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!

Epicurious

Epicurious is the name of the edible garden in South Bank. It's great to see what grows well in our city - so much, apparently! - although as a struggling vegetable gardener it makes me feel a bit inadequate. Volunteers are here every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings 7-11.30am to hand out gardening advice and hand out the harvest too - free! Yes, I'll have to set my alarm and bring a bag next time.
By the way those are a couple of Segway riders in the background. You can now hire them and tear along the path by the river scaring the wits out of the tourists. Alternatively you can just watch people riding them and laugh. Either way - great fun!

Public Bike Repair Station

If you're ever down in South Bank with your bike and think you could do with some more air in your tyres or perhaps your handlebars need adjusting....

 

...head to Little Stanley Street and go wild!

 

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...

Here we are now, Entertain Us

Wednesday night at the Performing Arts Centre was a performance by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. 9 ukuleles varying in size and tone from a big electric bass one to a pocket-sized one, played by 8 musicians and tunes ranging from Beethoven to Nirvana...can you guess which one they were doing in this shot?

Splash!

One of the fountains near the not-so-popular viewing wheel in South Bank.

The New ABC

The ABC in Brisbane has been through a lot in the past few years. The old ABC building in Toowong had to be abandoned after several staff members working in the same area developed cancer. The staff were spread across several buildings around the city. The TV staff came up to Mount Coot-tha with the other TV stations and rented part of the Channel 10 building for 5 years, working in the basement with a pretty basic set-up. The other day, I went to visit the ABC's brand new digs in the middle of South Bank which houses all their staff comfortably. This is their TV MCR and Media Exchange area. Not too shabby!

Haus of Fun

This is a rather funky combined chair/table that you can sit on and have your lunch outside the State Library in South Bank. Very handy if it's raining (vertically) or the sun is beating down. It was originally part of the Unlimited Asia Pacific Design Triennial back in October 2010. The designer is Alexander Lotersztain and the piece is called Haus. His website is here.

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.

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.

Interactivity

This is the Light Scope again as featured in yesterday's post. Some of the lights are interactive such as these dots. They follow you around as you walk, or cluster together if you stand as a group.

Light Scope

 

It's a bit like walking through a kaleidoscope with lights and mirrors everywhere. Sometimes there are moving images, sometimes patterns. Sometimes there are little blobs that follow you around. Ace!

It's on each day until Saturday 9am-9.30pm outside QPAC.

Sitting on the Renovators' seat

This is the seat that some of the contestants from the TV series "The Renovators" made for the people of Brisbane. It's made from steel and inspired by frangipani branches and ibis birds both of which you get a fair bit of round these parts.

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.

Refugee Totems, South Bank Parkland

For all of us who listen to the almost daily crapping on by Australian politicians about immigration and 'boat people'... here's a refreshing, beautiful, artistic look at refugess in Australia. There are 3 stone 'totems' which have text and artwork inlaid. The plaque nearby has this to say:

This artwork represents 'Memory Boxes and Suitcases' that convey the stories, memories, hopes and dreams of three refugee students that have undertaken remarkable journeys to become valued members of our community.
Each totem follows the story of a young student from their childhoods in far off homelands to their dreams for the future in Brisbane. Being the first example of art representing multiculturalism in the parkand, the work not only provides a voice to their experiences but will hopefully also encourage understanding in the greater community.

If you are in the area, I recommend a look. They are located near the big wheel at the top of the steps.

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.

Light Sphere

This giant ball of mirrors is down at the new grassy section of South Bank near the Maritime Museum. It's part of the Brisbane Festival which is an annual event here with art, music, comedy, fireworks, laserbeams... all sorts of fun stuff. Read more here. The reflections off it are fascinating AND... it plays music too. Very satisfying. If it's still there by the time I get off my night shifts early next week, I'll nip down and get a night time shot.

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.