August Theme Day - My City's Skyline

Here's the ever changing view of the city from Gladstone Road in Highgate Hill. Plenty of cranes around the monolithic "Tower of Power", 1 William Street, which is soon going to hold all of Brisbane's civil servants and is dominating the skyline at the moment.

But not for too long...the powers that be have approved this giant casino complex called Queens Wharf see the computer fly-through here. Due to start construction next year and be finished around 2022. The view from here will certainly be very different by then.

You can see other theme day posts from around the world here.

Look Down

Whoops! I missed the theme day. Too busy galavanting on the other side of the world. I discovered that wifi alone doesn't cut the mustard (in UK, Ireland and Greece, anyway). The coverage was sketchy and the speed was slow. And blogging from a phone is a bit hard for me too. OK grumpy old bird rant over. I know I know first world problems and all that.

So July's theme day was 'Look Down' and here's my offering. The view from the City Hall clock tower on to the concreter's dream that is King George Square. The square underwent a renovation a few years ago. It used to be grass with fountains and big trees to sit under. Now in the middle of summer the searing heat bounces off the concrete and reaches face-melting temperatures. There's hardly any shade or anywhere to sit. On the plus side,  if you fancy protesting against poor urban planning, you can fit thousands in to this space and the clean up afterwards is relatively easy.

View from City Hall

At 92m, City Hall in Brisbane used to be the tallest building in town until the 1960s. Now it's completely dwarfed by the huge towers that are going up in the CBD but it's still fun (and free) to go up to the clock tower in an ancient manual-operated lift. You get a different perspective on the city from up there. This is looking north-west with Albert Street on the right, Roma Street train station and Roma Street parklands.

Hard Boiled Egg

 The wheel was yellow in the middle and white around the outside last night. I told my daughter it was just like an egg and to which she gave me a look like "that's stretching it a bit". Then we arrived at our destination visiting friends staying at Casino Towers with this amazing view and -hey presto- check out the reflection in the river!

View from the MOB

Taken from inside the Museum of Brisbane looking across the dome of City Hall.

Tower of Power

This is the new government building that is starting to loom over William Street and the river. It takes up an entire city block and can be seen from all over Brisbane. It's due to be completed in the middle of 2017. That tower block next to it is the Parliamentary Annexe building and used to be the tallest thing along that stretch of skyline. Not any more!

Kangaroo Point from Mowbray Park

Reward

Yesterday morning's fog draped over the city as seen from the lookout at Mt. Coot-tha. It would have been a better shot if I had been bothered to lug my SLR up the hill but it was hard enough on the bike without it. This was taken with my phone camera. Pretty lovely anyway and a nice reward for getting out of bed at the crack of dawn and hoisting myself up the hill.

111 Eagle St

The architectural design of 111 Eagle Street (the green glass building with the wiggly bits) is "Inspired by an algorythm based on the way plants grow towards the light" - at least that's what the website for this building says.

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.

Morning Shadows

Being from a part of the world where you learn to make the most of every drop of warm weather, I still find it a bit unnatural and wasteful to join in with the widespread glee that summer is over for another year. Having said that, autumn is a beautiful part of the year to be in Brisbane. The humidity lifts, the clouds disappear and we get glorious sunshine during the day with cool enough nights to (almost) pull a cover over you.

Today's picture was taken yesterday morning on my way to work at about 7.45. The Mount Coot-tha lookout was mobbed with cyclists who had finished their morning climb and were looking at a downhill stretch all the way home.

Nearly done

The under-whelming "Soleil" building is nearing completion and has taken it's place on the Brisbane skyline, dwarfing everything nearby. 464 apartments, 74 floors high. Prices start at A$370K.

Mt Coot-tha Lookout Skywatch

It's funny - where I grew up in London, if you looked out of the window and saw this sky you'd be grabbing a coat but at this time of year in Brisbane, a break in the rain often means the humidity rises, the cicadas hiss louder and things get a little bit sticky.

Part of Skywatch Friday

Mirror Ball At Night

I went down to South Bank again last night in the hopes of capturing the laser show reflected in the big mirror ball. Unfortunately the ball is a little bit too far away from the action but it is lit from underneath in light that changes colour every few seconds.

I'm off camping in the Bunya Mountains for a few days so hopefully posting will continue while I'm away. Back next week!

Santos City Of Lights last night

As part of the Brisbane Festival, there is a laser show to music every night at South Bank. There are huge searchlights that fly around, laser beams from the tops of buildings and laser images projected into the spray of water canons on the river. Not as exciting as Riverfire but if you are in the area, it's worth a look. The best place to see it is between Victoria Bridge and the Goodwill Bridge.  There are free shows every night until the 24th. Times are here.

By the way - last night I committed the cardinal sin of photographers and ventured out without realising I had a low battery. My spare battery was sitting in the charger at home so my camera died about 3 minutes into the show. D'oh! Another lesson learned.

Now With Wings!

Riparian Plaza, as seen from the ground.

City Morning

This was taken back in steamy February, early in the morning from the 22nd floor of the Park Regis.

How he hated that Monday morning commute

I found this one in the archives from back in May. One of the great things about the river around the city and Kangaroo Point is how well it's utilised. This section gets Citycats, ferries, paddle steamers, pleasure boats, the world's largest solar-powered boat, HMAS Endeavour (if you look closely you can see it in this snap)... and then you get kayakers, rowers and I've even seen someone on a paddle board!

Just as an aside, I was talking to a friend who mentioned that he often went for a paddle in the river if it was a nice day. Being English, I took that to mean that he took his shoes and socks off, rolled his trousers up and waded in to about mid-calf. I looked at him like he was bonkers. While the river is good to float on, you wouldn't want to go swimming about in it! Yuk! All sorts of nasty stuff went through it during the flood and I think it's probably still a health hazard... and the swirling under-currents can be deadly....  Anyway he meant paddle-boarding. Duhhhh.

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

Back To Normal

The sand is back in South Bank and the swimming lagoons have re-opened after the flood devastation. It's looking great. We are, however, going though something of a cold snap; crystal clear blue skies with daytime highs of about 20 degrees and overnight lows of about 6.
Not a chance of getting me in that water.