Sandy Stockton

One of our dear friends sailed into Newcastle, our regional city, yesterday on a mega cruise ship. We took the opportunity to pick him up from the ship and show him some of the local sights. As he had visited Newcastle and the Hunter Valley several times we had to think of some new places to visit.

The megaship which dominated the Harbour photographed from Stockton

As our visitor and I had never been to Stockton which is on the north side of Newcastle Harbour we started our explorations there. This suburb, which has water on three sides, is so close to Newcastle via a short ferry hop across the Harbour but is a 20km drive by road. 

The beach and sand dunes stretch for several miles north

A cargo ship entering th Harbour

The locals care for their environment

The local historical society is active

Stockton has a sheltered beach suitable for families

I was impressed by the natural beauty of the Stockton area and will put it on the itinerary for future visitors to our area. If the weather is kind we will take the ferry.

Mapping our way

Mr GeniAus and I love to travel.

For some time now I have recorded the places we have visited on TripAdvisor's Travel Map. Recently a number of fellow mappers have commented on the stability of this Tripadvisor feature. Not wanting to lose the list of places I'd been I investigated how to download my map data. I found the information on how to do this here: https://download-your-travelmap.christianhaller.com/

I was able to download the map in two formats, a .csv file (I knew what that was and how to open that) and a .kml file that I knew nothing about. After downloading the two files I spent some time learning about .kml files and how to open them. I was able to import the .kml file into Google Earth and display it there.

As I'm more familiar with Google Maps and My Maps I investigated how to view the data on that site. All I had to do was create a new My Map and import my .kml data. That was easy. Once I made the map public I was able to select Embed on my site from the Share options for my map.

I created a new static page for my blog and then I pasted the few lines of code into my page using the .html input option and the map appeared.

As I feel that Google Maps will be more reliable than the Travel Map feature on Tripadvisor I will now update my list of places visited on my new Google GeniAus Travel map.

You can view my map here on my new page.

Parisian Portals

Just a dozen of the many doors we snapped during our five days in Paris.

Flower Bed

Spotted on our travels in England.

Float your Boat

These craft floated past our place in The Lake Macquarie Annual "Float your Boat" Festival.

Pink and Pretty

The view from our living room today.

A Council of Cormorants

It's a wet and miserable day on the Lake today. Our spirits were lifted when we noticed this horde of visitors on our jetty. I believe that the correct collective noun is a Gulp of Cormorants but I liked the alliteration of a Council of Cormorants.