Sunshine Coast Daily Photo

Sunday, 30 November 2008

Sheraton Noosa

I don't think the Sheraton Noosa ever quite fitted with the rest of the urban context (sorry Brian). It's a little bit of Florida sticking up on its own really, but it makes a nifty photo.

Sheraton Noosa
Noosa

Ewen Maddock Dam

It's rare for us to find a landscape that could honestly be called "pretty". Rugged, handsome, awe inspiring, vast are all words that are more usually associated with images of the Australian Landscape, but I think there are bits of Ewen Maddock dam that are pretty!

Mooloolah

Glass Houses

Two of the Glasshouse Mountains looming small over a pineapple farm.

The Glass House Mountains were named by James Cook as he sailed north up the coast in 1770. They were so called as the shape of the mountains reminded him of the huge glass furnaces (glasshouses) back in his native Yorkshire.

When one lives in a country as flat as ours, one takes liberties with naming terrain, Mt Coonowrin or Crookneck (the one on the right) is a towering 377 metres above sea level.

Glass House

Pineapple

Last month I posted a picture of a "pineapple tree" in jest, with a promise to post one of a real pineapple some time. It took a while to find one in a similar stage of unripedness (if that's a word) to the Pandanus fruit.

The pineapple is a member of the Bromeliad family, and the fruit grows from the centre of the plant.

If I remain diligent, I'll find one that's ripened to the familiar golden yellow for a future day.

Beerwah

Sirocco by night

There are all sorts of impacts on global warming I know, but Sirocco is a beautifully lit by night. By day the building is a crisp white, by night a blue to reflect the daytime sky. I rather like it by night as well.

Here is a daytime picture!

Mooloolaba

Beach Gallery

I've just realised I've posted a week of water photographs! It's well and truly time to come ashore again for a time.

Scott Munchenburg's gallery in Mooloolaba is not only full of fabulous photographs, it has without a doubt the best floor covering of any beach side gallery in the world.

If you look carefully, you'll make it out. Beach Sand!

The darker quadrant in the right hand corner is a coire door mat, thoughtfully positioned so one can wipe one's feet as one leaves!

Mooloolaba

Gerry's

At Alexandra Headland there's a surf break known as Gerry's, because that's where the geriatrics hang out.

Alexandra Headland

Montezumas

Montezumas Mexican Restaurant in Mooloolaba, has its entire ceiling decorated in vintage surfboards of all shapes, it's a museum in itself.

Mooloolaba

Getting In

This photo was taken in the dead of winter, which explains the wetsuit top, but I didn't get around to posting it earlier, and there's something comfortable about the stance, surfer and wave, like old friends about to embrace.

Alexandra Headland

Microwave

Well it's not really "micro" but it's just a lovely little wave on the bluff at Alex. It's days like this that lead to the description "like glass".

Alexandra Headland

Calm before the storm.

Less than thirty seconds before the blackness of yesterday's picture, the river looked like this, the last visible rays of the sun are glistening on the river, although I've burnt out the sky to better show the menacing form of the cloud.

The calm before the storm.

Mooloolah River
Mountain Creek

Storm Front

A giant black curtain is drawn across the land.

Last Sunday evening we had a storm front pass through just on dusk. We didn't suffer the full brunt of it, unlike some parts of Brisbane which have been declared a disaster area, but this is what it looks like a few minutes before the wind and rain hits!

The last of the blue sky is still visible under the cloud for now, but in less than thirty seconds all sunlight is obliterated.

Mooloolah River
Mountain Creek

The Bluff

Alex is a great place to watch others after you've got back from a surf. On days when the surf is big, there's standing room only along the top of the bluff.

Alexandra Headland

Two Way Two

Another reflection in Two Way Creek, this time a more abstract picture, reflecting some safety mesh while there is work happening on a footbridge over it.

Caloundra

Two Way Creek

Two Way Creek is named presumably because it flows in two directions with the ebb and flow of the tide, although its mouth is often completely barred from the ocean with a build up of sand, so at times it more like "no way pond"!

I thought this picture was a nice reflective pun on the name.

Two Way Creek
Caloundra

Late in the afternoon, the UV rays are at their lowest and it's a great time for kids to paddle around relatively unprotected.

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Tinny

By far the largest type of small fishing boat is the aluminium runabout or dinghy, known as the "tinny" with allusions to the metal of that name!

Tinnies are robust, lightweight and need almost no maintenance, which suits pretty much every owner to a tee.

Caloundra

Port

Keep port to port going into port.

I think that's it, certainly the red buoy can't be missed near the mouth of the Pumicestone Passage.

Caloundra

Mossy Rocks

There's a spring of fresh water here near the mouth of the Pumicestone Passage, and the mosses obviously like the slightly less salty taste!

Pumicestone Passage
Caloundra

Desperate

Here's someone who needed to send an email urgently!

Maybe not, but if you have to spend your life on your computer, this isn't a bad place to do it.

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kite Pilot

The pilot in yesterday's kite photo is a picture of concentration.

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kite

Even though the breeze is quite light in the late afternoon, this is a monster kite and the pilot is having a struggle controlling it!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kings Beach Apartments

Kings Beach features an eclectic bunch of apartment buildings in uninspiring styles from the past decades. It is helped a bit by it's topography though, if it was all flat it could be a complete visual disaster!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Facing West

If you buy an apartment facing west, even if it's a few metres away from the beach, you'll need to keep the blinds drawn all afternoon!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Surfcraft

The wreck of the Dicky makes a nifty physical barrier between surfboards and other craft, and the area for bathers. It also creates a nice little gutter which forms its own little surf break in the right conditions.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

More Dicky

After washing ashore, the steamer Dicky was pretty much in one piece, but while it was unrecoverable it was sitting bolt upright and level on the beach. It was used as a dance hall for many years until around the thirties (I think) when it was burnt out.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

Dicky

I posted a shot with the wreck of the S.S.Dicky in the background a few months ago, and it elicited some excitement from a few former residents, so thought I'd return with some more.

The ship was wrecked in around 1900 and is variously buried by the sand or exposed depending on the state of the beach during the year. A few years ago it was completely exposed deliberately, and the steel treated with rust preventative in an attempt to slow the decaying process, as it is seen as a part of the identity of the neighbourhood which derived it's name from the wreck.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra