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Before the Ceremony, Bali

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

Life in Bali revolves around appeasing God, ancestors and demons. Daily offerings are placed in shrines dotted around homes, villages and hotels in an attempt to keep harmonious relations between this world and the spirit world.

Ceremonies are a regular occurrence and small communities, like this one in Padang Bai, come together to celebrate their ancestors and honour the ruling deities of the temple.

Golden sashes shroud the crumbling walls and gateways. Brightly coloured parasols are dotted throughout the pavilions of the inner courts, and tables of offerings consisting of flowers, rice cakes and fruit groan under the weight of the multi-tiered platters.

Tourists are allowed to enter the temple as long as they respect the dress code. In Bali, both men and women must don a sarong tied with a sash and cover their shoulders. Our faded floral beach sarongs didn’t quite cut it against the bright, finely woven silks of the locals

The excitement was palpable inside the walls of the temple as this group of nervous giggling girls readied themselves for their dance routine in front of family and friends.

Toronto Goes Greek at Taste of the Danforth

Published by Linda McCormick

Written by :: William Branch

Love Greek culture, food and festivities? Pay a visit to the Taste of the Danforth, Toronto – the biggest Greek street festival in North America – and enjoy getting to grips with all things Greek.

Set in the west end of Danforth Road known as “GreekTown” for its Greek population and businesses, the festival attracts 1.6 millions visitors over the course of three days and two nights and is now in its 22nd year.

All profits from this festival, presented by the GreekTown on the Danforth BIA, are injected back into community projects and programs including hospitals, charities and youth organizations.

Bowerbirds and Blue Things

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

We were lucky to catch the male bowerbird dancing and singing, trying to attract a female at his nest in Melbourne Museum. Male bowerbirds decorate their nests with bright blue objects in an attempt to nab the perfect partner.

The satin bowerbird is thought to go for blue objects because it reflects its colouring, which in turn entices the right mate.

Wondering what bowerbirds did before blue plastic appeared on their decor wishlist, I consulted the glorious intertubes and found this little morsel of goodness:
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Trail Running in Yarra Bend

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

I want to let you into a little secret. Or maybe it’s not so secret if you dabble on Instagram.

I’m a runner. I run.

Words I never thought I’d say. And if I’m honest, words that if you have known me for a while would make you guffaw out loud exclaiming, “What? You!”

I’m still not sure if it’s a mid-life crisis or whether it’s my ageing body trying desperately to cling to the last sliver of health I have left, but it’s happening.

Walking Through Paddy Fields in Ubud, Bali

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

Paddy fields in the south of Bali are disappearing at an alarming rate to make way for development so it was refreshing to see blankets of rice paddies stretching across the landscape behind our accommodation in Ubud, central Bali.

Every morning we’d look out from the balcony on the roof of our apartment and see a family of ducks waddle past the cattle tied to the fence. We never saw a farmer. If we had, we would have asked permission to wander the fields, but after a few days of no-show we decided to take a chance and go exploring anyway.

The narrow concrete path ran past the back of our accommodation, which we kept to until it turned into a wooded area with fenced-off veggie patches running along its perimeter. The still secured cattle swished flies off their backsides and wet snouts with long tails, while the ducks scurried away as we approached.

Deftly walking along the raised grassy paths between the paddies, the girls sauntered through the fields as if they’d done it a hundred times before while I wondered who was going to be the first one to get wet.

It was of course me, but only by half a foot – quite literally. It could have been worse!

Guided tours are available in many parts of the island, but if you don’t mind going it alone I suggest you veer off the main roads and head into the back fields.

If you’re looking for a more challenging walk, head to Campuhan Ridge Walk – a nine-kilometre nature trail running above the rice terraces in the highlands.

Bloo Lagoon Ecotourism Village, Bali :: A Sustainable Utopia

Published by Linda McCormick

Perched on the edge of the toilet seat I tried to relax, desperately hoping no unflattering toilet sounds would escape and awaken my neighbours on the other side of the wall. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t worry, but when you’re spending a penny in an open-air loo it’s a totally different story. This was just one quirk in our new accommodation in Bali, which we explored with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

The sun was setting, leaving its trademark pink and orange stripes across the sky, and I knew somewhere out there in the quickening darkness sat Bali’s most sacred mountain, Mount Agung. Squinting through tired eyes, I strained to make out the shape of this active volcano, but couldn’t quite see through the clouds. It would have to wait till daylight.

Turning my attention back to the villa, I tried to get my head around the architecture our new space. Challenging the Western norm of four walls and a roof, our living and dining area had no walls at all. It was entirely open to the elements.

Of course, I had expected this as I did my usual research prior to coming and spent far too much time online inspecting every orifice remotely available via broadband. Still, pictures are never as good as the real thing.

Encounter with a Tasmanian Wombat

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

Living in Australia it’s not surprising you’ll encounter a kangaroo or two. Wallaby sightings, however, aren’t quite as common where we live, so on a recent trip to Tasmania I was looking forward to seeing the large populations of wallabies I’d only read about.

Indeed, on our drive through the Central Highlands we saw dozens of the mini marsupials. Unfortunately, mostly with their head missing, or tail or not much left at all. All roadkill. My numerous sightings of wallabies wasn’t exactly what I’d imagined. At least it was proof of a strong population, if nothing else.

After a few hours we grew accustomed to the grey mounds lying quietly by or on the road.

Until, descending from a crest in the road I spotted a moving grey mound. Or it seemed to be moving.

Discovering Barcelona’s Gràcia District

Published by Natasha von Geldern

Regular readers of Verdemode will know that our editor Linda McCormick loves Barcelona. Dreams of living there permanently and visits whenever she can. So when I was making a return visit to Barcelona 13 years after my first, she was the first person I thought to ask for tips on how to make my second Barcelona experience even better than the first.

Of course she poured out a string of recommendations for places to see and places to eat and places to take kids. In amongst all that was something that caught my eye. She told me to have a look around in the Gràcia neighbourhood. There are hardly any tourists she said, and lots of great little squares with a different, and staunchly Catalan vibe.

The village of Gràcia used to be just that, a village. The mighty Passeig de Gràcia now lined with grand buildings used to be a simple country road. It wasn’t absorbed into the city of Barcelona until 1897.

I rented an apartment from Javier through AirBnB that was five minutes’ walk from the metro station and on a quiet neighbourhood street. It’s that whole live like a local thing, which we love here at Verdemode. Although it wasn’t such a quiet street that it didn’t have a really excellent bar for ‘La hora del vermut’. But more on that later.

Canoeing in Noosa Everglades

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

There’s a real sense of calm when canoeing. Especially if you’re in a quiet backwater with little to break silence but the tip of an oar breaking through the surface of the water and the consequent drips and dribbles from the paddle on the arc.

When we joined a boat tour through Noosa Everglades I had yearned to take the option of canoeing the 6km section between the morning tea picnic area and Harry’s Hut, where we were to have lunch. To do this, though, I would have had to abandon the kids with their dad for the time. It would have only been about 45 mins to an hour, but guilt made me stay as trying to entertain a couple of bored children on a tiny boat is hard enough; harder when you’re on your own.

Once we got a few kilometres down the river, I was secretly pleased I didn’t join the canoeists. The idea is always better than the reality when it’s 35 degrees centigrade. I’m obviously over dripping with sweat and getting sunburned in my old age.

Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Published by Linda McCormick

The 52 Weeks Series :: a photo a week, every week, in 2015.

Long before I started Eco Traveller Guide, I had a fascination with green technology. I still do.

I am constantly in awe of the ingenuity of designers and inventors; how they can make a real difference in the world by combining new technologies and sustainable practices to concepts that appear wholly futuristic.

I first wrote about the Supertree Grove for an architecture website in 2006/7. At the time, it went viral on Digg (which was a vastly different social media machine than it is now). Readers shared like crazy. They were intrigued and amazed, but, like so many overly ambitious design bids, it was dismissed as another crazy idea that would never see the light of day.

It was only when I visited Singapore a few years ago that I realised the bid had won, and this ingenious plan to recycle rainwater and generate enough energy to sustain the adjoining conservatories was created.