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Manly Dam, also known as Manly Warringah War Memorial Park, is in Manly Sydney.

Walk by the Waters: Sydney Manly Dam

mylivingmylife May 8, 2024

Manly Dam is also known as Manly Warringah War Memorial Park. Located within the suburb of Manly in Sydney and constructed in 1892, Manly Dam had been decommissioned as a water supply dam since the 1930s. Now heritage-listed and still owned by Sydney Water, Manly Dam is mainly known for its beautiful freshwater lake, and pretty bushland, popular with families, hikers, and mountain bikers. The freshwater lake created by the dam is the largest freshwater lake in Sydney.

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A sporting event on a Sunday at Manly Beach, Sydney.

Walk by the Waters: Sydney Manly Waterfronts

mylivingmylife April 24, 2024

Manly, located on a peninsula 15km northeast of Sydney CBD, is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney. With a population of around 43,000, Manly is actually also a very popular tourist destination.
From Sydney CBD, the best public transport to get to Manly is the regular Circular Quay-Manly Wharf ferry services. The short 30-minute ferry ride is one of the most scenic ferry rides offering incredibly stunning views of Sydney Harbour and the coastal suburbs around Sydney Harbour.
Manly is the gateway to the Northern Beaches. Every year, there are more than 8 million visitors from all over Australia and the world visit Manly and the Northern Beaches, drawn by the beautiful beaches, cosmopolitan buzz, cafes and restaurants, and cultural and sporting events.
Manly has 2 distinctly different waterfronts: the southwest-facing beaches within the calmer waters of the North Harbour and the northeast-facing 3 km long Manly Beach facing the South Pacific Ocean. The 2 waterfronts are amazingly only 400m from each other.

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Nelson Bay Boat Harbour of Nelson Bay in New South Wales is a 1-hour drive northeast of Newcastle.

Walk by the Waters: Nelson Bay Foreshore, New South Wales Australia

mylivingmylife March 13, 2024

Located just inside the mouth of Port Stephens, the coastal town of Nelson Bay is the largest town in the Port Stephens area with a population of just over 6000.
Nelson Bay’s large natural harbour has made Nelson Bay the commercial centre of Port Stephens and a town with a high concentration of cafés, restaurants, entertainment and leisure offerings, and retail shops. Nelson Bay’s D’Albora Marina is visited by yachts and cruisers from around the world, and it is where visitors take dolphin and whale watching cruises and ferries to tour around Port Stephens Bay, which is within the Port Stephens Great Lakes Marine Park.

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Beautiful views of West Lake (西湖) from the top of Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society (西泠印社) in Hangzhou (杭州) China.

Walk by the Waters: Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society (西泠印社) overlooking West Lake (西湖) in Hangzhou (杭州) China

mylivingmylife February 14, 2024

Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society (西泠印社) is located on the largest island in West Lake (西湖) – Gushan (孤山). Gushan connects the lake shore by Xiling Bridge (西泠桥) and Bai Causeway (白堤) and is on the Hop-on-hop-off round-the-lake sightseeing car route. Xiling Seal Engraver’s Society site is actually a compact yet refined and elegant exquisitely landscaped garden on a 38m tall hill overlooking West Lake.

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The Night of City Balcony (城市阳台), Hangzhou (杭州) China.

Walk by the Waters: Qiantang River (钱塘江), Hangzhou (杭州) China

mylivingmylife January 31, 2024

The 589km long Qiantang River (钱塘江) is the largest in Zhejiang (浙江) Province. Qiantang River actually refers to the downstream Hangzhou section of the river whereas the upstream section of the river is named Fuchun River (富春江). The famous “Qiantang River Big Wave” (钱塘江大潮) is a natural wonder of the world caused by the interactions of gravitational pulls of the seawater by the Sun and the Moon, the Earth’s rotation, and topography of the Qiantang River and Hangzhou Bay.

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West Lake (西湖) in the late autumn early winter when trees turn autumn’s bright yellow.

Walk by the Waters: West Lake (西湖), Hangzhou (杭州) China

mylivingmylife January 17, 2024

The 6.4km2 West Lake has a perimeter of around 15km. West Lake is actually very shallow, with an average depth of 1.5m. The deepest part of the lake is around 3m.
West Lake is divided into sections by Su Causeway (苏堤) which runs in the north-south direction across the lake and Bai Causeway (白堤) in the northern part of the lake. The causeways, lined by trees and flowerbeds, 4 man-made islands on the lake, as well as the many pagodas, temples, pavilions, gardens, and bridges, make West Lake so uniquely scenic in different ways in different seasons and in different weather conditions.

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Hillarys Boat Harbour’s dolphin sculptures commemorating Rajah, Mila, and Echo – 3 much-loved bottlenose dolphins.

Walk by the Waters: Hillarys Foreshore, Perth

mylivingmylife January 3, 2024

A short 25-minute drive north of Perth CBD, Hillarys foreshore is a beautiful coastal area where Hillarys Boat Harbour, Hillarys Marina, Hillarys Marina Lighthouse, Hillarys Marina Beach, Hillarys Yacht Club, and Western Australia’s only underwater aquarium – AQWA, are located.

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Cascading water walls in the Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane.

Walk by the Waters: Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane

mylivingmylife December 20, 2023

The 16-hectare Roma Street Parkland is located within a short walk from Brisbane city. Opened in 2001 after over 100,000 shrubs, 1200 mature trees, 1800 unique species of plants, and 250 ferns were planted, the Parkland is an inner-city green oasis built within a concrete jungle, an excellent getaway for people working in the Brisbane city.

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The Cheap Solar Energy Could be Even Cheaper (Graphics created on www.canva.com)

The Cheap Solar Energy Could be Even Cheaper

mylivingmylife December 6, 2023

The costs of solar energy, both in terms of total installed costs and solar panel costs, have been coming down in the last 20 or so years. The dramatic price drop of solar energy has made solar energy the world’s cheapest source of power currently. It is no wonder that solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity has increased almost 12 times from 72 gigawatts (GW) in 2011 to 843 GW in 2021.

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Humans Could Soon Command Factories, Utility Networks, Traffic Networks, and Hospital Wards That “Talk” (graphic created on canva.com)

Humans Could Soon Command Factories and Utility Networks That Could “Talk”, Made Possible by Generative AI

mylivingmylife November 22, 2023

ChatGPT is just one of the many generative AI tools. Many other tools can generate text, images, videos, music, graphics, and other creative content. In September 2023, OpenAI rolled out voice and image capabilities in ChatGPT. So, ChatGPT can now listen, talk, and see. This is a key development and a huge step change that could potentially lead to even more powerful generative AI tools.

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Mount Eliza Lookout in Kings Park, Perth.

Walk by the Waters: Lotterywest Federation Walkway, Kings Park

mylivingmylife November 8, 2023

Perth’s 400-hectare (4 km2) Kings Park is one of the world’s largest inner-city parks. Opened in 1965, Kings Park has the best views of where the Swan and Canning Rivers meet and is visited by close to 6 million people every year. Two-thirds of Kings Park is natural bushland, and the rest of Kings Park is the Western Australian Botanic Garden, walking trails, lookouts, monuments, and open recreation areas.

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Jetty and Pontoon at The Spit, Gold Coast.

Walk by the Waters: The Spit, Gold Coast

mylivingmylife October 25, 2023

The Spit is the 5km long peninsula that stretches all the way up in the northward direction to the Gold Coast Seaway separating the Coral Sea from the Gold Coast Broadwater. The Spit is the gateway between Gold Coast Broadwater and the open ocean.
Mariner’s Cover Marina, Marina Mirage Shopping Mall, and Sea World Resort are located on the Gold Coast Broadwater side of The Spit. The ocean side of The Spit is relatively undeveloped compared to many other beautiful Gold Coast beaches.

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Castle Hill, Townsville.

2 Days of Visiting Free Attractions in Townsville

mylivingmylife October 11, 2023

Townsville is a major service centre for northern Queensland and the main centre for government administration outside Brisbane. If you have 2 days in Townsville and you have a car to drive around, some tourist destinations in Townsville are free to visit. You just need to drive there. Even parking is free too.

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A boardwalk and viewing platform in Lake Gwelup Regional Open Space, Gwelup of Perth.

Lake Gwelup Regional Open Space

mylivingmylife September 27, 2023

Lake Gwelup is a seasonal lake located within the Perth suburb of Gwelup, a 17-minute drive north of Perth CBD. The winter months are the best months to view Lake Gwelup when the lake water levels are at their highest levels.
Lake Gwelup Regional Open Space, which includes Lake Gwelup, is the open space, the natural bushland, and the walking trails around Lake Gwelup.

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A bird’s eye view of Brisbane River, City Botanic Gardens, and Brisbane city skyline from the top of Kangaroo Point Cliffs, Brisbane.

Walk by the Waters: Kangaroo Point Cliffs Park, Brisbane

mylivingmylife September 13, 2023

Cliffs Park in the Brisbane suburb of Kangaroo Point is a unique park located by the bank of Brisbane River and right next to Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Kangaroo Point Cliffs comprise a 20m to 25m tall vertical rock face that extends most of the length of the Cliffs Park. The cliffs are the remains of 150 years of quarrying activities and are a heritage-listed site.

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