know that technically this is not picture of the day. But hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want.

Day 186 - Thurs 10th Sept: Gion District, Kyoto

For the third day in a row, I'm spoilt for choice for today's pic. Got some good ones of all the lanterns on display in this alley way, a rickshaw driver and some temple pics - but today's pic of the day is this one of two geishas waiting for their afternoon appointments.

Day 185 - Weds 9th Sept: The Shinkansen, en route to Kyoto

Another great day for pics, highlights included: the bullet train zooming past, the architecture of Kyoto's rail station, the general hustle and bustle of the station, a dragon fountain and quite possibly the world's shortest pedestrian crossing (it had only three zebra stripes. Three!) But here's a good symmetrical one of the Shinkansen from the inside.

As today is 09/09/09 I thought about putting together nine pics...but these computers don't have any good software.

Day 184 - Tues 8th Sept: Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo

There were a load of good pics that could've been pic of the day today (gift lanterns, views from the top of the Govt. Buildings or the bright neon lights of the city), but I've gone for this one of all the people walking at the Shibuya Crossing.

Day 183 - Mon 7th Sept: An Arcade in Tokyo Bay

Saw quite a few things today as I roamed around the city with a few people from the hostel. The Japanese love their computer games and it appears that they love their little toys too - here's one of Mario at a retro games arcade.

Day 182 - Sun 6th Sept: Harajuku, Tokyo

Every Sunday the local eccentrics head down to Harajuka to dress up and pose for the tourists. Some kind of extreme projection of the extended self via social tribal groups methinks.

Day 181 - Sat 5th Sept: Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

On to the last stop: Japan. I'm staying in the Asakusa area of Tokyo and this temple is down the road from the hostel. Also, the temple's name is a close anagram of my surname.

Day 180 - Fri 4th Sept: The Sydney Harbour Bridge

It's the last day in Australia! I realised this morning that I still hadn't walked across the Harbour Bridge. I have now.

Day 179 - Thurs 3rd Sept: The Monorail, Sydney

The monorail makes another 192DL appearance (see Day 89), this time by night.

Day 178 - Weds 2nd Sept: Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

Here's some shoppers going shopping down at the QVB

Day 177 - Tues 1st Sept: Back to Sydney

The Oz trip is coming to an end, with an 11 hour bus ride to Sydney. Rather than show a pic of the back of the coach seat in front of me here's some pelicans that we fed back in Yamba.

Day 176 - Mon 31st Aug: Yamba Golf Club

They have a load of kangaroos milling around at the local golf club (before anyone gets in there with the question....no....they don't play golf. They just eat the grass there).

Day 175 - Sun 30th Aug: Yamba

Here's a crashing wave and therefore another coastline picture (well, I am travelling down the east coast) from the little town of Yamba. They have a lighthouse here too, but I thought I'd spare you a pic of that.

Day 174 - Sat 29th Aug: Somewhere between Byron Bay and Yamba

A day lacking in photos. But rather than dip into the back catalogue, I thought I'd take a pic of the mundane. Here's a big model of a prawn on top of a restaurant. Bonus points for anyone that can guess the name of the place.

Day 173 - Fri 28th Aug: Clarkes Beach, Byron Bay

I'm gonna give this picture description the 'Ronseal treatment': it's some guy surfing.

Day 172 - Thurs 27th Aug: Cape Byron Lighthouse

Hands up if you want (yet) another picture of a lighthouse on the blog?

Tough - you're getting one anyway. It's either that, or a picture of my massive lunchtime falafel.

From this lighthouse you can walk to the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Oooh!

Day 171 - Weds 26th Aug: Brisbane River

Not much happening today, so went for a cruise around the Brisbane River on a CityCat Ferry. Here's some hard working folk heading home for the day.

Day 170 - Tues 25th Aug: Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

Went for a bit of a browse at the GoMA in Brisbane...didn't really see much there that I liked, except this sculpture made from a couple of Vespas. It's called 'The Stags' and it's by Patricia Piccinini. There was some artsy description about all the multi-level meanings it represents. Blah, blah, blah. I just thought it looked good!

Day 169 - Mon 24th Aug: The hostel, Brisbane

Temperatures soared today, with Brisbane hitting it's highest winter temp in ages. The mercury hit 35c (it's meant to be freaking winter!), which is 10 degrees higher than the average for this time of year. Given the heat, I didn't do much today. Here's a pic of the rooftop swimming pool at the hostel.

Day 168 - Sun 23rd Aug: Noosa Heads

A quiet day spent surfing this morning; general pottering around in the afternoon so lacking in photo opps. But hey, here's another sunset! (The PSC: 48)

Day 167 - Sat 22nd Aug: Noosa Heads

The trip's picturesque sunset counter (The PSC) now reads: 47

This one's over Noosa Heads

Day 166 - Fri 21st Aug: Lake Birrabeen, Fraser Island

Got the 'artsy' photographer's hat on today: some seed thing on the beach at Lake Birrabeen.

Did you know that Fraser Island is considered to be the world's largest all sand island? FACT!

Day 165 - Thurs 20th Aug: The Maheno Shipwreck, Fraser Island

I'm suffering from bloggers dilemma today...too many candidates for pic of the day! The view from Indian Head - awesome; the sunset at the jetty - awesome; pics of crashing waves - awesome. But I've gone with this one of the Maheno Shipwreck. As I'm a slightly lazy blogger at times, I'll just post a link for more info on the boat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maheno_(ship)

Day 164 - Weds 19th Aug: Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island

There's so many good photo opps on Fraser Island. This is the white sand beach down by Lake McKenzie - a fresh water lake that's been created only via rainfall.

Day 163 - Tues 18th Aug: Agnes Water to Hervey Bay

Mmmm....bit of a quiet day today as I made my way to Hervey Bay. So quiet in fact that I took no pics, so here's one from the beach yesterday evening.

Day 162 - Mon 17th Aug: Flying over Agnes Water and 1770

Went for a flight in a lightweight aeroplane around this awesome coastline. Bruce (the pilot) even let me have a (quick) go at flying the plane!

Day 161 - Sun 16th Aug: Scooterooing around Agnes Water and 1770

This guy in Agnes Water (Hot Rod, he's got an awesome handlebar moustache) runs this motorbike-kangaroo-watching-tour-thing and you get to ride these bikes around the towns of Agnes Water and 1770 for a couple of hours. Saw some kangaroos and sunset over the ocean, blah, blah, blah. More importantly I got to do some catalogue posing on my bike.

Day 160 - Sat 15th Aug: On an island somewhere in the Whitsundays

Went for a morning walk around one of the islands (can't remember which one) on our last day on Condor. No pure white sand at this beach still an impressive place nonetheless.

Day 159 - Fri 14th Aug: Whitehaven Beach, The Whitsundays

Holy coastlines Batman! We cruised on up to Whitehaven Beach (99% pure silica sand) and there were soooooo many good photos taken today, it was tricky just picking one. Here's an arty driftwood type one.

Day 158 - Thurs 13th Aug: On Condor, The Whitsundays

Today saw the start of a cruise on a boat called Condor, around the unbelievably scenic Whitsundays Islands. Here's Captain Mikey explaining something at sunset time.

Day 157 - Weds 12th Aug: En route to Airlie Beach...

...but I didn't take any pics today. Time to dig into the recent back catalogue - here's a novelty warning sign from Magnetic Island.

Day 156 - Tues 11th Aug: Bungalow Bay Koala Park, Magnetic Island

Koala bears are all the rage on Magnetic Island. The Koala Park on the island allows you to get up close and personal with them - cliched touristy picture of me holding koala bear has been taken.

Day 155 - Mon 10th Aug: Bungalow Bay YHA, Magnetic Island

These rainbow parakeets are loud, hungry and poop. A lot.

Day 154 - Sun 9th Aug: Reef HQ, Townsville

Townsville is a bit of a dead end town, and there's not much going for it, except the aquarium. Look at all those fishes!

Day 153 - Sat 8th Aug: Coconut Beach, Dunk Island

Another day, another stunning beach! C'est la vie!
Went for a pretty cool walk around Dunk Island, climbing up a big hill, walking down via a rainforest and then ending up at this beach.

Day 152 - Fri 7th Aug: Mission Beach

Overcast day and not up to much today...but here's a view of Dunk Island. I'll be heading over there tomorrow.

Day 151 - Thurs 6th Aug: The Great Barrier Reef

They should upgrade the name of this place the Awesome Barrier Reef! I went on one of those day trips from Cairns and went diving with a hired underwater camera. It's tricky to get great pics down there, but here's one of my best snaps.

Day 150 - Weds 5th Aug: Was in Cairns but...

...the place isn't proving the most inspirational to take pictures. Here's one from the back catalogue - a bored looking dog down at Cape Trib.

Day 149 - Tues 4th Aug: Jungle Surfing, Daintree Rainforest

Still poor weather today, so no chance of a boat trip to the reef so headed to the Daintree Rainforest for some jungle surfing (zip lining through the forest). Don't worry mum, it was all safe. Here's me going upside down. Did you know that the Daintree Rainforest is the world's oldest at 120 million years old (the Amazon's only 40m years old)? FACT!

Day 148 - Mon 3rd Aug: Cape Tribulation Beach

Cape Tribulation is meant to be one of the most picturesque places in the world. Bright blue skies, great beaches, crystal clear waters, etc, etc. But for the whole time we were there it was cloudy with spots of rain. The weather was so bad today that they cancelled our boat trip out to the reef. Rubbish! Here's two random guys coming back to the (grey and slighly miserable) beach.

Day 147 - Sun 2nd Aug: Cape Tribulation

Went up to Cape Tribulation with my friend Anita for a couple of days, so we could go see some of the Great Barrier Reef from there. On our first day we did a bit of sea kayaking - cue overenthusiastic photo posing.

Day 146 - Sat 1st Aug: Cairns

Wow, August already! There's not a great deal going down in Cairns; here's some coral reef related sculpture down by the outdoor paddling pool.

Day 145 - Fri 31st July: Flew to Cairns but...

...this isn't Cairns. Got the 5am flight from Darwin to Cairns and didn't take any photos today. So, here's a recent 'filler' photo from the harbour area of Darwin in the daytime.

Day 144 - Thurs 30th July: Mindil Beach, Darwin

There's a sunset market down at Mindil Beach in Darwin, here's the view from the nearby beach.

Day 143 - Weds 29th July: Darwin Harbour

Call that IKEA prints salesman again...I've got another pic he might be interested in; this time it's the sunset down by the harbour area in Darwin.