A Photo Every Day from the Sunshine Coast - Australia

Sunday 31 October 2010

Economics


Because I wonder about these things, I really can't see the economic philosophy behind the pretty stainless steel caps on this picnic shelter.  All the fittings are stainless steel, and I can see that the caps protect the protruding timber from deterioration due to the ravages of the weather, but wouldn't it have been simpler, and more "honest" in a design sense, to simply cut off the overhangs so they weren't exposed in the first place?

I suspect that without the stainless steel, there would have been enough budget for two shelters!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Saturday 30 October 2010

Pedal Boats

Some years ago I recall observing that I'd never seen a pedal boat in action at the plaza.  This could be because I'm not there when they are being hired, or it could be that someone has lost the key to unlock them.   Today I was disappointed once again.

Perhaps next week the bikini and boxer short clad sun bronzed youth will be out in numbers and I will have an opportunity of recording them buzzing in all directions.

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Friday 29 October 2010

Basket

We have no shortage of light from above, so skylights are glazed with dappled patterns and treated with UV filters to ensure we don't fry to a crisp while sitting below.


© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Thursday 28 October 2010

Plaza Verandah

The Plaza boardwalks have a suitably nautical feeling, lined with food outlets and the odd beverage vending establishment just across the creek from the cinemas they offer a very pleasant place to while away a summer evening.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Wednesday 27 October 2010

Scallop eye view


I found yesterday's scallops while clambering down the bank of the creek to take this photograph of the entrance to Sunshine Plaza, or at least one of them.  From this perspective it's interesting to observe how important the water is to provide light and colour to the precinct.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Tuesday 26 October 2010

Mud Scallops


I can't be sure, but I think this is a cluster of mud scallops.  OK I admit it's not a terribly attractive photo, but I was quite taken aback to find them growing about a foot below the surface of Cornmeal Creek, at the entrance to Sunshine Plaza our biggest shopping centre!

The fact that I could take this photograph at all is some sort of testament to the water clarity and quality, although I'm not sure I'd want to eat them.

What next?  Dolphins at the supermarket?
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Monday 25 October 2010

It IS still open!


In through the doors I boldly went where clearly no man had gone before, well at least not this day.  It may be open, just as the sign predicted, but the Big Top has a very spooky abandoned feel, yet the supermarket is still trading, and three or four other stalwarts struggle to make ends meet while the remainder remains entirely empty.  
The customers?  Well perhaps lunchtime is a bad time for shopping.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Sunday 24 October 2010

The Big Flop Still Open

 The sign sits forlornly on the street advising in a half-hearted sort of a way that before it faded at least, the centre is still open.   At least the undercover parking is stress free, the sign says so (for those who enjoy really dark places).

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Saturday 23 October 2010

The Big Flop


Those wacky alien structures are the roof of one of Maroochydores oldest shopping centres.  Oldest and least successful it has to be said, christened "The Big Top" and appropriately themed under the tent structures, it has bred successions of commercial failures, and has been slated for redevelopment for at least the last decade.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Friday 22 October 2010

Note to file


Next time you go fishing in the Maroochy River, check that the incoming tide won't leave you stranded on our own personal island.


© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Thursday 21 October 2010

Vista


In Maroochdore the waterfront highrise afford passers-by small glimpses of what lies beyond the shadows they create.

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Wednesday 20 October 2010

Window to the good old days.

Stucco finish over timber framing and a little bit of fretwork on the sill and the window could have been from another time and another place.


Maroochydore 2010
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Tuesday 19 October 2010

Two More Dracenas

The Sixties Beach House is an endangered species.
There are so few of them remaining that they should almost be on the world heritage list, although with their asbestos sheet roofing and lightweight construction the reality is that they will be gone within decades.


© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Monday 18 October 2010

Two Dracenas


Two lonely dracenas sit on a balcony awaiting their fate.   They are the hardiest of plants, which is just as well, as I suspect this pair will only see water when it rains.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Sunday 17 October 2010

Beach Architecture


Architect's of my acquaintance go to a good deal of trouble to create wavy lines on the face of buildings to give them a casual "beachy" sort of character.   This happy accident is an easy way of doing it; use far too few supports, and timber which is undersized for the spans,

It looks terrific, but it was supposed to be nice straight battens.

Oops.
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Saturday 16 October 2010

Breather


A lone cyclist has a spell on his way through Tewantin, he looks as though he's just about ready to take off his warm top though.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Friday 15 October 2010

Sunday in Tewantin


Nice and quiet, that's how I like it.  Of course very few of the shops are actually open for business, but I like that too!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Thursday 14 October 2010

Tewantin RSL


The Returned Servicemen's League has it's clubhouse in reasonable proximity to the monument.  It would be very handy for Anzac Day get togethers I presume!


© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Wednesday 13 October 2010

Lest We Forget


Lots of towns in Australia used to have a memorial to those of their folk who had fallen in the great wars. I don't know if they have disappeared or have simply been absorbed by the pressure of the surrounding development, but Tewantin is one of the places where the lone statue still guards the main street.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Tuesday 12 October 2010

Solar Post


The Tewantin Post Office has no shortage of solar backup should any of the electric carrier pigeons need a top up.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Monday 11 October 2010

Mountain Stream


Actually it's not a mountain stream at all, it's a water feature in the main street of Tewantin.  I was taken aback by it a little, as running water, even recirculating water is almost an oddity in these days of water controls and shortages.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Sunday 10 October 2010

Nightmare


I wonder if he pulls the plug out, will that let the water out too?
Not a situation anyone could envy.
Noosa River
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Saturday 9 October 2010

Sunken Dream


When dreams become nightmares...

Noosa River
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Friday 8 October 2010

Run as fast as you can


Soldier Crabs on the Noosa River.  They can run but they can't hide.

OK, they can hide, but I know where they are hiding.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Thursday 7 October 2010

Woodchops
7 of 7


In the handicap events some can start thirty or even forty seconds behind the scratch starter.

It makes for great spectating.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Wednesday 6 October 2010

Woodchops
6 of 7


The camera shows a stationery axe, but it has just arrived at a thousand miles an hour, and before you have read this line, has landed another time at the opposite angle, missing those canvas clad toes in the process.

Axemen give their axes names, I wonder why this one is called "Ugly"?

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Tuesday 5 October 2010

Woodchops
5 of 7


Concentration.

In a minute or two an explosion of energy will pound a razor sharp axe into a log within millimetres of his toes.   He'll be wearing sandshoes, not steel capped boots.

He really doesn't want to miss.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Monday 4 October 2010

Woodchops
4 of 7


There's a bit of effort goes into each blow!  
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Sunday 3 October 2010

Woodchops
3 of 7


Kerry Head is a champion in Australia, and I understand he makes woodchopping his full time career, competing in Canada in our "off" season.

Here the chips fly in an "underhand" competition.   In this particular event the person who cuts through the log in the fewest strokes wins.   Twenty blows were two too many for Kerry to win.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Saturday 2 October 2010

Woodchops
2 of 7


Tree felling is one of the most demanding of the chopping events.  Axemen chop notches into the poles to insert their jigger boards (steps) and cut through the log three steps above the ground.  When half way through, they dismantle their boards, and start again from the other side.

This photo is taken sometime after an event and I have no idea what the gentleman is up to on top of the stump!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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Friday 1 October 2010

Woodchops
1 of 7

Chopping wood is a sport with roots in the rural community.  It's not a particularly Australian sport, but a lot of "world" champion axemen have come from here, perhaps due in part to the fact that our timbers are significantly more dense than elsewhere.

Axes are honed so finely that shaving with them is more than possible, but no self respecting axeman would do that in case he blunted his instrument.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia
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