Postcard From Lamington

Easter Egg hunting in Lamington on Sunday morning.

Rise and Shine

Some serenity for your weekend.

Picture this: You are the only one around. The sun is rising over the horizon and there is a mist above the breakers. The shadows are still long and you can feel a warm breeze over your skin. The only sound is the crash and fizz of ocean as it meets beach... and the wind in your ears. You stretch up high on tiptoes with your fingers reaching for the sky and your bare toes scrunching into the wet sand ...and take you take a deep, cleansing breath.

What a way to start the day.

I need to gar-gull.

I got a shock when I first came to Australia. The seagulls all sounded like they had a cold. Unfortunately my Field Guide to Australian Birds by Pizzey and Knight doesn't describe the call of the gull I was used to hearing in England so you'll have to make do with my attempt to put it into words: it is a high pitched "co-loy co-loy co-loy co-loy!". The book does have a fair bit about the Silver Gull which is what I reckon this photo is of.

   "Voice: "short, harsh, gutteral 'korr' or 'keow'; longer, harsh descending 'karrr-karrr-karrr'."  

 ....in other words like they have something stuck in their throats. Anyway, reading into it a bit, I see that there are several different types of gull in Australia with different voice descriptions. At the risk of going into it far too much:

Pacific Gull: shouted 'ow! ow!; muffled 'auk, auk' gruff chuckles; whining stutters
Kelp Gull: yelping or laughing 'yo-yo-yo-yo' (I think that might be the one I know from England)
Black Headed Gull : high-pitched harsh screams in quick succession: 'kreeooo' or 'kraaahr'
Black Tailed Gull: plaintive mewing
Franklin's Gull: shrill 'kuk-kuk-kuk'; also nasal 'kear, kear'
Laughing Gull: strident laugh or variety of low chuckles
Sabine's Gull: harsh grating and tern-like 'k-year'
Lesser Black-Backed Gull: similar to Kelp Gull.

There now. More than you will ever need to know about the various calls of Australian Gulls.

Sunrise Beach a bit after sunrise

We won a competition for a weekend up at Sunrise Beach on the Sunshine Coast which is about a 90 minute drive from where we live in Brisbane if you take the scenic route and stop for ice cream. The beach is long with tumbling surf and fine golden sand... great for walking or saluting the sun first thing.

Trying to keep the Scenic Rim scenic

Coal seam gas is being promoted as clean energy but a group of protesters near Beaudesert - about an hour's drive south of Brisbane - think otherwise; they -  farmers, greenies, and other concerned folk - are currently blockading a coal seam gas exploration rig; they are very worried that the process of gas removal will affect their underground water supply as has been the case in other places.  At this stage they are asking for an independent baseline water testing study so that the company will be forced to take responsibility for any future problems.

The protesters believe that the only way to prevent the country's water being thus affected is via political intervention - and elections are nigh!!!

Thanks to Nell for her help with this post.
Photo: Innes Larkin

The base of a palm tree in the rainforest at Mt Glorious

Mount Glorious is less than an hour from Brisbane and you can go frolicking in the rainforest and searching for waterfalls, huge plate fungi and giant tadpoles and all sorts of bugs and birds. That's where I'll be today. Poor old me.

Bald Spots

Ok last one from the Bunya Mountains till my next trip. This one was taken whilst walking on the 'Balds' which are hills with natural grassland growing all over them. The balds support a wide range of native plants and animals and are shrinking due to the encroachment of the surrounding forests.

If you want to read a bit more about the Bunya Mountains habitat there's an interesting PDF you can download here.

Prickly Pears

Well I hope you like plants because you're not getting anything else from me at the moment. I'm still all loved-up from my Bunya Mountains camping experience, frolicking in the natural world and being at one with nature and all that. These cacti are about 2 metres tall. I love the way they are lit from behind. If you look closely you can see a spider web in the bottom right of the picture providing a bit of contrast.

The Elders

Some of the largest trees in the Bunya Mountains are the Australian Red Cedar trees like the one in the middle of the picture which right now in Spring have small red leaves that turn green later on. Most obviously, though, are the Bunya pine trees - that's one on the left. From December to March the trees drop their cones which contain lots of nuts inside. The cones look like a large green pineapples and weigh about 10kgs and the trees are about 60m high. So if one of them drops on your head it'd kill you stone dead. Yes, September is a very good time to go!

Postcard From The Bunya Mountains

Bunya Mountains National Park is about 200kms north-west of Brisbane. The mountains themselves were formed 30 million years ago supposedly from the remains of a volcano. They seem to rise out of nowhere from the plains around them and peak at 1135m. Walking around the park is different at every turn. It can't seem to make up it's mind if it's rainforest, eucalypt forest or natural grassland. There are idyllic waterfalls and rockpools and you get frogs there that are found nowhere else in the world (with the biggest tadpoles you've ever seen). There are kangaroos and plenty of other native mammals as well loads of reptiles and 130 different species of birds. If you like that kind of thing, it's definite WOW territory.

Sweet and Juicy!

According to some bloke on the telly, Queensland strawberries have had the perfect weather recently: warm days and cold nights. With this in mind, on our way back to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast on Sunday, we hung a sharp left at the big strawberry. Being inflatable rather than fibre-glass, I don't think this one qualifies as a "Big" thing but it certainly grabs your attention.

They are $15 for a kilo which is about the same as you'd pay in the shops at the moment but the taste is sooooo much better because they have ripened on the plant. We may have scoffed a few on the way round just to be sure. They didn't disappoint. Really sweet and juicy and the best strawberries I've tasted since I've been in Australia.

Showing Dad what she saw in the rockpool

 

...It was some soft coral that looked like it was breathing!

Shelly Beach, Caloundra

Through The Window

Oblivious I was
Despite my many, contemplative visits
To the forces of nature
Present in the room

To the webbing and vining
And careful intertwining
To the sweet and slow surrender
Of this window to the elements

I was always in such a rush, you see
To leave and get back to my friends
That when I noticed it first
I was half way out the door

I stopped in my tracks
And sighed to myself.
You only get the vista
If you are a mista.

Air to the throne

Over the long weekend, I went camping at a friend's property a hour and a half out of Brizzy. One of the things we (they) did to earn our keep was build a new toilet. The ratio of casual advisers to workers was probably about 10 to 1.

It had a lovely view, that's for sure.

Rusty Water Tank

This tank sits in a property a couple of hours out of Brisbane. I go and visit it at least twice a year to see how it's progressing.

Summertime Blues

December the 1st marked the first day of Summer here in Brisbane. It hasn't stopped raining since then and today is no exception. So this one, taken back in May, is for those Brisbane residents who may have forgotten what a blue sky looks like. And for my family back in London who are probably a bit more cheesed off with their weather right now than I am with mine.

Caloundra, Sunshine Coast

Let's Burn Rubber!

 

 Filming stunts at Movieworld on the Gold Coast through the haze of some serious burn-outs.

Aqualoop at Wet'n'Wild

The idea is you climb up to the top of the steps (which is a lot higher when you're up there) and step into a clear, upright tube. You cross your ankles, cross your arms over your chest and then... well then the floor disappears and you freefall with such velocity (up to 60km per hour) that it powers you around a loop and you get spat out the bottom. I wasn't planning on getting stuck but I came to an abrupt halt somewhere towards the end of the uphill section thanks to the pair of shorts I was wearing that were a bit too flappy I was told later. It took a second or two for me to realise what had just happened as most of my vital organs were still trying to catch up with the rest of me. Then the panic set in as I had visions of rescuers in cherry-pickers... or the next person down the tube flying feet-first into my head at full speed. I had to spend a minute or two hoisting myself uphill inside a smooth slippery tube which is hard, let me tell you. Eventually I regained momentum and plopped out the bottom where I was deafened with howls of laughter.

Again, again!

Work In Progress

I suppose it's not strictly a Brisbane photo as I took it in India when I was there in August... but the little hand belongs to a Brisbane resident who might one day grow up to be an artist... just like her Grandmother.

Postcard from India - Skywatch

While I replenish my Brisbane photos, here's a shot of the sun going down over the Lakshadweep Sea off the south west coast of India about 3 weeks ago.  After the rain of the previous 11 days, it was a real treat to see the sun again.

For other skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.