Blanket with your coffee?

My favourite place to sit and have a coffee is on the Goodwill Bridge. Great staff, lovely coffee and a picture-postcard view. (No, I'm not being paid to write that.) This was taken a couple of weeks ago from a moving CityCat so apologies for the blurriness. As you can see, it was warm enough to take your shirt off while canoeing down the river. It's chilled down to about 20 degrees celcius (68f) which means winter woolies for many Brisbane folks. I know. I used to laugh... but you get acclimatised after a few years. And if you're having coffee on the bridge at this time of year they even provide blankets. Toasty!

Kangaroo Point from Mowbray Park

Riding beneath the Gateway Bridge

Early Morning Constitutional

This is looking east from the Gateway Bridge. The horizon is a thick haze due to all the smoke from industrial chimneys.

A Subtle Shift

It seems that Brisbane is full of people that dislike boiling hot weather yet that's what we get here for at least 6 months of the year. The rest of the year it ranges from quite hot to pretty warm. Being from a much more changeable climate, it took me a few years to tune into Brisbane's seasons. We've just ticked over from 'boiling hot' into 'quite hot' (i.e. Autumn) in the last week or so. We don't get leaves turning orange and falling from the trees or cold gusty winds or anything quite so obvious. It's a barely detectable change in temperature - perhaps 2 degrees c. lower than a couple of weeks ago - with a drop in humidity. But it makes all the difference to important stuff like sleeping comfortably or being able to touch the steering wheel of your car without receiving third degree burns.

Goodwill in black and white

 

Lines and shadows on the Goodwill Bridge.

Part of Shadow Shot Sunday.

Row Boats

Despite being in the middle of the city, you often see rowing boats, canoes and jetskis weaving their wa around the CityCats. This little jetty is a means of getting to and from the nearby marina.

Kurilpa in Blue

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Brisbane's landmarks are being lit blue in April to promote autism awareness. These bluey (purpley) things that look like boat masts are the tops of the Kurilpa footbridge. It sweeps around in a circle (behind me as I took this) and you can see it leading to the riverbank on the left.

Montague Arches

I'm off camping over Easter but I'll keep rolling the photos out. Have a safe, happy weekend!

Wattles

Another floral offering from Ian De Gruchy is being projected onto the William Jolly Bridge for the next few days. This one is called Wattles. As I learned when I became and Australian citizen last year, the wattle flower is Australia's national flower and is bright yellow just like it is here.

This is the last in the current series of projections and you can see it each night until Tuesday.  To see all the projections I have managed to catch, click on the "WJB Projections" label below.

Deck the bridge with blooms of Poin...er...

Doesn't our bridge look good at the moment?  This is Poinsettias by Ian De Gruchy and will be projected onto the bridge each night for about 5 hours from when it gets dark up until tuesday night. Poinsettias are Brisbane's floral emblem. At the risk of sounding like a smarty pants, I reckon that these flowers are actually from a Poinciana tree. What do you think?

 Either way, the floral tribute is very Christmassy as both red flowers are blooming in Brisbane right now. If you are celebrating, Happy Christmas to you!

Here Comes The Sun

It'll be our longest day soon and then the sun will head north so we can only sing that song for a couple more days.

Right now there is a projection on the William Jolly Bridge called "Summer Solstice" by artist Kate Shaw. See more of her stuff here.

(Little darling) It's been a long, dark year for this side of the bridge since the floods so it's really satisfying to see the little lighthouses back up and running again. This slide will be on view until tomorrow night. Then on Wednesday we've got two weeks of Ian de Gruchy - that's one week of Poinsettias and one week of Wattles. The projections start at dusk and go for about 5 hours.

The Fast Bit

If you travel by CityCat, it can be a bit slow when it chugs from one stop to another in the centre of town... but once you get out of town a little bit you can have a "King Of The World" moment by leaning on the rail at the front and singing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion really loudly.

Story Bridge Climbers

You can do a "Story Bridge Climb" which means donning a blue and grey jumpsuit (so that you blend in with the bridge and the sky) and climbing the steps to the summit and checking out the river 80 metres below. I went on the climb a few years ago and loved it but I found it frustrating not being able to take pictures. Anyway, the organisers of the climb have introduced a Photographic Climb where you can bring your own camera and snap away to your heart's content. It's limited to just the camera - no bag, extra lenses, tripod or anything else.... but it looks like you get some great shots from up there. That is on my list for 2012.

Mirrored Skywatch

As part of the Brisbane Festival, they have erected this large Light Sphere at South Bank (see two days ago for another view) which is just fab. You could spend ages there checking out all the reflections... and you can see the sky from all sorts of angles.

For even more skyviews, visit Skywatch Friday.

Riverfire 2011

For the next three weeks, Brisbane will play host to all sorts of theatre, music, dance, wacky races and all sorts of other fun stuff at the Brisbane Festival. Last night was Riverfire which is a spectaular fireworks display that runs all the way from the Story Bridge to Victoria Bridge. Fireworks spray from bridges, tall buildings and barges in the river. Thousands of people line the banks - it's a great night out. I managed to get a good viewpoint from the 16th floor Riparian Plaza. This was shot through glass but I think it came out quite well :-)

August Theme Day: Postcard-worthy

 It's the first of the month and, as City Daily Photo bloggers, we all get the chance to take a picture along the same theme. This month's theme is "postcard-worthy". I think that had I remembered about the theme day sooner I would have gone for something a little naughty perhaps involving some well-endowed women strategically placed behind some tropical fruit but... well time eluded me (not to mention willing volunteers). So instead, here is a Brisbane sky, lit by the dying embers of a winter sunset. That's the city on the right and the observation wheel just visible under the Goodwill footbridge. And of course the mighty Brisbane River around which Brisbane is built.

Having a ball - wish you were here!

 Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Time Out

On the footbridge from Roma Street to the Victoria Barracks as seen through the window of the Palace Cinema.

Under the Melbourne Street Rail Bridge

 This lightbox displays artwork advertising productions from times gone by at the Cremorne Theatre around the corner. Nice wall too.

Rooftop Soirée at Chill Backpackers

You get a nice view from the Palace Cinema foyer...