This is my stop!

I'm off back to Europe for a few weeks.... England, Ireland and Crete here I come, yahoo!! I've got a post ready for the City Daily Photo theme day on 1st of July but other than that you won't hear from me until July 21st or 22nd. 

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!

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!

Kangaroo Point from Mowbray Park

Riding beneath the Gateway Bridge

Alighting at North Quay

The downside of Brisbane's public transport system is that it costs a fortune to go anywhere. There isn't a maximum fare per day so if you were intent on a long day traveling all over the place, you rack up some serious dollars. You can lower the cost of each trip by getting a Go Card or if you pay cash, get all your travel done within 2 hours and your initial ticket is the only one you need to buy.

The upside of Brisbane's public transport system is the CityCat. It's a network of catamarans that run from the University in St. Lucia in the south to Northshore, north east of the city towards the Gateway Bridge. You just can't beat cruising along the river with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair.

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.

Great Brisbane Bike Ride 2016

Yesterday was the primary event in Bicycle Queensland's Bike Week - the Grest Brisbane Bike Ride a giant bike ride with over 2,000 participants. Riders can choose between 40, 75 and 110km routes. They close off or partially close dozens of roads that are normally choked with traffic. Traffic light signals switch to flashing amber in the city and an army of volunteers and police give cyclists as much help as they can. There was a bit of a bottle neck at the Moggill Ferry as hundreds of riders arrived and the ferry man said he could only take 60 people at a time.

It was about an hour and a quarter between the two photos. That's the ferry with the cars on it. Luckily for us, the 40km ride on the other side of the river had a lot less hills than the preceding 70kms!

The River Loop

There are thousands of cyclists in Brisbane. It has the perfect climate for it. The majority of Brisbane's cyclists choose cycling for fitness but the level of cycling commuters would probably shoot right up if it was safer to ride in and out of the city. Each candidate for the recent mayoral elections promised better cycling infrastructure but unsurprisingly that's all quietened down now that the elections are over.

One of the most well-trodden bike routes is called the River Loop and snakes around dedicated bikeways and streets on a 30-40km course (depending which bridge you cross) roughly following the river. If you live on one of these streets and are up before 7am, you will know all about it either from the whizz of bikes flying past at high speed or the seemingly too-loud conversations about bike cadence or how the stock prices in Woolies are looking.

Having said that, it's a great ride. If you can't beat em....

Today's Catch

Fishing for bream off the jetty at Rocks Riverside Park.

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.

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.

Queensland Blues

Queensland voted yesterday with an astonishing swing to the right. The conservative Liberal National Party took 76 seats so far (predicted 78) leaving the ousted Labor Party with just 7! With only 4 seats going to independents, things are going to be very blue around here for a while...

You're Welcome!

I think this might be a Welcome Swallow. Allow me to consult my bird book (it was a Christmas present)

...yes 15 cm, tail deeply forked, upperparts glossy blue-black...

"Courting males descend on stiffly downheld, quivering wings... Voice: single 'chep' usually in flight; spirited twittering song; rising 'seep,seep,seep'; in alarm, high pitched puny 'seeet'."  

My favourite thing about my bird book is the was it tries to convey the voice of the bird in human terms. To be found in most places in Australia with the exception of deserts and the Kimberley Region. This one was flying around the river in St. Lucia and sat still on the front of the CityCat while I raced to attach my zoom lens. 

It doesn't say in my book how it got it's name.

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.

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.

Rubber Ducky, You're The One!

This is the starting line for the Great Brisbane Duck Race which isn't until October 30th but they want to promote it a bit. The deal is, you buy a (normal sized) rubber duck and that money goes to charity. Your duck gets a number on it and gets poured, with all the other ducks, into the river when the tide is going out. The ducks float down the river in a 'race'. They've got people cheering and a race caller on a megaphone and it's all a good laugh. I think the winner this year gets a car.

Read more here.

Life by the river aint so bad....Skywatch

I took a short stroll down to the CityCat stop early on Wednesday and was greeted with this scene. The sky was breathtaking, making the Brisbane River shine like liquid gold.

Not too shabby at all.

Check out other skies on offer at Skywatch Friday

Morning Rower

The days are getting longer and the mornings lighter. This was taken at 5.35 this morning with the sun a few inches over the horizon. This time in two months there won't be much of an orange tinge - the sun will be much higher in the sky. Remind me again why Queensland doesn't have daylight saving??