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

Sunset Behind Alex

The sun is almost gone, leaving the occupants of the buildings to their own reflections.

Nelson Park

Alexandra Headland

Say Cheese

Cheesy souvenirs at the Kenilworth Cheese factory.

Kenilworth

Rainforest

Rainforest is difficult (for me) to adequately photograph. I shall return with a tripod, and some patience and try to create an HDR image to give a better impression!

Kenilworth

Purple Hair

I have no idea why I became fascinated with these mannequins, perhaps it's because they don't hide their faces when they see me with the camera.

Maleny

Obi Obi Creek

Resting on the bank of Obi Obi Creek in the heart of downtown Maleny. The creek is actually a habitat for Platypus so perhaps the black outfit was to try to blend in.

Maleny.

Kenilworth

No one is fearful of being too colourful in Kenilworth.

Kenilworth

Bloke from Maleny

The population of Maleny comprises a wide cross section of people including farmers, artists, musicians, and of course people who wear straw hats.

Maleny

Hottie

Ooh oh ohm she's on fire!

Maleny

Mooloola Valley

From the top of the hill, looking back to the coast from a distance of about 20 kilometres, one begins to understand how sparsely populated our city really is.

Maleny

Maleny Library

The library is designed to mimic the older style of building, and sits on the sensitive Obi Obi Creek banks. The community is obviously accepting of this development, unlike the supermarket on the opposite bank.

I'm not sure if that's hypocrisy at work, or some sort of grand vision.

(EDIT - see comment below for a perhaps more informed view)

Maleny

Coffee in Maleny

The bakery doesn't have a fancy floor, but the shadows of the lattice cheer it up. Oh, and there's not much of a view but the coffee's good and the sky is usually a rather pleasant colour.

Maleny

Maleny

Most of the Commercial buildings in Maleny were originally constructed in the early 20th century. The colours and sophisticated landscaping don't particularly reflect historical accuracy, but it's a pleasant place to be.

Maleny

Lost Hat

Either someone has found this hat, and left it in an obvious spot so its owner can find it, or the post is very sensitive and afraid of getting its top sunburnt.

Maleny

Little Yabba Creek

Little Yabba Creek always has a touch of blue about it and the foliage surrounding it. It's quite strange for this part of the world, when I work out why, I'll take a photo and tell you all.

Kenilworth

Another Hippy Truck

Another great Kombi, this one with "eyelids" and terrifically surfing accoutrement right down to the shell necklace over the rear view mirror.

Kenilworth

Highway One

If you are driving to the Sunshine Coast from the South, this is how you get here. A few kilometres to the north and the road just sort of fizzles out and becomes a single lane each way affair like most highways in Australia, where trucks pass in the opposite direction a few metres from your doorhandles.

Forest Glen

Fig Tree Walk

There's this beaut little bushwalk near Little Yabba Creek, which is paved with tarmac to make it wheelchair friendly. A one kilometre circuit through the forest, and if a tree falls over the path, two cuts with a chainsaw will fix!

Kenilworth

Staghorn

About ten or fifteen metres above the ground you can see the shock of fresh green, a staghorn (or perhaps and elkhorn) plant has attached itself in the crook of a branch and is establishing a new sub-canopy ecosystem. These plants exist on decaying plant matter that becomes caught in their foliage, and have a fibrous root structure which traps moisture for future use.

Kenilworth

Fig

The buttress roots of this rainforest fig are just beginning to make their presence felt, over time they will become vast curtains of timber, but I don't expect to see that!

Kenilworth

Ettamogah

Ken Maynard was a cartoonist who captured the Australian way of life with exquisite characatures, and a cartoon strip based around the goings on in the Pub in outback Andamooka in South Australia.

Being somewhat off the beaten track, most people would never get to see the place so he took a good deal of liberty with the structure, and included a model T on the roof among other features. Perhaps even more unfortunately, someone took it on themselves to share the cartoon with us in real life, and so a series of Ettamogah Pubs have been created around the land.

This is ours.

Glenview

Crikey!

Some billboards still show Steve Irwin, but Australia Zoo is gently changing it's brand, using surviving family members in its advertising. It's a difficult challenge I suspect, as children have a habit of growing up quickly, and it's hard to maintain a static brand image.

Still it's a reminder that we do live in Australia Zoo territory, so if ever you visit the zoo, give us a hoy!

Glenfields

Sea Kayak

A plastic sea kayak on the bank of the Noosa River tones ever so subtly with the tanin stain in the water.

Noosa

Diminishing Returns

I sometimes wonder why people don't actually visit the building site before finalising colours. This poor building is pleasant enough, but is finished in a colour which is neither blue nor green, and doesn't seem to want to be anywhere near the lush rainforest that is its backdrop.

Montville

Bird of Paradise

Today's date is 08/08/08, so I couldn't resist posting at 08:08!

The Bird of Paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) is actually a native of South Africa and derives it's common name because of a supposed resemblance to the New Guinea bird of Paradise.

I suspect that makes this photograph a truly international one!

Montville

Rainforest Canopy

It's hard to explain a rainforest canopy to those who haven't experienced it. My skills aren't sufficiently well developed to properly convey the message either.

The forest itself is quite dark and dense, so when there is a break, the light is quite severe and the contrast between deep shade from the dense canopy and the stunning sky are huge. Another reason to attempt some HDR work in the forest I think.

Kenilworth

Canoe Lesson

A cluster of canoes. I'm not sure whether the collective noun for canoes isn't "fleet" but "cluster" sounds nicer to me! Here the raft gathers while capsize recovery drill is demonstrated.


Mountain Creek

Low Tide

Low tide at the headland exposes the rocks with their attendant green weed. The rocks and pools between Alexandra Headlands Beach and Mooloolaba are a truly beautiful place to explore.

Alexandra Headland

Australia Fair

This stylised globe sits on top of the Maleny Returned Servicemen's League (RSL) monument to the fallen. There's not much else to say about it really except that the sky is typically devoid of anything that looks as though it could deliver rain!

Maleny

Starbucks Mooloolaba

A quiet winter's night at Mooloolaba. People dressed appropriately, bracing themselves against the cold of the night!

I understand this is not one of the 73% of Australia's Starbucks Stores that are closing today. It's always a sad time when people lose their jobs (over 600 in this country, nothing like the 12,000 in the US), but it also has to be said that the chain is not universally accepted, and the sympathy will not necessarily extend to the chain.

Here, we favour a stronger European style of coffee than Starbucks offers, served in something other than a paper cup!

Never the less it will leave a hole in the retail environment that will be missed by many. One wonders at the long term future for the non Capital City stores like this one.

Edit - March 2010: eighteen months after this original post "anonymous" posted a comment below.  As a customer of the store picutred,   I can concur that it is a great example of its kind and it does in fact offer an alternative to paper cups!

Mooloolaba

Check Him Out!

Well someone's got their attention!

Young Surfers
Noosa

Metal

Sunshine Plaza is the largest regional shopping centre in town, and like many other buildings, architecturally it has it's share of our vernacular building material, "corrugated iron" roofing and metal structures.

This lightweight method of construction evolved from our earliest settlers who had to transport building materials very long distances, and corrugated iron was ideal for this purpose.

Maroochydore

This is one of 183 photoblogs posting a photograph today with the theme "metal". Click here to view thumbnails for all participants