Weed or Not a Weed?

Coming from England, I don't really know much about Australian plants except if it's a native, you're probably ok to stick it in your garden. Having it's own unique eco-system over here means that if you plant the right things it encourages the right insects and wildlife and you don't accidentally wipe out a species of butterfly or tempt a family of cane toads to take up residence in your water-feature. It would all be so easy if I could tell by looking which was a weed or a non-native. 
This one's not a weed, by the way. It is a nice well-behaved substitute for an Umbrella Tree... which is a naughty weed.

Let's Burn Rubber!

 

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

Boundary and Vulture

Mouse was in fine form last night busking in his usual spot on the corner of Boundary Street and Vulture Street.

Stick Pose

I nearly missed it walking through the car park at work yesterday - it was on the underside of a wing mirror - but what a beauty! I do love a stick insect and this was 10 centimetres long at least so I bolted for the camera in the car. It was only when I returned and got up close that I noticed the expression on it's little face. Click on the picture for a closer view. Is that a smile?

Taking Out The Rubbish

Backpacker hang-out, Upper Roma Street, 7am yesterday.

Spring Swan Song

One last Jacaranda post for the year. Exams are over and the blossoms are disappearing as fast as summer is approaching.

Street Performer, South Bank

Despite the fire juggling, mini bike wheelies and knife juggling on a 9 foot high unicycle, the boy in the blue was a touch bored.

Queensland Bottle Trees in Anzac Square

 

Summer is nearly upon us here in Brissy (officially it starts on December 1st) and as things heat up around the city, space in the shade becomes a necessity. Anzac Square is dotted with little doilies of shade from Queensland Bottle Trees, so named because of their bottle-shaped trunk. I reckon they look great. According to Wikipedia, that trunk stores water during droughts.

For those Latin folk out there: Brachychiton Rupestris

Geography Lessons

Down at South Bank, there is a section called Aquativity with all sorts of water activities for kids of all ages - including a big map of Brisbane. The city's tall buildings are represented by grids of fountains which shoot up when you are least expecting it and you can follow the Brisbane river in your bare feet as it winds its way from one side of the city to the other. The Story Bridge is represented by an arc of water (above).

Red Flowering Ginger

All sorts of things are flowering in the garden right now but this one is the most spectacular. It's a member of the ginger family but I don't think the root is edible.

The Big Xpress Rebuild

Work has started on the rebuild of the local shop awning after a car crashed into it recently. The driver involved experienced the unfortunate "thong-caught-under-the-accelerator" phenomenom (footwear not underwear).

Oysters Natural

We went out for dinner with friends to A Salt and Battery in St. Lucia last night. Oysters were on the menu for some of us. (Not me - urrghhh!)

Bar Balls

Upstairs at Cloudland in The Valley, you can find the Crystal Palais bar. It's made up of 19,000 clear balls which catch and throw the light everywhere. 

Brisbane's Future Stars

Our local school put on a great singing and instrumental concert the other night. The programme included "Whistle While You Work" sung by the junior choir (age 5-8), The Turtles' "Happy Together" sung by the senior choir (age 9-12) and a smoking rendition of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" by the senior band (also age 9-12). Rock On!

Deck the Malls

Aargh! Where did the year go? Christmas decorations up in Queen Street Mall already!

Riverside Boardwalk

Great view, flat as a pancake and excellent for riding your bike on.

Saturday Morning Shopping, Queen Street

At The Top of Mount Coot-tha

Sunday Night at the Ferry Stop Skywatch

I can't believe it's never occured to me before but the ferry stop pontoon near my house gives an excellent uninterrupted view of the sky. Here was Sunday's sky at 6:07pm.

Check out other skies around the world posted today at Skywatch Friday.

Spray Painted Deity

Spotted in a vacant block in West End recently.

Story Bridge Walkers

If you happen to be in Brisbane, I recommend walking along the Story Bridge walkway. You can do the Climb which is fun and informative but a bit time consuming and expensive and you can't take your own pictures. The walkway underneath is free and has views which rival those of the paying walkers above.

See a view from the east side of the bridge here.
See what's west of the bridge here (taken from Bowen Terrace).

Shiny New CityCycles

Brisbane's public bike-hire service is just over a month old. I haven't seen too many folks riding around in them yet.

Purple Rain

I had to get you a shot of the purple jacaranda blossoms that are all over Brisbane right now, falling from the trees in flurries covering pavements, cars, gardens and everything else in the surrounding area.

Mountain Bike Police

If those pesky criminals head for the hills, Brisbane's boys in blue (or purple) have got it covered. I like those little trainer socks. That thing with the red button attached to the helmet on the left is the siren.

Advanced Australian Fayre

Last night I went out to dinner at Tukka in West End with 3 salivating carnivores who couldn't wait to tuck into the speciality of the restaurant: native Australian animals. Kangaroo, crocodile, buffalo and possum all featured extensively as did some less offensive bush-tucker stuff like mountain pepperberry and bush tomatoes. My friends all raved about it. I found it a bit difficult to get my head around but was pleasantly surprised by the taste - and the ambience and service were great.

Smoky Sunrise Skywatch

I'm on the ridiculously early shift at work at the moment meaning I have been awake for a whole week of sunrises. You have to be quick, though. It's somewhere between about 4:45 and 4:55 and I have forgotten to get to a window every day except Monday. So here's Monday's which, as you can see, was splendid.

Part of the Skywatch Friday gang.

Trick Or Treat dilemma

The number of trick-or-treaters is definately on the up in Brisbane. I think it's great fun and the kids have a ball dressing up, visiting houses they know and coming away with stacks of goodies. It's all good clean fun. But if I may be a bit bah-humbug here for a minute... where are the tricks? These kids just wander around getting treats for nothing and they don't know any different. What's the point? Growing up in London, I didn't have a huge experience with trick or treat but I do remember that on your rounds you were supposed to be armed with half a dozen eggs and a roll of toilet paper. "Trick or Treat" is supposed to be a threat, isn't it?

Being a responsible parent, I am somewhat torn here.

Racing Colours

I should have taken my own advice with the each-way bet on Maluckyday (it ran 2nd) but like a fool went for the red hot favourite So You Think on the nose (3rd).

It was a glorious day here yesterday - warm and sunny with a gentle cooling breeze. The perfect weather for racing. I'm all for moving the Melbourne Cup up to Brisbane. The horses, the jockeys' silks, the posh frocks and the everything else racing looks so much better in the sunshine. Here's a shot I dug out from last December during a race meeting at Doomben to illustrate.

Place Your Bets!



Today at 2.00pm, Brisbane time, all around Australia people will stop what they're doing for the biggest horse-race/excuse to skive off work of the year: the Melbourne Cup. They've rigged up a betting shop in the middle of one of the busiest shopping precincts in the city and all are welcome to have a flutter. Restaurants have special menus, bars have special deals, clothes shops have special lines and you can't move for fascinators... it's all about this race taking place 1500kms away.

If you believe all the pundits, this year it's a one horse race: So You Think is going to romp it home. My tip for an each-way bet is Maluckyday. No reason other than I like the name. And if you win, you can say "Itsa Maluckyday!"

November Theme Day: Public Transportation

Here's one of our CityFerries. Alongside our CityCat service which has bigger, faster boats, these wee things chug around the river happily stopping at smaller destinations.

It's the first of the month which means it's the City Daily Photo community's theme day. This month, as you can see, is public transportation. To see how others interpreted the theme, click on the link below.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants