Saturday 27 October 2012

Heading Home


Our last visit to Moreton Island, and time to head home to catch the ferry. This is a view along Eagers beach. Stunning, isn't it? It's always sad to leave but nice to know that this beautiful island is only a short ride away. 

Friday 26 October 2012

Honeymoon Bay


What could be nicer than spending time relaxing in this beautiful isolated bay? After the strenuous efforts of tobogganing down the sand dunes (see previous post), having a lunch stop and a paddle in Honeymoon Bay was perfect. 

Thursday 25 October 2012

Island Desert


Hop in your 4-wheel drive, hang on tight and take one of the sand tracks to the interior of the island. I should add here that if you don't have much padding on your bum, expect some bruises and a good shaking up! It doesn't look too bad from this pic, but believe me, there are some massive ruts in the track, and being sand, it shifts, so you'll get thrown all over the place. But it's well worth it to get to the desert.


Moreton Island is the third largest sand island in the world, and not surprisingly the centre is very desert-like. Massive sand dunes have formed which are the perfect playground for visitors to race down a 90m mountain at 60kms an hour on a sand toboggan (read a small piece of plywood), your face centimetres away from the blistering hot sand! Sounding like fun? Hell on earth, but GREAT fun, believe me. Once you have removed sand from every conceivable orifice, and you want to take the thrill ride all over again, you have to climb back to the top of the dunes. This is a workout for your legs that you will feel for at least a week later. Who knew that climbing a sand dune was such hard work! 
Come back tomorrow and we'll have a more relaxing time.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Shipwreck?


The main settlement of Moreton Island is Tangalooma, and just offshore are several wrecks. You would have seen them on yesterday's post. Despite looking ominous, they are in fact dive sites that have been created on purpose by scuttling a number of ships. not being a diver, I'm unlikely to experience life as seen by Nemo. (Snorkelling is my limit). 

Monday 22 October 2012

Into The Bay


We are more than fortunate in having a wonderful natural resource right on our doorstep (or right on our shoreline)! Moreton Bay has a huge biodiversity, with dugongs and turtles calling it home, along with dolphins and numerous marine life. More than 40,000 migratory wading birds visit each September to April, and from June to September, whale watching is a booming business. This is Moreton Island about 75 mins ferry ride from Brisbane. 

Thursday 18 October 2012

Off Air!



I'm having connection and PC probs, so will be back posting as soon as I can. 

Monday 15 October 2012

All You Can Eat


With an abundance in spring flowers it seems that there is more than enough food to go around for the birds. Here you see a rainbow lorikeet feasting on seeds and nectar.

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Riverfire


One of the highlights in the calendar has to be Riverfire, the annual celebration of the River City, which usually kicks off the Brisbane Festival. This year they reversed the plans and closed the three-week art spectacular with the massive firework display. This is now the third largest firework display in Australia and featured more than 100 different types of pyrotechnic effects


With a crowd of 500,000 (and more watching live on TV), 4500 fireworks weighing 11,000 kgs lit up the night sky and the bridges. 


This year, in keeping with the Riverfire theme, they even had fireworks coming out of the river! I wonder how they do that?


Tuesday 9 October 2012

Twilight Zone


I think there is always something special about that time of evening when day is transforming into night and the city lights gradually take over the fading sky. Reflections over water distort and elongate, depending on the movement of the river, creating a rainbow of colours. There is a calm in the air and a feeling of expectation from the chattering people as they head along the walkways towards one of the many cafes and restaurants. Small river craft ply the water, people go about their business and all feels well in the world.

Saturday 6 October 2012

Don't Look Into The Laser!


Well, I hope it's OK to look at these lasers which were all part of the nightly laser light shows that 'performed' over the three weeks of the Brisbane Festival. The barge in the middle of the river created the massive curtains of water spray that acted as the screens for the lights, along with huge beams of light that played over the night sky from the tower blocks of the CBD. All of this with a soundtrack which at times was stirring, and other times more like a dirge...I guess you can't have everything. No matter what the music was like, the light show was spectacular.




Friday 5 October 2012

Lanterns


The cultural forecourt on South Bank hosted a display of Chinese lanterns as part of the Brisbane Festival. I have no idea what is written on the lanterns but I can only hope it was all good! You can just make out the Wheel of Brisbane at the back.   

Thursday 4 October 2012

Night Lights


At night the sphere is illuminated by ever-changing LED lights with ethereal music emanating from somewhere within the stand. It's not hard to see why this has been such a popular art installation, albeit temporary. Personally I'd love to see it here permanently.


Wednesday 3 October 2012

Mirror Ball


Not from outer-space, but a sphere covered with various sized mirrors. This is one of the most popular interactive art installations that was here for the Brisbane Festival. Sitting beside the Brisbane River and reflecting everything around it, it has been a massive draw-card. If you think it looks good now, you should see it at night!

Tuesday 2 October 2012

War Of The Worlds?


"No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets. And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us."

"War of the Worlds"  ~ H.G.Wells ~


(I'll show you more over the next few days and tell you what it is).