A Sign!

Perhaps when the architecture has little merit, it is just as well to cover it with signs! Sadly the signs do little to advertise the business as each competes with the other.

Brisbane Road, Bundilla

Mooloolaba.

The General

This is the biggest Soldier Crab on the patch, and he seems to be wearing a uniform with a white blaze to let us all know he's important.

He's probably about 16 mm across his body though, so he's not too threatening to me.

Mooloolaba

Soldier Crabs

At low tide on the Mooloola River the Soldier crabs are on the march. These are tiny crabs, ranging from pea size to maybe 15 mm across their bodies, and they run in regiments.

I'd often wondered at how the blue colour gave them any camouflage at all, but perhaps this view of them running across a patch of sand with a heavy mineral content gives a hint.

Mooloolaba

Scary Movie

Wasn't there a ball with a face just like this that featured in a Scary Movie?

Father and Son, Nelson Park.

Alexandra Headland

Skippy

Kangaroos don't run in the main street, but they are quite common in any bushland area or particularly where there's a grassy patch adjoining bush.

This one is part of a large mob which inhabits the grounds of the Sunshine Coast University. They are not domesticated, but happily graze within a few metres of human activity.

Sippy Downs

Mandolin

Mandolin Apartments reflected in the lake on Nelson Park.

The building is actually white, but the setting sun gives it a sort of Miami Florida pink!

Alexandra Headland

We Won't Shop There

A few years ago in Maleny, many of the townsfolk rallied in an effort to prevent the building of a Supermarket.

The fight was long and bitter, but sadly for the antagonists, ultimately the development complied with the Town Plan and was approved. Many of the townsfolk have not forgotten, and cryptic signs like this abound, to the bemusement of strangers.

Visitors to the town could be mistaken for thinking that the craft shops they patronise, and which this vehicle is parked outside are the target of the campaign.

Perhaps it's time to rethink.

Maleny

Fishing

A Great Egret fishing while there is still light in the afternoon.

Maroochy River
Maroochydore

Sprocket

What you are seeing is actually a mobile musical instrument called "Sprocket". Sprocket can't easily be explained nor photographed as the musicians are always in a position where their backs are to the audience.

Inventor and Musician, Steve Langton has created (with a little help from friends) this amazing 4 wheeled tuned percussion machine incorporating Marimbas, Tuned Wheel Rims, Tuned Pistons!, A Drumkit played on high, Pedals that 2 people can use to move Sprocket around, and the world first "Thongaphone".

For more pics see my Flickr Sprocket Gallery and to hear it in action there's even a clip on YouTube.

Maleny

Maintenance

Cleaning the bottom will make it a lot easier to row on this evening's fishing trip.

Maroochy River
Maroochydore

The Esplanade

Mooloolaba is a town where even the old buildings are new, and thanks to one particular property development group the new buildings provide a pleasant foreground to a typically cloudless sky.

In planning terms it's a bit of a disaster though, as it has created a ten story wall between the beach and the areas behind. I'm always confused when "developers" are blamed for the result, when all they are guilty of is meeting the requirements of the Town Plan.

Mooloolaba

City Daily Photo

As the sun starts to fade over Mooloolaba, and before the lights of the buildings begin their nightly duties, the handful of apartment buildings on the shore bear more than a passing resemblance to the City Daily Photo portal!

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Outrigger

The last outrigger paddler returns after an evening training session. The Mooloolah River bar is deceptively calm, and the first lights of the night begin to twinkle on the shore.

Mooloolaba

Macaranga

Macaranga tanarius is a Queensland rainforest species, but I've seen examples on a "plants of Hawaii" website so who knows what that's about!
It's known as a "pioneer" species as it will grow in disturbed earth, providing mulch and cover for a taller plant to germinate from below. They're messy blighters though if you grow them over your driveway, with all those sticky flowers and leaves which fall 12 months per year. (We won't do that again!)

Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens
Tanawah

Billboard

If you've ever wondered what bilboards are made of, the answer appears to be: Old Billboards! This one has rather a mixed if a little nonsensical message though.

Forest Glen

Rock

A lonely rock waits for the next tide to continue the polishing process.

Pt Cartwright

Postcard from Mooloolaba

Having a wonderful time, wish you were here.

The colours and softness of focus are accidental, but remind me so much of a postcard from the seventies, I posted the shot anyway!

Mooloolaba Beach

Another Glass Awning

In Caloundra, they have glass awnings as well, but they aren't quite as elegant as the Mooloolaba version published yesterday.

Perhaps this is where the inspiration came from.

Caloundra

Sirocco

The dappled glass awnings along the Mooloolaba Esplanade provide a lovely balance between letting the light in, and letting the harsh sun do its worst. In a country where the UV index ranges from "Dangerous" to "Extreme" this is a truly beautiful compromise.

Sirocco
Mooloolaba Esplanade

Torso

If you have no legs, arms or head, this is what you'd look like in a bikini.

Mooloolaba Esplanade

Wednesday

On Wednesday's some Mooloolaba Yacht Club members go sailing in a very informal event known as WAGS, or Wednesday Afternoon Gentlemen's Sailing. It's a handicapped start, which explains why the other yachts are just tiny white specks on the horizon.

The surfer in the foreground is just splashing around on a perfect winter afternoon.

Alexandra Headland

Comfort Station

We don't have any of those fancy self cleaning WC's that one finds in the big cities, but lots of people use these beach facilities and they've got a bit of our own beachy style about them!

Alexandra Headlands

Canopy Detail

The rainforest provides stark contrasts between light and shade. There's little filtering of light, it's more like a switch turning it on and off where the few gaps in the canopy occur.

With just a little imagination, the transition between light and dark happens so quickly and evenly it is remeniscent of an Escher Tessellation.

Kenilworth

Coastal Banksia

I know I'm supposed to take pictures of the flower, but I rather like the texture of the leaves, and the two flowers in the background!

Alexandra Headland

Sunrise

Sunrise on the Mooloola River

Mooloolaba

Shutters

This apartment building has magnificent views of the water.

When the shutters are open.

Alexandra Headland

Going Down

The timber stair to the rocky beach is used mostly by surfers who enter the water off the point to take a short cut to the waves.

Alexandra Headland

Surfboards in Bed MkII

In early April I published a version of this photo which was a little soft, and I vowed I'd use my tripod next time.

I think I like the original better!

Sob!!

The Surf Club
Alexandra Headland

Harley

I must confess that my ideal a motorcycle involves windy roads and lightning fast responses. This does not reflect my ideal!

Blue Harley
Eumundi

Sister City Sculpture

Today's monthly theme is "Sister City", but with our town in some disarray after the recent merge of local authorities, rather than a picture of our Sister City, to best explain the sculpture, I'll quote directly from journalist Sam Benger published in the Sunshine Coast Daily Newspaper on the 12th June.

"It's a bird, it’s a plane ... it’s a flying bronze sculpture.

A swan song to the Maroochy Shire was unveiled at Nelson Park at Alexandra Headland yesterday – a $130,000 bronze sculpture representing the area’s emblem, the black swan, ready to take flight next to an egret, the emblem of Maroochy’s sister city in China, Xiamen.

After three years of planning and controversy surrounding the cost of the project, the final product, weighing a massive 1.5 tonnes, was lifted into place by a crane yesterday.

Local Kenilworth artists Elli Schlunke and Tony Reay had a hand in the creation of the sculpture, which was constructed by Chinese artist Min Yi Ming.

“The idea of it was to use both cities’ emblems as a way of connecting the two, and for that reason we’ve called it 'sisters by choice',” Elli said.

“In some ways it has lost a bit of its significance now that the three councils have merged, but it’s also a record of part of that history of the area and of an era that has just finished.”

Former Maroochy Shire Mayor Joe Natoli, who championed the project after a similar sculpture was unveiled in Xiamen last year, defended the cost of the artwork and said at the time the statue was cheaper than the one in China and would be an outstanding piece of artwork for the Coast.

Tony said originally the statue was to go in the water, but due to its size – the swan has a wingspan of 6.3m while the egret stands 3.4m high – it was decided the statue would take pride of place on a small island situated in the centre of the park.

Chinese artist Min Yi Ming said it took almost a year to create the sculpture, which was constructed by placing bronze sheets over a steel frame and belting them into shape."

148 other photo blogs are publishing photographs from their sister cities today, click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Nelson Park

Alexandra Headland