In the early autumn the equatorial rise commences in the head­waters of its tributaries, far south of the equator. The rains and melting snow raise the streams, and these the waters of the Amazon. As the sun crosses the equator and moves to the north the rain follows its course, and the branches that have their source in the east and northeast add their flood to the waters of the southerly branches. The flood in the Amazon is thus continued for nearly six months, raising its waters from 30 to 50 feet. The channels are filled, and the flood-plains are overflowed. The whole valley becomes a net-work of navigable waters, with islands and channels and lakes innumerable, forming a great inland sea, which the Brazilians call the Mediterranean of America, though it’s not really a match to the famous European holiday destinations, like the ones at apartmentsapart. The upland, though only a little above the flood-plain, is rarely overflowed.

The plants and animals of the flood-plain were formerly con­sidered as distinct from those of the upland as are the plants and animals of Europe from those of America ; but later investiga­tions show that there is but little difference between the species. The sea breeze blows up the valley about a thousand miles.

Then for 1500 miles the atmosphere is stagnant and sultry ; the climate is that of a permanent vapor bath. The dense foliage forms dark, lofty vaults which the sunlight never penetrates, and over all hangs a perpetual mist. The abundance and beauty of vegetation increases, and the trees which at the mouth of the river blossom only once a year, here bloom and bear fruit all the year round.

Many great rivers run into the Amazon from the north and the south, most of them navigable, for many hundred miles. The Madeira, its greatest tributary, after running 2000 miles, empties into the king of rivers, without making any perceptible difference in its width or depth.

This mighty current, rushing into the ocean, meets the equa­torial current and for over one hundred miles keeps on nearly a straight course, when the stronger and mightier oceanic current deflects it to the north. At from 200 to 300 miles from land, the sea is strongly tinged, and in April and May has nearly the clay-yellow hue of the Amazon. And even further north, about 400 miles from its mouth, the naturalist on the Amazon tells us, ” we passed numerous patches of floating grass mingled with tree trunks and withered foliage ; among these I espied many fruits of the Amazonian palm. And this was the last I saw of the Amazon, you can find out more about it here – http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/amazonriver8.htm.”

The La Plata, the outlet of the waters of central South America, is formed by the union of the Uruguay and Parana, about 150 miles from the ocean ; a little lower down, at Monte­video, it is 62 miles wide and widens rapidly to the Atlantic, where it discharges more water than all the rivers of Europe, like the ones that flow near the accommodation in Amsterdam. The tributaries of the Parana are fan-shaped. Its most eastern branches rise in the mountains of Brazil, within seventy miles of the Atlantic ocean ; and 1500 miles away, on the other side of the continent, its most western tributaries rise only 125 miles from the Pacific.

Steamers ascend the Parana, Paraguay and Cuyaba, 2100 miles to Cuyaba, and the river with its branches is navigable for 5000 miles.

The San Francisco.

The San Francisco, about 1800 miles long, rises near Rio de Janeiro and flows north about 1200 miles between parallel ranges of mountains, then ‘turns east and forces its way through the coast range to the Atlantic ocean. It runs through the gold and diamond regions of Brazil, and has a considerable population along its banks. It has many falls and rapids, and considerable slack-water navigation.

Brisbane is the capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the third most populated city in the whole country. Brisbane is one of Australia’s most visited cities and tourism plays a key role in the economy of the city. People visit for a variety of reasons, including the nearby Australia Zoo, which was made famous by Steve Irwin.

Brisbane is an Australian city oozing with culture, and it hosts a large variety of incredible events and festivals every year. Whether you happen to be there at the same time, or plan a visit specifically to attend one of these great occasions, they are definitely worth seeing. When booking visit cheapflights.co.uk/ for cheap flights to Brisbane and Australia in general.

Brisbane Zombie Walk

The Brisbane Zombie Walk was started in 2006 and has been an annual event ever since. It consists of people dressing up like Zombies and walking on a set route through the city. This relatively new event is held in order to raise awareness and money for The Brian Foundation of Australia. It offers participants an unusual and exciting way to take part in a charitable event with a great cause.

In 2011 the Zombie Walk had between 15,000 to 20,000 participants and raised over $24,000 after only aiming to make $10,000! Brisbane officially holds the Guinness World Record for the most people taking part in a zombie walk. Whether you’re taking part, or just watching, the Brisbane Zombie Walk is definitely an interesting and unusual experience.

Some people taking part in the Brisbane Zombie Walk of 2009

Image source: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/4042613608_d2bbb55343.jpg

The EKKA Brisbane Show

EKKA is held every year in mid-August in Brisbane. It consists of the traditional Australian countryside being brought into the heart of the city for everyone to enjoy. There are many agricultural exhibitions and even a variety of animals on show.

The show involves music, food and a variety of entertainment. Of course, there are also show bags with EKKA memorabilia to take home but best of all; you can enjoy seeing the countryside of Australia in the heart of the city.

River Festival

The River Festival is a 3 week long extravaganza in Brisbane. It is held in and around the South Bank Parklands Precinct and the celebrations revolves around the river regions, highlighting their importance and significance to Brisbane.

The River Festival closes every year by the River Fire. This is a vibrant, choreographed musical and fireworks celebration that can be seen from across the city. The River Festival is a great event for the entire family to enjoy. Throughout the day many families like to picnic by the rivers around all of the entertainment, and then in the evening there are celebrations better suited for adults.

Part of the incredible River Fire at the closing ceremony of River Festival

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Southbank_Beach_Fireworks_Night.jpg

Valley Fiesta

The Valley Festival is held sometime in September or October every year and lasts for about 3 days. It is essentially a 3 day long street party based in Ann Street in Fortitude Valley.

It includes many free stages with a variety of performances from music to drama and clowning acts. It prides itself on being Brisbane’s biggest street party and its entire outdoor program is completely free of charge for all. The area is transformed into a hive of activity and is definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Conclusion

Brisbane is a wonderful city overflowing with exciting events and amazing activities throughout the year. Above are just a few of the great festivals and events Brisbane has to offer, so why not start planning a trip today, or drop in on one of these events if you’re already there?

Article by Natalie Moody

Image credits: zoomzoom83 and Wikipedia

If you have a family then chances are you make one or more trips to an amusement park each year. You might be fortunate enough to live near some amusement parks or you might need to take long trips to an amusement park. But it is usually worth the journey as amusement parks offer something for everyone, even those who pass on the thrill rides.

• If you are a thrill seeker, you can ride the roller coasters and any number of other rides that go fast and get the adrenaline pumping.
• Amusement resorts offer rides for children of all ages ranging from little tots on kiddie rides to teenagers who can ride just about any ride in the park. It’s a sure bet the park will have rides available for all ages.
• Most amusement parks have classic rides that the entire family can enjoy. No park is complete without a carousel ride. Many parks offer mini train rides and antique cars. You, your spouse and older children and teens might enjoy the bumper cars, which you find at most amusement parks.
• The water rides are common at amusement parks. Some parks are water parks on their own or within an amusement resort. Other parks offer a few water rides for those who want to get wet and cool off on hot summer days.
• You can still have fun at an amusement park even if you do not like the rides. Enjoy good food and delicious treats. Stroll the shops in search of souvenirs and other trinkets.
• Many amusement parks offer children’s shows and other attractions for people of all ages to enjoy. Attractions may include a laser tag building or roller-skating rink.

Amusement parks create an exciting getaway for children more than adults. If you prefer to spend your time on the beach instead then here are some tips:

Beach resorts provide a great getaway if you love sandy beaches, warm sunshine and blue ocean waters. Beach resorts allow you to experience a fun-filled vacation riding the waves or just relaxing and soaking up some sun. However, there are some steps you should take if you want to find the best beach resorts for your next vacation.

• Search online for reviews of beach resorts at the location of your choice. You can easily find out which resorts receive the best feedback by using the Internet as a resource.
• Ask for recommendations from friends or family members who have vacationed at a particular beach resort. Word-of-mouth is one of the more reliable ways to find a reputable resort.
• Look over travel websites in order to compare prices and vacation packages from multiple resorts. This will help you find the best beach resorts at the lowest prices.

Do your homework beforehand so that you can enjoy your fun in the sun on your next vacation to an amusement park or a beach resort.

About Author

Irina Kirilov is a blogger for Thrifty Rentals Romania, a vehicle hire agency in Europe which strives to offer the tourists high quality car rental services at prices that everyone can afford. Connect with Irina on Twitter: @carhireromania.

To form the underwater piers twin caissons, each 60 feet in diameter and in the shape of a figure eight, were sunk within coffer-dams. The south pier caissons were sunk to a rock founda­tion 100 feet below water-level and provision was made for pressurizing them, but thanks to the stiff boulder clay through which they were sunk this did not prove necessary. Working under air-pressure is to be avoided if possible, and in this respect the engineers of today have been luckier than Sir Benjamin Baker. Each of his three cantilever towers rests on four masonry piers and no less than six of these had to be constructed within huge compressed-air caissons 70 feet in diameter. One of these tilted during sinking and its recovery caused great delay to the work.

The two 500-foot-high main towers of the Forth road bridge are as severely functional in design as Baker’s great cantilevers and are also as advanced in technique in 1962 as the latter were in 1889. They are of high-tensile steel, metal-sprayed and painted to protect them from the weather. Each ‘leg’ of the towers is a rect­angular tube constructed in 35-ton sections which were lifted into position by a climbing tower crane. The towers of the bridge had to be designed to withstand extreme wind velocities while free-standing—in other words, before the cables could be installed—and the faces between sections were machined to standards of accuracy hitherto unprecedented in bridge-building.

The length of 1340 feet for each of the two side spans was determined by the need to find suitable locations for constructing the side towers and the cable anchorages. The latter consist of four massive pre-stressed concrete blocks con­structed in tunnels inclined at an angle of 30° to the horizontal. The blocks on the south side are 250 feet long and taper from 45 to 25 feet. Through them, grouted in steel tubes, pass wire ropes, stressed to a load of 17,100 tons. These terminate in ‘strand shoes’ to which, as their name denotes, the strands of the main cables supporting the bridge deck are attached.

The job of spinning the main cables was begun in the autumn and is attracting a great deal of attention, since it is an operation which has not been seen in this country before. Each of the two cables is 2 feet in diameter and weighs 4000 tons, but it actually consists of 12,000 parallel wires of high-tensile steel, each less than a fifth of an inch in diameter; 30,000 miles of wire are being spun across the Firth of Forth from the south bank to the north at the rate of 700 feet per minute, using an endless hauling rope and sheave. While this is going on, men are stationed at intervals along temporary catwalks slung between the anchorages to ensure that the wires are laid correctly. A series of switches enables any one of these men to stop the haulage rope should the need arise.

From these two main cables the bridge deck will be suspended by wire-rope hangers. In the case of the side spans the deck is to be of the same reinforced concrete slab construction as the Tamar bridge, but, in order to save weight, high-tensile steel alone has been specified for the deck of the main span.

The undertaking includes the construction of approach-viaducts of six spans on the north and eleven on the south, making the total length of the bridge no less than 8244 feet. In addition, twelve miles of approach-roads are required. When it is completed the new Forth bridge will undoubtedly be as impressive a monument of engineering skill as the great cantilevers of its companion.

While the new Forth bridge now approaches completion, work began last spring on the foundations for a second great suspension bridge, this one being over the Severn estuary. The only existing bridge over the estuary is the single-line railway bridge at Sharpness, a weak structure of limited value which was seriously damaged and put out of action recently. Brunel proposed to bridge the estuary when he was planning the extension of his broad-gauge line into South Wales, but this was unfulfilled, and when his successors decided to build a more direct railway route to Wales they chose to tunnel under rather than to bridge the treacherous estuary with its forty-foot tides and ten-knot current.

The new bridge will be on the site of the present Beachley—Aust Ferry, two miles up­stream from the famous railway tunnel, and the project includes nine miles of approach-roads and a new bridge over the Wye at Chepstow. It is due to be completed in 1965 and its main span of 3240 feet will be only slightly less than that of the new Forth bridge. Although these two great suspension bridges will broadly resemble each other, the design of the Severn bridge is even more advanced. When it is completed it will undoubtedly be of immense benefit to the expanding industries of South Wales.

It is interesting that all the new bridges I have mentioned have been designed by one firm of consulting engineers, Messrs Mott, Hay and Anderson, who, incidentally, have been asso­ciated with the Forth road bridge project ever since its inception in 1926. It would be nice to think that, in the special corner in Paradise reserved for engineers, the shades of Telford, Stephenson, Brunel and Baker are looking down with the keenest interest and approval at the work now being done by their lineal suc­cessors.

The bridge deck consists of reinforced concrete slab, 6 inches thick, supported on steel stringers, and stiffening girder trusses 16 feet deep are employed. The centre span steelwork has been floated out in sections on pontoons (just as Brunel floated out the main trusses of his bridge) and then winched into position.

The bridge deck provides for a single 33-foot carriageway and two 6-foot footpaths. It is supported by cables, each consisting of thirty-one prefabricated locked-coil ropes, 2 inches in diameter. Each rope, 2200 feet long and weighing 20 tons, was conveyed to the site in a huge reel and hauled across the river over the side and main towers with the aid of temporary catwalks slung from anchorage to anchorage.

By contrast with the new Runcorn and Tamar bridges, the new Forth road bridge is a project of far greater magnitude, with a main span of 3300 feet carried 150 feet above the water and two side spans of 1340 feet each. Its deck will carry two 24-foot carriageways, two 9-foot cycle tracks and two 6-foot footpaths. It will be the greatest bridge in Europe, and in America it will be surpassed only by three bridges, the famous Golden Gate at San Francisco, the George Washington Bridge in New York and the Mackinac in Michigan.

The barrier of the Firth of Forth has always been a serious inconvenience to traffic moving between Edinburgh and eastern Scotland. Just as the new road bridge will obviate the present ferry, so did Sir Benjamin Baker’s great railway bridge supersede one of the world’s first train ferries, a system devised by Sir Thomas Bouch, who built the ill-fated first Tay bridge and was planning a rail suspension bridge for the Forth when the catastrophic collapse of the Tay Bridge ruined his reputation.

A Forth road bridge has been under considera­tion ever since 1926, and the construction of a road deck above the rail deck of Sir Benjamin Baker’s bridge was only one among the many schemes considered. The present design is the fruit of the experience gained in the United States in the construction of cable suspension bridges of great span.

In his unexecuted Runcorn design Telford proposed using a form of iron cable which had been evolved by William Brunton, but in the construction of his bridges at Conway and the Menai he turned to link chains. In the light of the materials and techniques available at that time, his decision was a wise one and his example was followed by Brunel and other British engineers. It was in the United States, where the need for bridges of great span was most pressing, that the modern design of cable suspension bridge was perfected. Early bridges of this type had employed twisted wire ropes, and the first man to realize that the wires were weakened by twisting was John A. Roebling, a German immi­grant to America. In 1841 he patented a form of cable made up of parallel wires laid separately and subsequently bound together. The first bridge built by Roebling on this principle carried road and rail over the river at Niagara, and its success led to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, New York, which was completed by his son, W. A. Roebling, in 1883. All the great suspension bridges built subsequently in America owe their existence to Roebling’s technique, and the firm which he founded, the John A. Roebling Company of Trenton, New Jersey, are contribut­ing technical advice to the builders of the new Forth bridge.

This is one link with engineering history. Another is that one of the three British engineer­ing firms who are erecting the new bridge is Sir William Arrol & Company. The firm of Tancred, Arrol & Company were main contractors for the Forth railway bridge, and William Arrol received his knighthood for this achievement.

As a result of the lesson learnt at Runcorn, the engineers decided to build the new bridge some distance away from the Forth railway bridge so as to avoid wind-buffeting effects. Even so, wind velocities up to 110 m.p.h. have been allowed for in preparing the design. The collapse of the first Tay bridge was largely due to Sir William Bouch’s failure to allow for the effect of lateral wind pressure, and consequently in designing his Forth bridge Sir Benjamin Baker played safe by allowing for a pressure of 56 lbs per square foot. This amounts to a pressure of 2000 tons on each of the main spans, two and a half times as much as the maximum rolling load. Nowadays, engineers enjoy research facilities unknown to Bouch or Baker, and a model of the new Forth bridge was subjected to wind-tunnel tests at the National Physical Laboratory, which enabled its behaviour under extreme conditions to be studied.

The site of the Forth railway bridge was deter­mined by Inchgarvie Island, which offered Sir Benjamin Baker a base for his mid-water canti­lever tower, but, as on the Tamar, making the new one a suspension bridge avoids the necessity for a central pier. A site for the new crossing was selected where the notorious Mackintosh Rock could be used as a base for the north main tower. In order to form this base the rock had to be levelled by blasting and excava­tion at a depth of 40 feet below high water, a difficult operation which was complicated by the discovery of an old submerged wreck on the site.

Harbour Bridge. Now at last, however, the new road-construction programme has given the engineers an opportunity to display their prowess once again on their home ground: on the steel-arch bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn and on the new suspension bridges over the Tamar and the Forth. Soon, too, the steel towers of a third suspension bridge will be rising on the banks of the Severn.

In 1814, before he set to work on his Menai bridge, Thomas Telford prepared a design for a road suspension bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn with a central span of 1000 feet and two side spans of 500 feet. This over-ambitious project was never executed and the only way of crossing the river at this point by road has been the celebrated Transporter Bridge, whose demise now that the new bridge is open has naturally distressed those who love the more eccentric examples of Victorian mechanical ingenuity.

In view of Telford’s early design and the fact that the suspension principle is now accepted as being the best method of constructing road bridges of great span, it may be wondered why a rigid steel-arch design should have been chosen for the new Runcorn bridge. A suspension bridge was in fact proposed, but preliminary investiga­tions showed that the new bridge would be subjected to excessive ‘aerodynamic buffeting’, as the engineers call it, caused by the close proximity of the Runcorn railway bridge. Of the three courses open to them—to amend the design so that it would resist these aerodynamic forces; to change the site of the bridge; or to adopt a new, rigid design—the engineers chose the last as being the best and the most economical, having regard to all the conditions. The result, now completed, is a single mighty arch of lattice steelwork which, like Brunel’s wrought-iron tubes at Saltash, supports the road deck beneath. With a span of 1082 feet it is the third largest arch bridge in the world, being exceeded only by the Bayonne Bridge in New Jersey and by the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Brunel’s design of two 465-foot spans for his bridge at Saltash involved the construction of a central pier in the middle of the Tamar, and in order to find a rock base for this pier he had to go down through 80 feet of water and mud. An iron cylinder, 35 feet in diameter, was sunk down to the rock and the masonry pier was built within it. To exclude the water, this cylinder was at first partially and later wholly pressurized. It was the first large compressed-air caisson ever used in engineering and was an undertaking quite without precedent in the 1850s. Its successful completion was undoubtedly Brunel’s finest civil, engineering achievement.

By adopting a main span of 1100 feet for the new Tamar suspension bridge, the engineers have avoided the need to found a pier in deep water. The two main reinforced concrete towers, 260 feet high, could be positioned at the sides of the river, and to form their foundations the river could be excluded by building temporary bunds. On each side twin 30-foot-diameter caissons were then sunk through the mud to a rock base approximately 38 feet below the river-bed. 374 feet shorewards from each of these main towers, side towers have been built, while beyond these again are the twin cable-anchorage tunnels driven into rock to a depth of 50 feet.

Redundant offices and warehouses in the City of London or on its fringe are being converted or redeveloped as stylish apartments.

It’s a chill economic wind that blows nobody any good. The one that swept through the City of London a few years ago left many office buildings and warehouses standing empty until they were given a new lease of life by being converted or redeveloped as apartments for sale. This has given hundreds of people a chance to live in Rome apartments or somewhere in the City other than the Barbican. It has also breathed new life into areas on the City’s fringe, such as Islington, Camden and Hackney. Even parts of Docklands, such as Wapping and the Isle of Dogs, are extensions of the City, with thousands of new homes and jobs created where once was dereliction.

Where better to live in the City of London than at 43 Bartholomew Close, EC1, next to London’s oldest church, St Bartholomew the Great? This five-storey building, last occupied as offices by British Telecom, is just finishing being converted into 39 flats by Gleeson Homes. These are being sold at prices from £170,000 to £350,000 through the on-site sales office to bankers, doctors, stockbrokers and lawyers.

Confusingly, Bartholomew Square, EC1, is nowhere near Bartholomew Close or its monastery church. It is in Finsbury, north of the City, on the eastern edge of Clerkenwell. Here, off Old Street, a new five-storey block of seven flats has been developed by Fieldmount

Properties Called St Luke’s View, after the nearby roofless ruins of the 18th-century church of St Luke Old Street, these pieds-a-terre are for sale at prices from £130,000 to £260,000 through Hurford Salvi Carr. Alternatively, the whole block is being offered for sale as an investment for £1m, to show an estimated yield of 11.7%.

More than 50 years after the end of the second world war, the last bomb site in the city of London is about to be developed. Even so, the start of construction has been delayed for a further 12 weeks while an archaeological dig takes place. If nothing extraordinary is found, construction will start at the end of February on an eight-storey office block of 100,000 sq ft called Black Friars Court, in Blackfriars Lane, near Ludgate Hill, EC4, which is being put up by Development Securities.

Next to this, a block of 16 flats called Evangelist Court will be built over a new restaurant by St George North London, who will begin marketing the development in February at prices from £240,000 to £330,000. Construction should be completed early next year.

On the opposite side of New Bridge Street, it has taken more than two years for St George North London to reach agreement with the City Corporation to redevelop the City’s one-acre White friars Estate between Fleet Street and the Thames in partnership with Trevor Osborne’s property company, the Osborne Group. The latter will develop a new office building of 90,000 sq ft designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, while St George will convert three Victorian office buildings in Carmelite Street and Temple Avenue, EC4, into 52 high-class apartments. Construction is expected to start in September and to be completed in 2001.

Close to St Paul’s Cathedral, Berkeley Homes (North London) are converting Lambert House, a five-storey Victorian office building at 19-23 Ludgate Hill, EC4, into 15 flats and a penthouse, much cheaper than Apartments in Berlin. Most of the flats have been sold off-plan, but those that are left are for sale through Hamptons at prices from £245,000 for a two-bedroom flat to £640,000 for the three-bedroom penthouse.

Berkeley Homes (Essex) are also building close to another historic monument – the Monument itself – having had the start of construction delayed three months while archaeologists from the Museum of London excavated a 2nd-century Roman culvert on the site in Monument Street, EC3. Now a new block of 38 apartments called Monument House is rising on the site, for completion in the autumn. More than 40% of the apartments have already been sold off-plan at prices from £130,000 to £395,000 through the on-site sales office.