Homecoming

As the moon rose on Saturday night, a few of us gathered to welcome the owners back to their house after a 7 month displacement across the road. 

At the height of the flood, they had canoed around the neighbourhood via back gardens and between houses - taking an unfamiliar route not dictated by paths. The water level here was about two thirds of the way up the windows of the upper floor. After the flood, the old wooden house had groaned and creaked and twisted itself dry. It became a higgledy-piggeldy house where no door fitted its frame, no wall was straight and no floor was even. From the vantage point of their little rented cottage across the road, they watched the builders come in and slowly, bit by bit, straighten the place back out again.

Now, they are back home and the place looks great. The walls are straight and, as we found out, the floor smooth enough to do the twist on.

Traffic Stopping Art (Number 55)

It's been a long time between drinks but here is another painted traffic signal box brightening up the main shopping drag in Moorooka on the south side of town. The artwork is by Elise McKenzie and is called Cooktown Orchid - which is the floral emblem of Queensland.

It's great, this traffic signal box painting lark. Anyone of any age can submit a design. The main criteria is that you live, study or work in the municipality of the box.

Head to Urban Smart Projects website if you fancy painting a box or finding out more about a box that's been painted already. To see the ones I've snapped, hit the TSBs label below.

Screen Love

Who would've guessed you could get 7 kids to sit quietly around a 6 inch screen?

Uke'n have a good laugh learning the ukulele

Last night I went to the WEE BUMS which is like the main BUMS (Brisbane Ukulele Musicians Society) but more of a sub group based in West End (hence WE ... don't know what that other E is there for - maybe because it's supposed to be smaller than the main?). Anyway. It's held in Blackstar cafe on the second Friday of every month and last night when we got there it was standing room only. Someone had a double bass and the rest - there would have been about 50 people - had all manner of ukuleles and were playing at all sorts of levels. A few people up front took it in turns to load up a song onto the projector with all the words and chords. Despite me realising that I was playing the completely wrong chords on more than one occassion, the overall sum of our parts was strangely harmonic.

Candyfloss Sunrise for Skywatch Friday

Happy Friday! This one was taken back in May and, as I remember, it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Enjoy your weekend and if you want bags of sky, don't forget to visit Skywatch Friday.

Now and Then

I know I've only just done a post on it a few days ago but here's another view of our sparkling new CityCat terminal.
Below is a view of the old building taken January 12th this year almost 24 hours before the river peaked. You can see the roof of the old bike shelter just next to the lower bough of the fig tree. The rest of the building is submerged. That green thing sticking out of the water in the middle distance is the roof of a steam roller which the council didn't get around to moving.

Heading Home

 

Late afternoon, Hill End Terrace.

Census Day 2011

The Australian Census of Population and Housing occurs every 5 years and is happening tonight all around Australia. This year is a bit of a landmark as it is the 100th birthday of the census. To celebrate, I decided to download the 1911 census and see how life was back then. I'm afraid there was just too much writing for the likes of me so instead I have provided you with the link in case you are interested and have a few days to spare.

Why the Vegemite? No clever reason... it was sitting there on the kitchen bench and I needed to add a bit more colour to the shot. I have grown to tolerate it spread thinly on hot buttered toast when I am extremely, eye-crossingly  hungry

Suitcase Rummage!

The first Sunday of every month is the fantastic Suitcase Rummage at Reddacliff Place. Vendors register and then haul their wares down here in a suitcase and set up shop. It's brilliant. Vintage clothing, accessories, home-made crafty things that you would never find in a shop... and all at knock down prices. I picked up two dresses, two hand made brooches and a bowl made out of an old Dionne Warwick record (I got there late) for $14. Bargain!

Read more about it or even register to be a vendor for next time (spots cost $10) HERE.

West End Citycat is Now Open!

It's been over 6 months but we've finally got our Citycat service back and a really fancy "flood-proof" pontoon.

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.

Windmill Sunburst

The windmill at Oxley Creek Common forms part of the Rocklea Air Quality Monitoring Station. Sensors on the roof measure wind, solar radiation, temperature, humidity and rainfall.

Ethiopian Restaurant, Moorooka

Moorooka is home to a large and vibrant African community. The main shopping area is home to cafes and restaurants from different African countries, money transfer services, afro-hairdressers and fab clothes shops. This restaurant is down a little laneway and was smelling pretty good when I was there despite it being closed. I must come back!

Oxley Creek Common

Back in January this urban green space area, south of the city, was under several feet of brown river water. Being close to several industrial estates, there was a worry that the chemicals from there mixed in with the flood waters but it looks like they might have dodged a bullet. The plants and wildlife are slowly returning.

Memorial Wall

Sherwood Anglican Cemetery, Sherwood

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!

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Adelaide St. View of The Matchstick

I've taken to calling it The Matchstick because it's such a tall skinny building and the top of it is red (for the moment anyway). Its real name is Soleil.

I heart bne

A couple of years ago Brisbane re-branded itself with this green heart logo and a series of green initiatives with the goal of making Brisbane carbon-neutral by 2026. To my eye, it's a pretty clean city. Most of the time people put their rubbish in the bin...although you still get chewing gum on the pavement until the man comes along with his electric steam cart and blasts it off.

On the radio yesterday

As part of a flood-recovery series, the local ABC radio station did an outside broadcast from our local sailing club yesterday... so I thought I'd go down and take some photos. The presenter on the right is interviewing two women plumbers (two of only fourteen women plumbers in the whole state of Queensland!) who helped people get back on their feet after being inundated. I got interviewed too it was very exciting!

Get your Big Issue!

Joke:

Knock Knock...
Who's there?
Biggish
Biggish who?
Not today, thanks.


This is Nathan who has a spot outside MacArthur Central on Edward Street. He was fine with me fumbling around with my camera and pointing it at him while he tried to work. He's originally from Sydney but moved to Brisbane to be near his son. If you see him, buy a copy of the magazine. $5 each and he gets half the cover price. By the way I think Brisbane has the friendliest Big Issue vendors in the world.

Rose Liqueur, Madam?

There's a shop in the Brisbane Arcade (which links Adelaide and Queen Streets) called Liqurious and it has all sorts of interesting liqueurs and vinegars that you can sample from big bulbous glass bottles. If you like them, they fill up a fancy smaller bottle for you. I must admit to being drawn to the liqueurs. There was this one which is rose-flavoured. Also chocolate turkish delight liqueur, macadamia nut liqueur and a cognac flavoured with vanilla and walnuts. I feel a cocktail party coming on.

Forty Winks on Adelaide Street

Jane Street Community Garden

Jane Street Community Garden by Davies Park in West End is an established garden consisting of all sorts of herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers. You can rent plots and join in the working bees, learn how to build an organic garden bed from scratch and pick up some great tips on growing local food. It's also just a beautiful place to stroll around. A few years ago when I was a person with time on my hands, I volunteered down here for a few weeks and helped build some new beds... and I got some great tips. After a hard morning's work, we all sat around and ate some of the food that we had picked.

Coming Soon!

I managed to get a sneak preview of the ALL NEW West End Citycat stop after the old one was washed away in the flood in January. It should be all done by next Sunday and it's very flash. Sadly I didn't have my wide angle lens with me! (next week)

Arty chokes

I haven't cooked with them before but they are very pretty to have hanging around the kitchen.  $3 each at the market this morning.

Scramble Crossing

I hadn't come across a scramble crossing until I moved to Brisbane. Do you have them where you are? The traffic at a crossroads stops in both directions and there is something of a free-form pedestrian phase where you can pretty much walk in any direction you like.

Look No Hands!

I was a bit stuck for a photo so started having a rummage around in the archives and found this one from a couple of years ago that I hadn't posted yet. First to eat the entire doughnut using your mouth only is the winner. A cracking kids' game which I intend to adapt for my own birthday party next year.

Coffee at Urban Grind

Boundary Street, West End, is host to a mix of cool, funky hip cats (see above), people with bed heads and bare feet, a bustling Greek community, yummy mummies doing lunch, construction workers, aboriginals, office workers, drunks and nutters. That's why I love it so much. These guys were deep in conversation outside the Urban Grind coffee shop. It took me a few minutes to work up the courage to ask for their photo but they were very obliging and carried on as if the camera wasn't there.

Not Long Now

For anyone who knows the old West End ferry stop, things have changed a lot around that area. Houses have been pulled down and there is a bus turning circle.  The old ferry stop which was carried down the Brisbane River during the floods is being replaced with a much bigger, swankier terminal that's due to open next month and will hopefully see us through to the next flood. You can sort of see the front of it here but not very well. We've been 6 months without a CityCat service round these parts so it'll be great to see it up and running again. In the meantime, here's some tandem bikers who just realised I was taking their photo.

Fairground Attraction

During NAIDOC week last week, Musgrave Park in South Brisbane hosted a family fun day which, among countless other attractions, included fairground rides. This one (called "The Dementer") was a favourite with all the kids. The guy on queue control had his work cut out for him that day.

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.

One of the free public barbeques in our local park looking very sorry for itself in the drizzle yesterday.

Fig Tree with a Spray Can

Time Out

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

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.

Ceci n'est pas une bunch of random objects

    One of the great things about our Gallery of Modern Art is that the main event usually has a corresponding (free) hands-on kids' exhibition. Right now there is a big Surrealism exhibition going on. This particular activity involved making a sculpture out of a big tray of supplied objects and arranging them in a lit space. You could then take a photo of the sculpture using a fixed camera and email it off to people announcing your arrival as a surrealist artist as well as this info:

  In 1913 Marcel Duchamp was the first artist to make a sculpture using found objects. He took a stool and a bicycle wheel, attached the wheel to the seat of the stool and turned it into a work of art.

Like Marcel Duchamp, many surrealist artists were fascinated with making sculptures with existing objects. Baguettes (bread sticks), telephones and shoes were some of the objects that Salvador Dalί used to make his sculptures.

Make a sculpture' is just one many Surrealism for Kids activities created by the Queensland Art Gallery's Children Art Centre especially for the landmark exhibition 'Surrealism: The Poetry of Dreams' on until 2 October 2011 at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia.

 

Eye on the prize, boys.

 

The sacred ibis bird is not considered very sacred in central Brisbane. Their long skinny bills, originally designed to root around in the mud for seafood, are perfectly adapted to Brisbane city life. You often pass them rooting around in old food wrappers and bins or hanging around picnic areas, waiting for people to finish up so that they can get stuck into the leftovers.

Get Knotted

Sitting in the park in the winter sun yesterday was beautiful. There was a game of tug of war going on behind us, the kids that belonged to us were busy making a camp in a tree and so we set ourselves the task of un-knotting the kite string. What seemed like it might be a one-person/10 minute job turned into an hour with 3 people poring over it. There was discussion of whether to cut and re-tie... or if that was cheating (yes - in my opinion). In the end, we undid a previous knot in the line because it was already there. It was even tidied up nicely when it was re-tied. Most satisfying.

String Quartet on Queen Street Mall

Here we are on the corner of Queen Street and Albert Street. Friday just gone around lunchtime.

I didn't get their name as I was being dragged in the direction of a toy sale but I heard the violinist telling someone that they were from Brisbane. They were FANTASTIC. The sound reminded me of Eastern European folk with loads of energy and punch, the girl leading the boys and talking them through the changes. They attracted a crowd of smiling onlookers on a busking corner that people usually breeze past in a shopping daze. If you catch them, stick around and enjoy the ride.

NAIDOC day at Musgrave Park

The winter sun shone on Musgrave Park yesterday for NAIDOC family fun day. As a whitey living in Brisbane, it was amazing for me seeing so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander faces in one place. Going through the motions of Brisbane daily life, it's easy to forget that Australia has a black history.

Rise and Shine Skywatch

This was taken by my colleague Adrian on his phone while at work early one morning last week.
It's from the top of Mount Coot-tha looking north-east-ish towards the glinting ocean and Moreton Island beyond.

Does having a heavenly scene like this to look at make up for having to be in work at that un-godly hour? It's a close one.

Part of Skywatch Friday.

All That Glitters

Well the TV was on in the background last night so I was sort of watching it. And then I got really into it. Queensland ended up beating New South Wales 34-24 to clinch the rugby league State of Origin title which makes it now 6 years in a row. Suncorp Stadium was host to 52,498 screaming fans - the vast majority of them Queensland supporters.

By the way, this statue is of Wally Lewis, a former Queensland coach and player who is something of a living legend around here. Last night, to great fanfare, another legendary player, Darren Lockyer, hung up his boots. I'd say it wont be long before they stick a statue of him up around Suncorp somewhere.

Phew! Far too much attention to sport for my liking. Back to normal programming tomorrow.

At The Korean Hairdressers on Adelaide Street

Despite the look she was giving the mirror, she was very happy with the results.

There's An Aussie-Coloured House And Matching Tree on Caxton Street

Smoothie Operator

This is another shot from the Finders Keepers market. At the smoothie stall, you gather all your ingredients in the mixing jug and then attach it to the base - which is connected to a stationary bike. Then you hop on and go for a ride - which powers the mixer! Genius!!

Having Your Cake And Eating It

I was taking photos at the Finders Keepers market yesterday morning in the Old Museum at Bowen Hills. Inside, it's a crafty type of market with lots of hand made stuff including some really funky clothes. Outside in the beautiful gardens, the sun was out and there was a stage set up with bands playing. When people weren't browsing, they relaxed and took things easy in banana lounges and on picnic blankets. And they call this winter! Nope, nearly 6 years here and the novelty hasn't worn off.

It's on again today if you are in the area. You can check it out here.

Weekend Reflections on Suncorp Stadium

Suncorp Stadium is waiting patiently for Wednesday's 'State of Origin' Rugby League decider. In Brisbane, this is a very big deal and it's likely to be a tad busier round here on the day of the game.

The stadium itself is in the Milton area and very close to a couple of neighbourhoods (you can see some of the houses reflected in the glass). It hosts big sports games but also music concerts and is often really loud. If the wind is right, you can hear it in my back yard in West End  - across the river and several kilometres away.

I heard once that if you live in one of the neighbourhoods in the shadow of the stadium then you get free tickets but I think it might just be a rumour. 

Part of Weekend Relections

July Theme Day: The Colour Green

 

Members of the school's green house roused the troops before doing battle with the reds, yellows and blues at sports day earlier on this month. I think it got down to about 11 degrees celcius which is bloody freezing for people in Brisbane so don't laugh. I should have got a shot of the parents. We all had scarves and hats on and were warming our hands on our coffees.

It's Green Theme Day all over the City Daily Photo world... see how others interpreted the theme:

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