On Patrol

A few days ago I observed that the spent seed pods of the banksias don't seen to fall off.... ever.

Perhaps this photo serves to prove my hypothesis.   When the flowers are new (and the pods) they are above the leaf level, now the leaves have over run them, leaving them in a shaded understory.

I'm not sure what all that means to the tree, the ecosystem or whatever, but one day this photo will remind me to find out.

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Moffs on the Rocks

 The Rocks and Moffat Beach - just made for fossicking on - carefully!

Moffat Beach

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Tiring

I never tire of poking around on the beach and the rocks below the headland.  I wonder if you get tired of the picture of that same old tree!

Moffat Beach

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For good measure.

Because the next couple of days feature similar photographs, I thought I'd better start with the view north.

Moffat Beach

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Coastal Banksia

I have been particularly unsuccessful in trying to capture one of these things in flower of late, but this one is about to burst out - perhaps I shall remember where it was in a day or two and revisit!

Kings Beach

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Coming and going.

A new flower spike about to appear while an old one, laden with seed pods is about to let them loose.

I never seem to get to flowers in this late stage with advanced alopecia, one last clump of its hair about to fall off, I don't know why - they must be in equal abundance to the spent pods.

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Banksia men

Banksia pods seem to hang on the trees for ever.  I don't know if they ever fall or rot off, but under their little hard shell is a layer of the softest velvet, and I can't find a reason for it.

Perhaps its just one of life's mysteries.

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Cutting down the noise with glitter.

When the bridge touches down on the south bank, it does so beside some residential buildings.

The glass panels are there to deflect the road noise apparently, and perhaps to let the drivers have a sneak peek into someone's bathroom.   OK I'm only kidding about the bathroom, but the whole thing has a certain melancholy to it in a design, as though someone was trying really hard to do something wonderful, but they weren't hired until after the "important" decisions (like getting those economical bridge beams from a catalogue) were out of the way.    I can almost hear the slashing of the budget each time some grand new idea was tabled.

There is an expression that probably sums up the design brief I think ;
"You can't polish a turd, so how about we roll it in a bit of glitter."

Still, it's a lot better than it might have been!

Maroochydore.

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Under the Bridge

Well it's not that bad.... if you blinked you'd miss it.

It's amazing how often we travel over this bridge at a hundred kilometres an hour, without giving a passing thought to what holds it up, or how many people are fishing in small boats beneath its arches.

Maroochy River.

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Bridge over the river Maroochy

It's not easy trying to find a view of the bridge that shows it in its best light.

I suspect the best time for that would be at midnight, during a total eclipse of the moon combined with an electrical blackout and a fog.

Never the less, there are some angles and times of day which take the edge off it.

Maroochydore.

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Incoming!

Another busload of visitors appears in the evening sky.

The Sunshine Coast Airport isn't big enough apparently, so the Council thinks it can make it bigger.  This is not necessarily good news I suspect as there isn't a terribly high level of expertise on our Council when it comes to constructing airports, but I'm sure it will all be fine in the end.

Or not, but it keeps the papers in business.

Sky over Maroochydore.

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Marks where they've been

It was the glue marks that drew my attention to the wall, left when someone removed the sign that once was there.    

Then, without further ado, they were painted over, presumably in the hope that no one would notice.  But I did.

Then I started to wonder what manner of creature and mess lived in that gap between the two buildings, and slowly backed away.   But the sun made a nice pattern.

Caloundra

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Traps!

The seed pods of the casuarinas look harmless enough, and they certainly won't inflict any serious injury, but they lie in wait under the soft leaf litter for unsuspecting beach-bound bare feet.

That's what thongs (ok,  flip-flops) were invented for.

Any beach round here.

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She-oaks

The canopy of the casuarina looks sparse, but it somehow manages to provide a respectable amount of shade, and the wind makes a reassuring "shushing" sound as it whispers its way through the foliage.

On any beach near here.

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House, sky, frangipani.

House, sky, frangipani.

Caloundra

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Honesty at last!

Finally I have found a block of apartments named for their own sake, comfortable in its own skin.

Caloundra

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Do you know the way?

I'll give you a hint: It's more than twenty eight hours by aeroplane.

Just another small homage to the "California" part of "California Bungalow" I suspect.   It's a very curious thing, this transportation of places around the world like some sort of sub conscious desire to be somewhere else.

Caloundra.


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Linga-on

Everything about this house says "stay here"!

There are few of its vintage in the entire city, so it was worth recording.

Caloundra

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Trouble

On the face of it, this is a photograph of the Caloundra Car Par and Bus Station.   One can see that it's a veritable hive of activity.

I made it as far as the footpath before being questioned as to my intent with the camera.   Someone, somewhere, no doubt in a darkened room, believes that taking a photograph of this building represents a threat to "security".  Never mind that Mr Google has a few of them already published, or that the building is probably the least likely target to terrorism ever.    Oh no, if you have a camera and are lingering in the middle of the street pointing it at the building, you must be up to no good.

Apparently.

But I escaped arrest, and have my shot so here it is.

Caloundra Bus Interchange
Caloundra

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Not a masterpiece.

There are people who think today's architecture with all it's shiny glass and glossy metal is bland and boring.    They weren't here in the seventies were they?

Caloundra.

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Four Generations

Four generations of architectural style (and no style at all) sit under a textured sky.   Actually the sky wasn't at all textured, I was just mucking around in processing and have no idea what I did, but there is a certain quality about it that I like.

There's a certain quality about the power pole that I don't.

Caloundra.

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It's all in the name.

I've never seen a place called "Can't see a thing from here seafoods", but there are more of them than there are places from which there is a view.

If you've got it, flaunt it!

Bulcock Beach.

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Nightmare

I have no idea who cleans all those louvres, but I'm glad it isn't me.

A client of mine once insisted that all the windows in her house should be specified as louvres of a particular size, so that she could pop them in her dishwasher when they needed a clean.   For this building, one would need a very large dishwasher!

Bulcock Beach

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Fifty Shades of Blue

Two shades of blue actually, but who's counting.

One of them is the sky.

Caloundra

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Seafood

Caloundra Seafood Markets on a clear day.

Bulcock Beach

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Creek or Drain?

Actually it's a tidal creek and it has to have a name, but I can't find it easily.   It does carry a good deal of stormwater out to the ocean though, and I'm fairly sure there would be more than one mud crab lying in wait among those roots.

Bulcock Beach.

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Portrait of a mop bucket

For a few moments I felt like one of those proper street photographers, seizing on opportunities, photographing the grit behind the facade.

But it's just a bucket and mop and the beach awaits.

Bulcock Beach

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Portrait of a pallet truck

At the back of the Plaza.

Bulcock Beach

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Tower

Somewhere up there behind those windows, lurks a person with a big set of binoculars, keeping us safe in the water!

Dicky Beach

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Retrospective

Last month at Dicky Beach, Sunday morning, Nippers out in their hundreds!

Dicky Beach.

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Aging

Today's City Daily Photo blog theme is Aging, follow this link to see many more interpretations of the theme.

On the Sunshine Coast, there's a certain irony in that it's a place where people of post-work age tend to flock to live out their days, but as the region matures and more services are needed, more families arrive which means the average age is slowly coming down.   But at the same time everything is new this is not a town in which pioneers pulled bullock drays down dusty streets.

"Old" in building terms could be as few years as ten, or perhaps in the case of this rare near ruin - thirty.  Without maintenance the salt in the air soon takes it's toll.  But it's a beach front "mansion" so I suppose at some point it will be rebuilt bigger and better than ever.

Dicky Beach


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