Author | Lightnews

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · 22h

Iconic Sydney at night.

View of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, ferries docked at the ferry terminal, and the Sydney Opera House peeking out behind houses on the quay. Everything is brightly lit up.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · 2d

On my way to Sydney... via an unscheduled stop in Auckland, having travelled close to 2,000km. Will be off shortly I hope all it seems that they've been able to resolve the electrical issue.

Map showing the North Island of NZ with the flight route from Wellington to Auckland over the ocean almost half way to Sydney.

Fight entertainment screen showing the distance travelled of 1,968km from Wellington to Auckland. The arrival time off 9.22 is only about 20 earlier than the originally scheduled arrival into Sydney.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · 13d

The Jewel at Changi Airport in Singapore all lit up in colour.

The Vortex fully out of glass with a rising 40m talk waterfall amidst a man built train forest hiding the ships behind.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · 29d

Back in the land of the fast cars and even faster trains though the later may come with long delays. Spending a few days away from people on small islans was good to get rid off my conference acquired cold. I wonder if smelling mash in a distillery helped clear the sinuses faster than usual. 😂

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 21

Amazing trip to the Isle of Iona and Staffa. On the latter is Fingal's Cave that beautifully showcases the 60 million year old basalt columns.

Big black hexagonal columns rise from the sea and others hang from the cave's ceiling.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 21

What do you do when you are on a smallish island? You visit much smaller ones. 😀 Not these pictured but Staffa and Iona which are a bit bigger than these.

Small motorboats anchored in a bay surrounded by tiny islands basking in the sun

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 20

Sightseeing on the Isle of Mull in Scotland had to include a visit to a whisky distillery. Here's the Wayback room at Tobermory Distillery. At the end of the you await two drams of different single malt.

4 big pine barrels that hold liquid that at this stage is more like beer.

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Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 15

Condensation over Edinburgh. Let #MoodleMootGlobal begin.

Green fields before and airplane wing that is tracking a fine line of condensation.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 15

The flight crew just arrived. I guess that's a good sign that will be flying shortly. ✈️

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Sep 3

On my second last train of five for today, going from Antwerp to Lübeck for #MoodleMootDACH. We are making good progress. It's not as fast as the 298km/h between Frankfurt and Cologne, but still good.

Digital display on the ICE train to Hamburg showing the current speed of 174km/h and the next stop, Hamburg-Harburg

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Aug 28

Achievement unlocked (?) I survived the 16-hour fight to New York on a chocker full flight in Economy. But that's only 2/3 done. Bring on the next and last flight: 8 hours across the Atlantic. Customs was a breeze with just about 8 minutes in the queue. The luggage is taking longer to arrive. ⏳

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Aug 28

Flight 1 of 3 to Auckland is done. Europe is still rather far away though.

Wing of an AirNZ plane displaying a white koru on black. On the ground are some lakes

AirNZ wing over the clouds with a bit of blue sky visible.

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Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Aug 12

It was a rainbow afternoon. It was visible for over 1 hour from town all the way to Mirama and at times even a double rainbow. All of that after a brilliant double rainbow yesterday with there main rainbow visible dirt more than 45 minutes.

Rainbow over Wellington Central with buildings basking in sunlight

Double rainbow over Miramar with the second one much easier than the main one.

Double rainbow from yesterday in the water

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Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jul 9

It's quite warm today and there is even a rainbows. What other good things will the day being?

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jul 1

The last day of my Japan holiday is coming to an end soon. It's been a place of extremes, idiosyncracies, hospitality, and amazing culture. I spent the day at the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum and at the Observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov. Building.

The inside of a stationary store with old cupboards and stationary.

High rises in the forefront with smaller buildings until the horizon.

A high rise on the left with smaller buildings into the distance. If the weather was nice, you would be able to see My. Fuji

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 29

If there's ever a good city to have a suitcase go bust, it must be Tokyo. I've never seen so many stores that sell reasonably priced suitcases. It must be because of all the shopping tourists are expected to do to leave with at least one additional suitcase.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 29

In the land of the plastic capsule toy. You don't even need to go into the store to buy it. Just use one of the many machines out front.

Battery of machines outside a shop that you can go to to get a littler you in a plastic sphere.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 29

I wonder how these business hours were selected. Do they depend on the train schedule or in the morning the school drop off?

Sign with the business hours of the shop that are from 9:35 to 22:50.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 29

If you ever get the chance to see a performance of Kodo, I suggest you don't miss it. On the last day of their summer series at Asakusa Public Hall in Tokyo, they performed in front of a full house. Amazing artistry and awesome sound on all instruments, big and small.

Headshots on easels of the performers of the ensemble Kodo.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 28

Tengu points the way with his nose to Mt Kurama with a beautiful temple area.

A brightly red faced head with a very, very long nose. The goblin is grim looking.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 28

Good to know that the last bear was seen on 5 February 2024. Good for the tourists, but I am not sure if it's good for the bear population in Kibune by Kyōto.

Sign in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English that 'Watch out for bears. Last sighted on 5 February 2024' and a bear.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 27

A piano bench 🤩 I love the Garden Museum on Mount Hiei in Kyōto because all the paintings are oversized, in frames, and mounted outside like this or on easels amidst flowers upon flowers. What an awesome way to present the impressionist art and take viewers through the garden.

A bench that use painted with keys from a piano next to a painting in a huge frame in an outdoor garden.

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Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 27

Ready for the selfie generation: a smartphone stand on a little table.

A smartphone stand on a little table ready for people to put their phones in to take photos in front of the 'Hieizan' sign on the mountain with a city and lake in the distance below.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 26

This is a great way to contain trash bags prior to pick-up. Kanazawa was pretty windy, so it would also prevent the bags from migrating. These would come in handy in the Wellington CBD as well during cardboard pick-up, but might need some anchor hooks at the bottom to prevent them from flying away.

A green mesh cage is put around a trash bag so it does not move from the spot.

Kristina Hoeppner @4nitsirk.bsky.social · Jun 25

Waiting for the rain to stop a bit before continuing the sightseeing. I walked through the Arashimaya Bamboo Forest just in time before the rain started.

Heavy rain going into a drain and pretty much overflowing