Let there be light.

They look better at night, apparently.   I shall return to discover just how much better!

Ahh, Christmas is coming and lights are going up, or perhaps they've been up for a while, but I'm sure whatever the case Felicity Park will look splendid after dark.

Council's "Name Origin's Directory" has this to say of Felicity Park:

The small park between the Caloundra Library and the Caloundra Regional Art Gallery named Felicity Park was sold to the then Council by Felicity and Maurice Steinsen on the condition that the trees and gardens established in the 1940s would stay as nearly as possible as they were when Caloundra's first Library was built.

Felicity Park
Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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A transition into the Christmas Holiday Season.

Did you know that for every Christmas tree that is erected before the 1st December, one of Santa's Elves kills a reindeer?   I read that on the internet, it has to be true.

How did Christmas trees become tinsel cones though, when there are plenty of proper trees sitting around which I am sure would love a dose of decoration?

Good on the Council for making this effort right outside its  offices in Caloundra.  In a few more days the holiday season will be in full swing everywhere.  Perhaps it already is.  I should get out more!


Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Litter (not natural!)

There are two kinds of litter in this photograph.  The beer bottle, which is no longer there, and the Asparagus "Fern" which is likely to thrive.   Asparagus aethiopicus is a native of South Africa, and a very threatening escapee from ornamental gardens.  When it gets going it smothers all native seedlings.

I wonder whether I'll get into trouble if I just march down with my garden fork and solve the problem in our dunes?

Dicky Beach

 © Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Leaf litter. (Norfolk Pine)

Beneath the Norfolk pines lies a thick carpet of spongy mat.  The leaves are quite hard, but remain on their branches when they fall to create a texture not unlike that of a rubber mat.

The scientific name heterophylla ("different leaves") was apparently a description of the variation in the leaves between young and adult plants


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Scarred

The destructive storm was actually almost a week ago, the big trees have been cleared away, power has been restored, and ruined holidays forgotten by all except those whose holidays (and caravans) were ruined, yet as we walk around there are plenty of marks where it has been,

It's amazing the number of trees which were able to withstand the blow, yet had enormous limbs wrenched away by the force of the breeze.

Now of course, I can check the weather widget on the "About" pages of this blog to see if there's another storm looming, although at this time of year there always is!

 Dicky Beach

 © Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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It never rains but it pours.

It was well and truly time for me to get out and about and introduce a spot of daylight into my photographs, when this happened.

When it rains here, we can get an inch or so (twenty-five millimetres) in then minutes or so.  This little shower brought with it a few minutes of destructive winds, leaving powerlines down, trees uprooted, and caravans overturned in just a very confined area, pretty much defined by the block on which we live.

I might leave getting out till tomorrow.   Which reminds me: In my recent revamp of these pages, I installed a weather widget on the "about" page.   Actually to be technical I installed an "about" page after eight years of thinking about it, but the result is what I hope will become a handy set of links!

Dicky Beach

 © Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Super Moon

A few days ago, there was a bit of fuss made over the moon. It was supposedly larger than it's ever been,but I looked it up, and it was exactly the same size. That didn't stop anyone who is anyone getting out and about in an effort to take a photo though. Moffat Beach © Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Things we never get to see.

It was dark by the time I wandered home last night.  Very dark as it turned out, and there was the slightest waft of petroleum essence in the air.

So THAT is how petrol tanks get filled up on a tiny suburban site.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Skyline.

As the sun slowly sinks in the west the Norfolk Pines seem to separate.  What in daytime appears as a green mass suddenly somehow de-materialises into a stand of skeletal frames.

Moffat Beach looking north.

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A reject.

I should have ditched it, but I really like the colours.

Pacific Ocean
Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Beneath the headland.

Sunset at Moffat Beach, looking north.

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Swirls

This month's theme day was "out of focus", and I must confess I had a few rejects that I quite liked.  Buckle in for a day or two of rejects!

Moffat Beach



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Sunset at Moffs.

If you don't like sunsets it may pay to tune out for a day or two.   This is one of the world's great miracles and one that I can never fathom:  actual photographic evidence that the sun sets in the east!

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Feeding the sharks.

Yes, that is last of the setting sun setting the pandanus aglow on Moffat Headland, and yes that is a surfer heading OUT for a quick wave before tea.

Either that or he's meeting a submarine for some illicit spy trading.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Away from the Wetlands

In the park outside the Council Chambers in Caloundra, I was at first disappointed in this rather exotic display of planting because it was exactly that: exotic.

Then the impact of its cheery tropicalness took hold exposed my desire to see the place planted in native plants for what it is - a grand conceit!  Long live tropical gardens no matter what the origin of the plants!

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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More whitening of our suburbs.

A brand new street.  This will soften in time as the trees begin to grow, but it's interesting to note the colours, or lack of them.    A few years ago, this photograph would have had a sombre grey or mousey brown tone to it as housing in "neutral" tones was all the rage.  A few years before that, it would have been all peaches and creams in a none too subtle attempt to brighten up the world.

The sky, I think, gives us all the bright we need!

Pelican Waters

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Don't go there.

I like the way the bollards which keep vehicles from the walkways, just quietly disappear off into the bush, like some sort of column of alien soldiers, subtly saying "and don't even think about driving around the barricade".

I don't like the way certain behaviours result in this sort of thing being necessary though.

Pelican Waters.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Fungus unknown.

I'm sure it's a stinkhorn "bridal veil" fungus of the "Phallus" genus, but the yellow cap has thrown me.  If I've ever seen one before I haven't tried to identify it.   The ones I usually come across have a brown cap.

Stuff to see in the wetlands!

Pelican Waters.


© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Textures

I love the way the level of dampness is telegraphed by the plants.   The melaleucas are a hint that things may not be all that firm under foot, and then the bracken gives way to sedges and reeds as the water makes its presence felt.  These changes in texture are  but one of the simple joys one experiences walking through wetlands.

Pelican Waters

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Walking through the wetlands.

Pelican Waters has a network of parks and wetlands which I fully intend to explore in greater detail in the coming year, even at the risk of publishing a thousand "this is another boardwalk" photographs.

For now, "this is another boardwalk".

Pelican Waters.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Suburban Blues

Well who wouldn't get just a teensy bit depressed at the thought of living here in the 'burbs?

Pelican Waters.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Queensland Air Museum

One day I'm going to hand over the admission fee and visit the Queensland Air Museum at the Caloundra Aerodrome.   I should have done it long ago, but I will shortly and perhaps next year's photos will be littered with aeroplane shots!

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Parking

There is quite a diverse industry around the aerodrome at Caloundra.  In one small street there are hangars for aircraft repair, flying lessons, sky diving, helicopter services and an air museum.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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I love living in a place with an Aerodrome.

The very name harks back to times of bravado and leather flying helmets and fur lined boots.

The Caloundra Aerodrome is one of those places that was once in the middle of nowhere but is now surrounded by houses, the occupants of which complain about noise and flight paths and so on.   Why do people do that?  Why move under a flight path or to the end of a runway and complain about the noise?

It provides a great facility for light aircraft and adds a bit of colour to boot, long may it make noise over our houses!

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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How many words big words does it take to say "Dump".

Five.

Twelve syllables.

Thirty-seven letters.

I could have done it with one, one, three:  "Tip".

Someone got paid to think that up.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Security

I guess if the bad guys don't have a pair of pliers to undo the shackle, they won't have a knife to cut the rope, so it's best to lock the joint.

But what if they break the lock with a big rock or something?  Best to leave it unlocked and that way we won't have any damage.

Pelican Waters.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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The colours of construction.

Sometimes there are so many colourful warning signs and hazard markers it gets quite hard to find the road.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Am I being over sensitive?

Now let me see... I suspect there's nothing else left to watch, as someone else has taken care of all the things that I could hurt myself on.

Goodness me, do I really have to be told what to do at every corner?

Caloundra.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Home sweet home.

I had an office once that was suspended under the canopy of a large poinciana tree.  Well actually it was a huge poinciana tree and the office wasn't much bigger than this bird house, but it was my place of work for the best part of ten years and I miss it!

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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Out of Focus

Taking photographs out of focus, or perhaps just not sharp is something at which I excel.  Unfortunately when one has to do it deliberately it all gets a bit hard.   Today's City Daily Photo theme day is "Out of Focus", for a gallery of interpretations of this theme, click on this link.

If this shot succeeds I won't have to say that I did try to capture that deceptive softness that is the sea at dusk, that reassurance that everything will be OK.  Isn't that why we all gravitate to sit by it as the sun goes down?

Pacific Ocean viewed from Moffat Beach.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

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