Hmmm... I wonder what's for dinner?

Cricket. It's enough to drive you to distraction.

Traffic Stopping Art (number 15)

Today's painted signal box comes to you from the suburb of Hamilton which is home to Brisbane's two premier racecourses, Eagle Farm and Doomben. They are right across the road from one another as they have been since the 1930s... and there seems to be ongoing discussions about merging the two clubs, combining resources, alternating meetings etc but as far as I know they remain independent of eachother.

For more of the city's painted traffic signal boxes, click on the TSBs label below.

Lights... Camera... Action!

Earth Hour 2009 celebrated in between heavy rain showers last night.

Grrrrrrrrdrrrrrrrrs!

As far as I'm concerned, the Story Bridge is picturesque from any angle. This one, to me, is all about strength.

P.S. It's Earth Hour tonight at 8.30pm wherever you are. Don't forget to switch off the lights!

Naughty Commuter Skywatch

The idea had been bugging me. I was frequently stuck in traffic on my way home from work and as the nights got darker I was noticing the sunset in my wing mirror... coupled with the darkness that lay ahead - 2 skies for the price of 1! Each night for a week I got into my car, set my camera up and had it ready... and guess what? The bloody traffic lights were green and there were about half the cars on the road than there were the week before. I coasted home in record time and photo-less. Then there was the change in weather: we had storm clouds and rain clouds and grey evenings... then my shift at work changed so I was leaving half an hour later... anyway as you can see I finally got it out of my system!

While taking photos during a red light gives you something of an adrenaline rush, Brisbane Daily Photo does not endorse mixing photography with driving.

Happy Skywatch Friday!

New Farm RiverWalk

You too can walk on water!

This floating walkway on the Brisbane River was opened in 2003 and is very popular with walkers, runners and cyclists. It goes from New Farm to the Story Bridge.

Poser

She clearly knows the frangipanis are working for her.

Somerville House

Here's the Vulture Street entrance to Somerville House private girls' school.
Not too shabby.

Miner (not Myna)

This native Australian honeyeater is the Noisy Miner bird and can be seen all over Brisbane. For a small bird it makes a big racket. It is often seen in groups bullying bigger birds like kookaburras and hawks, trying to steal their food or just generally annoying them. The noise in question is like a high pitched "PEE-PEE-PEE-PEE!"
The Noisy Miner is not to be confused with the introduced species, the Indian Myna bird, which is darker and a member of the starling family.

Traffic Stopping Art (number 14)

Welcome back to our tour of Brisbane's painted traffic signal boxes. Here we are at the corner of Margaret and Edward streets and the artwork on the box is by local artist Rob Corless. If you like his style, you can check out his RedBubble page here.

For others in the series, click on the TSBs label below.

Queensland State Election

Queensland goes to the polls today to vote in a new state government. Thank God. I'm not a big fan of election campaigns. Politicians trying to be popular make me cringe a bit. As I'm not an Australian citizen yet, I don't get to vote so I can only watch from a comfortable distance. My significant other is an Aussie so I thought I'd follow and see how they do it in this part of the world.

Despite a plethora of independents, if the polls are to be believed it's a two horse race. It seems to me the main policy of both is that life under them won't be as bad as under the other mob.

Something to whinge about: what's all this voting on a saturday lark? Why can't we be like other civilised nations and have polling day on a weekday so we can get an extra day off work?

Something to celebrate: the ubiquitous fund-raising "Sausage Sizzle". The Aussies can't get enough of them!

Pick 'n' Mix Skywatch (3)

This is the final photo in my "Pick n Mix Skywatch" series taken at the same time (about 6.15pm a couple of weeks ago) in the same place (Mt. Coot-tha Lookout) but looking in 3 different directions. I like the depth of the cloud here... and how the city is completely dwarfed.

View looking to the right of this shot (posted last week)

View looking to the right of last week's shot (posted the week before)

P.S. The nights are draw in quickly... had I stood at the lookout yesterday at 6.15pm it would have been dark.

Check out other skies around the world by visiting the Skywatch Friday portal.

Gum Tree and Green Bridge

As a pedestrian, I risked getting yelled at or worse by passing cyclists as I stood here in the "exclusively for cyclists" lane. That's 2 posts in a row with me heroically crouched in harm's way for the sake of this blog. It could be the start of a Danger series... but then I think that might be tempting fate a little!

To Infinity And Beyond!

A straight, clear road, yesterday.

Autumn mornings in Brisbane are perfect: warm without being muggy and with a bright light which makes colours vibrant and the sky deep blue.

Doorways of Brisbane

Under Captain Cook Bridge

The serenity of the picture is misleading - there are the thunderous sounds of cars and trucks hurtling overhead day and night. Across the river, you can see the mangroves which line much of the Brisbane River.

Traffic Stopping Art (number 13)

A vision in blue and green - topped off nicely with a blue cup and some interesting green posts.

For the others in the series, click the TSBs label below.

QUACK!

Mum, dad and the kids off out for the day.

Pick 'n' Mix Skywatch (2)

Last week it was suggested I post the other views on that balmy post-storm summer evening. This one was taken at the same time standing on the same spot as last week's picture, this time looking west towards the mountains.

For other skies, far and wide, visit Skywatch Friday.

Bank Figures

Looking a bit vulnerable outside the Bank of Queensland.

Happy 150th Birthday!

2009 marks Queensland's 150th birthday as an independent state and also Brisbane's 150th birthday as state capital. The size of the city has grown a bit since this map was drawn.... currently it covers an area similar to the size of London but with a fifth its population.
This is a map that hangs in City Hall.

East Brisbane Streets from a Balloon

Here's another shot from last month's flight. This is looking out over what are now considered to be inner-city suburbs.

Traffic Stopping Art (number 12)

Welcome back to my traffic signal box series. This style should be familiar to most Brisbanites because the artist Simon Degroot has decorated over sixty boxes across the city. Yes that's right, sixty! Needless to say I'll be featuring more of his work as the series continues.

For more fantastic signal box art, click on the TSBs label below.

Rush Hour

7am yesterday, fruit and veg shopping at the local market.

Fourex Gold

This is the front of the Castlemaine Fourex brewery building in Milton. Probably Brisbane's most famous building as its image is printed on the cans of beer that get exported around the world. In Australia, the mid-strength beer that they brew is called Fourex Gold and is a huge success across Australia despite its enigmatic flavour.

Pick 'n ' mix Skywatch

Straight after a storm, standing at the top of Mount Coot-tha you can see all sorts of skies happening simultaneously. This was looking south last week. If you had looked west, you would have seen a hazy orange sunset behind mountains while looking east were almighty black storm clouds over the city. And as you can see... straight above: blue sky with wispy white clouds! (I think north was a bland sort of twilight grey)

See more skies from around the world from the Skywatch Friday portal here.

Walk This Way

This is the walkway on the city side of the iconic Story Bridge linking the CBD and Fortitude Valley with Kangaroo Point. Walking across here is just brilliant because it spans the river at a sharp bend so you are walking parallel with the riverside buildings. The view of the city is luxuriously lofty but I think the bridge itself is great to look at close-up too.

It was opened in 1940, is 777 metres (2549ft) long and has a clearance of 30 metres (100ft) from the Brisbane River below.

View From The Library

This is the view from two of the dozens of slanty windows in Brisbane Square library. Through the window on the left, you get a glimpse of the Brisbane River. The window on the right shows traffic on Victoria Bridge and the Wheel of Brisbane.

The Longest Mud Painting In The World!

Over the weekend, Brisbane Square library teamed up with some people from Northey Street City Farm to hold a workshop where people could come along and contribute to the world's longest mud painting. Being a Northey Street initiative, it is completely biodegradable and will provide compost for future Brisbane vegetables! In the meantime, the painting is being added to as it is rolled up and moved around different parts of the community. It is made from newspaper glued with flour and water and painted on using different coloured muds found in and around Brisbane. It's going on display at the Autumn Equinox Arts Festival in Northey Street Farm on March 21st - by which time they expect it to be over 500 metres long!

A Week In Hands (last one) and Traffic Stopping Art (number 11)

My ultimate combination of themes would have been to have incorporated glass in this shot... then I could have posted this yesterday in a triple whammy!

Definitely room for improvement, there.

For the rest of the "Week in Hands" series, click on the "hands" label below.

For others in the Traffic Signal Box series, click on the "TSBs" label below.

March Theme Day: Glass

Pinch punch first of the month! The last day of my hand series has had to be postponed a day while I get my first-of-the-month theme day picture in. It's open to all City Daily Photo participants and this month the theme is glass.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

You are looking at a section of the geodesic Tropical Dome at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. Strictly, it's not glass it's acrylic... but it looks like glass so I reckon that counts. Inside, the temperature and atmosphere are strictly controlled and it supports all sorts of exotic plant life including giant water-lillies.