Ok, I’ve sorted out all the pictures from the past couple of weeks into a collection on Flickr which you can see here. Alternatively you can view my favourites in the slideshow below (Flash)

would appreciate some feedback – as always good or bad…

Well, been off sick for the past couple of days so I’ve gone through the 3,000 pictures I took (yes I found the “burst” mode on the camera) and here are the best, 64 in fact.

.. you can see the best of the rest (not all 3,000) at Flickr here..

Typical! best day weather wise and it’s my last day!

Wasn’t sure what to do today, so coming out of the hotel car park I decided to turn left (I always turn right). Followed the road and ended up at Alum Bay, home of the coloured sands.

It’s true it’s not the first (or second) time I’ve been there, but its a very beautiful place looking down to The Needles.

… I walked down to the beach…

… but decided to take the chairlift back…

… but for the first time I went further up the cliff’s to the Old/New Battery, amazing place…

… fantastic views back to Alum Bay…

… in the middle of the parade ground, there is a spiral staircase which goes down deep into the chalk cliffs. Follow the 400m tunnel, and you find the searchlight, and possibly the best views of the Needles…

… hidden cove, looks amazing…

… back at Freshwater Bay for some ‘arty’ shots…

Weather looked a bit dodgy today, the forecast was poor so I thought I’d go somewhere relatively protected from the elements, Ventnor Botanic Gardens in you guessed it… Ventnor.

I’d been here before, but later in the year. It was obvious that the gardens were hit hard during the winter, a lot of the tropical plants outside looked as if they had suffered the most. Needless to say heartier plants had only just started to begin to raise their heads.

Spent the day practicing some shots, distance, arty, macro – you know what I mean, as always I would like some comments/suggestions on my work..

… toffee popcorn tree??

… love the colours of the seaside…

… let me know what you think…

… forgot, also got a credit on the BBC News website for a picture I sent in…

Today I bit the bullet and decided to visit the Islands 1st Theme Park; Blackgang Chine – well sort of.

The group has opened a new attraction for the more mature visitors, which of course I appreciated.

The attraction “The Disappearing Village” describes local history around the Chine the tourist information tells us;

From 2010, for the first time there will be a new way to explore the mysterious past of this beautiful coastline. Come & visit our fascinating exhibitions, inspiring cinema, quality shops & nostalgic tearooms and at the same time enjoy spectacular views down the south west coast to the Needles.

I left the village before it disappeared completely and headed for Seaview to visit “Flamingo Park”.

Its a huge area, with gentle slope down to a large lake at the bottom, the park not only has Flamingo’s but all manner of birds, reptiles and cuddly mammals.

… “I say Reginald is that the new Lumix Micro Four Thirds system..?”, “Nah, that’s last years model…”

… “Ohh… do come in and join us the waters luvely…”

… “ahhhhhhhh…”

… “Its not easy being this cute you know…”

… “Make sure you get my best side d’arlink…”

… love is in the air…

… “meh…”

… sitting in the poo cleaning?

… “Hey! you lookin’ at me?”

… leaving the love birds at Seaview, I returned to Freshwater Bay for a relaxing evening…

The plan was simple check out the weather, visit the bay and go to the zoo in Sandown; strangely there were a few distractions along the way…

Going past Brook Bay something caught my eye, there were a couple of guys Kite Surfing, it was amazing to watch – the wind was strong and they must have been getting a good 8 feet into the air at times.

.. from Brook Bay I went onto the Sandown and visited the Isle of Wight Zoo. Its undergoing some major refurbishment at the moment, so quite a few big cat enclosures were closed which was a shame, but there was still plenty to see and do.

… is that monkey giving me the bird?

… I’m wondering if the “petting zoo” really has a dual function (it’s right next door to the Lion’s and Tigers)…

… I said goodbye to the zoo, and walked along the beach to Sandown Pier, got some nice shots of Shanklin, Sandown beach and Yaverland past the zoo…

… after a quick energy shot of a hot chocolate ice-cream it was back along the beach to the car.

What’s quite unusual is the way the weather changes so much here on the island – rain, windy and now bright sunshine. The Easter weekend truly started for the island, it had been very quiet over the past week but today the bay was very busy in comparison.

The Freshwater lifeboat was out for a practice as well today; first time I’d seen it this year.

… the pictures of the bay today are amazing; what a great day and it had only just started.

From Freshwater, I travelled north to Fort Victoria, a collection of attractions including a planetarium, model railway and the aquarium. I took some pictures of the creatures from the not-so-deep…

… check out the tiny shrimp below;

… after a late lunch at the fort, I made my way back just stopping off at Colwell Bay…

… and then back to a busy Freshwater Bay…

Saturdays are days of madness, stay clear of any shopping districts I tell myself – specially when your on holiday…

So what did I do? Went to Cowes!

The Wikipedia entry says;

Cowes, sometimes referred to as West Cowes, is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, an island south of Southampton. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floating Bridge, a chain ferry.

… and goes on to say…

Cowes Castle is home to the Royal Yacht Squadron. The town gives its name to the world’s oldest regular regatta, Cowes Week, which occurs annually in the first week of August. Later on in the summer, powerboat races are held.

Plenty of yachts, almost as many as Yarmouth! Needless to say Cowes certainly is the place if you need some trendy sea going clothing…

Not many pictures today…

… told you! most of the day was just driving around exploring.

Wow, the weather certainly changes quickly here – yesterday was amazing, but today was raining for most of the morning, so it was off to an indoor attraction.

The only one I could think of was Amazon World near Newport, so I jumped in the car waterproof coat in hand and headed East along the coastal road…

… I call this one “Orange with poo”…

… these two guys were out to snatch my camera…

… intelligence test: can you stop the odd one out?

… “meh, another one with a camera – see my agent…”

… desert fox wants out!

… “You want car insurance??”

… “room for a small one?”

… “now you see me, now you don’t…”

… one-can…

… toucan…

… three-can…

… after lunch in the Amazon Cafe, I drove down to Totland Pier, just to check out the area before the sunset…

… popped back to Totland around 19:35, the sun was setting but sadly the bank of clouds refused to move.

… happy with the shots, which are “un-tweaked” what do you think?

Wow, what a day makes. The weather has totally changed – overnight! Although still below 10 degrees, it was bright clear with a light breeze – amazing.

Decided to try out some new stuff, and some old… It’s mainly pictures today, I’ll pop in some notes here and there, but enjoy them – please comment if you’re enjoying the holiday series.

… overlooking Freshwater Bay

… this is St. Catherine’s Lighthouse, its isolated and the weather shows no mercy…

… playing with depth of focus…

… and macro…

… I call this one “Stony face looks on…”

… the colour and texture of the likens were amazing…

… back to the dramatic drops of “The Devils Chimney…”

… would hate to be here on a dark night, scary tree…

… same with different exposure, spring summer tree!!

The National Rail network only covers a small part of the island, from Ryde to Shanklin.I decided to relive my youth and take the train, which are almost as old as me! They use old London Underground train’s the carriages are made from wood which gives away their age somewhat.

What was a little surreal was travelling on an old underground train through some baron landscapes between stops and to complete the trip, the train heads out into the Solent racing the Hovercrafts to Portsmouth along Ryde Pier Head (Wikipedia).

Below you can see a couple of postcards from 1880 to early 1900’s more can be found at this great site full of local history.

… below you can see the remains of the original railway; old but still standing…

… the train disappears under Ryde…

… from the end of the pier, Portsmouth on the mainland can be clearly seen…

… below; a great British invention, the hovercraft. You have pilots on hovercrafts, not captains as the craft really does fly – but only a couple of inches…

… give you an idea of speed, it takes about 1hr by regular ferry, takes 10 minutes on the hovercraft.