Sunshine Coast Daily Photo

Monday, 20 December 2010

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas - 3

Having never seen falling snow, it was only last year in one glorious photograph I found that the impact of "icicle" lights became apparent. There's no chance of ice ever forming on them here, and Santa must get an awful heat rash, but camping is no excuse not to break out the lights!

Cotton Tree
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas - 3

There are still some tent spots available, but if you haven't booked your cabin, you are out of luck this year!

Cotton Tree

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas - 2

The camping grounds are starting to fill, it is summer and "the" holiday after all, but there has been so much rain this month that the start seems to be a bit slower than usual.

Cotton Tree
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas

Top marks to the cheery folk at the Mooloolaba post office for the letter-box shaped wreath on the customer service hatch!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Still Looking Up

This morning, the picture has something in it we haven't seen for a while: Shadow!

But the rain is due again in a day or two, so I'd better get out and about!

Looking Up

Footpath roof.

Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Festive Season -Enjoy!

It's time, I thought with less two weeks to go until Christmas, to seek out some decorations.

There, almost on it's lonesome in top of the Norfolk Pines in Mooloolaba is a message.

Well at least it's not "Happy Holiday".

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

More Beach Texture

Sometimes in the desperate search for something to photograph, when I remember to look straight down the textures underfoot keep me amused for ages.

Rocks becoming sand.

Then I forget to post on time! Oops! But it's still today so that's OK.

Alexandra Headland
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Froth and Bubble

The residual pockets of foam among the rocks quiver with each gust of wind. While they appear to be quite colour co-ordinated, the dull beige is really just dirt and silt from the river water discharging into the sea after the storms.

Ugh!

Mooloolaba

Beach Textures

After the storms, the sea is messy, not huge, the water among the rocks a dirty brown, with a frosting of foam. The breeze is gentle and pleasantly warm.

Perhaps in a day or two we shall see the sun again, or perhaps we shall see more storms.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The first towel of summer

The weather may not be conducive to anything but sitting inside, but the first towel of summer has appeared over a balcony handrail. Each summer I draw comparisons between their appearance and the swallows in the northern hemisphere. They are a sure sign that holidays are here!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Not Old

The reflection suggests something from our colonial past. The building form is indeed borrowed from another era and another locality for that matter, but the sliding aluminium window frames are a dead give away.

Perhaps sir would prefer something in concrete?

On second thoughts, perhaps not.

Shops
Maleny

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Not Patina

No one's left a cake out in the rain here, just a whole bakery. If the building had been built in 1593 I'd be waxing lyrical about its romantic patina, but sadly it just looks as though it needs a clean. It's something we don't do all that well I'm afraid, maintain buildings.

At 57 years of age, it's getting old by our standards, but I suspect this one won't be around in four hundred years!

Bakery
Maleny

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Pathology

I was going looking for some Christmas decorations in the streets, but surprisingly perhaps they aren't there .... yet. In desperation I wandered through a large shopping centre, and not surprisingly found boughs of holly and coloured glitter balls everywhere. Thankfully the endless Christmas Carols and White Christmas dreaming music have not yet infected the speakers, so the scene would not have been complete and I was saved from photographing it!

In the end, it was the pathology clinic in Maleny that caught my eye, right there in the main street. It didn't take too long to work out what the former cottage was now being used for.

Maleny
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Green and Gold

Green and gold are Australia's sporting colours, derived traditionally derived from the colours of wattle flower and foliage, but after one of the wettest springs on record, it could well represent the colour of grass and dandelion flower.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Christmas Seafood

Christmas in Australia is also seafood time for many, although the van in Maleny is a long way down the lane. (it is visible..... just!)

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Finished by Christmas

Christmas in Australia is more than a celebration of religious significance and a holiday, it's the biggest deadline of the year.

No matter what one is building in the construction industry, there's a promise to have one "in" by Christmas!

Street works,
Maleny
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Seasonal Decor

Red and Green are definitely the colour of Christmas, and Angels of course in checks just as they would have been, and are those wreaths of holly I spy?

Oh dear.. so much of what we perceive to be Christmas traditions are foist upon us from the North where it's cold at this time of the year. I think it may be a year for seeking out anomalies!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Time to buy

The Crafty people of Maleny have their products on the market in the Community Hall, nice and early for those who don't like a last minute rush.

Maleny

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Time

It's about time! A happy return to theme day posting after a long absence!

The first of December marks the time for many things, dressing up as Santa's helpers, selling craft work on the street, shopping for presents, getting ready for Christmas.

It's a time when everyone starts to ask where the year went, after all it's barely three weeks till Christmas.

It's also a time to get ready for summer! (Yes I've seen the pictures of snow in the Northern Hemisphere, and thought it might be about time to find lots of beach shots to warm you all up too!)

Christmas Shopping
Maleny

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in today's theme : Time

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The Thing

The plaque says it's dedicated to the Pioneer's of Maleny and district, but it doesn't say exactly what it is. It may look like a gun, but it's not, and it has hooks on it for cables, I have no idea what to make of it.

I like the big disk wheels though.

EDIT - MYSTERY SOLVED VIA EMAIL (thanks Jeff!):

"The thing" in WA at least is called a "Whim" and is towed behind a bulldozer to tow logs logs out of the bush. I think the log is winched up under the arm to prevent the end digging in.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Water Dragon

I had hoped to sneak closer, but alas this little fellow is already twitching every muscle ready for a leap into space and an escape from my shutter.

Maleny
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Wicked

There's a particular breed of cheap rental camping cars which feature graphics that would make most self respecting street artists proud. Often the stories that they bear are for an adult audience, and there are sometimes questions as to their suitability to be driven on the road, but they certainly add a dash of something to the lives of everyone that passes by.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

On any Sunday

Traffic along the Mooloolaba Spit can be a little heavy on a fine day. Once one turns down, there's only one way back, so at least it's easy to gauge one's chance of finding a parking spot.

Parkyn Parade

Mooloolaba

Gallery Open

The entrance to Wayne Strickland's Gallery says all there is to say about gallery entrances by the beach I think. I really should take some photographs inside shouldn't I?

Perhaps next week.

Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The Surf Club

If one didn't know better one would think that the Mooloolaba Surf Club was in an isolated spot on top of the dunes.

The Surf Club
Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Hanging Round

Not that many years ago devices like this were used as instruments of torture and execution. Now it's a convenient way to keep the kids out of one's hair while one shops or eats.

The Wharf,

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Super Graphic

The roof sign is well faded, and can't be read from the ground anyway, but it makes an interesting pattern. If I had a helicopter I'd be able to relate what it says.

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Postcard from the Wharf

The Wharf is living on borrowed time, saved for a while I suspect by the Global Financial Crisis. One of the interesting things about living in such a new country and in a rapidly growing area is that developments of this ilk are superseded within a few decades.

A new use awaits, and only time will tell what that may be.

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Diver

Ready to find the wreck.

(The wreck of the HMAS Brisbane - click here for photos of the sinking!)

The Wharf,
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Going for a dive

A group of divers about to board their boat for an afternoon adventure.

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Insects

Australia has a reputation internationally for the ferocity of its insects. If I was to say that this photo shows damaged mosquito mesh protecting the marina, would anyone believe me?

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Web

When I saw these mooring lines I thought about my own boat sitting quietly waiting for the ravages of the northern winter with it's two little lines and my heart fluttered briefly.

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Art for the Birds

I have, I admit, sometimes made disparaging remarks at the lack of maintenance of some newish buildings on the coast. In this particular case, I think the birds which created the graphic adornment had a fine sense of proportion.

Perfect

A perfect afternoon for being out on the boat, or being in the harbour and walking to the beach.

The Wharf
Mooloolaba
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Big Boat, Baby Boat

Rhythm

I admit it, I love the juxtaposition of the movement in the rigging and the firmly fixed building behind. I'm just a sucker for rhythm like this.

Lawrie's Marina/ Bluewater Apartments
Minyama
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Harbour

No matter how expensive they may be, when put together boats always remind me a of a jumble sale. I really should explore more around the marinas, there are few of them but the river is a significant pleasure boat port.

Sadly they are off limits to all who don't have keys.

Lawrie's Marina
Minyama

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Once out beyond the breaking waves, the fleet settles down to a training run among the high rise on Point Cartwright.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Afternoon Training

In theory, towards sunset is one of the danger times for shark attack. If I didn't know it was also the time that people finish work and arrive at the beach, I'd conclude that all the lifesavers train at this time so they are forced to go faster to get away from the sharks.

The reality is that sharks have better things to do than track down a few surf skis, and this bunch knows it.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Evening

The Coach

The Coach watches as his racing seagulls go through their paces. The "A" squad talk among themselves as they await their turn at tackling the waves.

Sunrise

The sunrise doesn't have to be colourful to be spectacular. I love the shades of silver that appear just before dawn breaks, but at the moment it means rising at 4:30 am to capture it, so I was going to post this picture whether it worked or not!

Sunshine-free Coast

Just occasionally, the Coast is Sunshine-Free. Even then we must be vigilant as the UV rating is nearly always extreme.

Parrearra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

WorkCover

Simple signage for an insurance office, but I'm not sure that the "patina" developing on the almost new building is a healthy sign.

After a few months away, the poor maintenance of near new buildings seems even more obvious to my eye.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Fire!

A simple message about escaping from smoke in the event of fire.
Fire Station Graphics

Warana

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Paving

As I was wandering along the pathway beside Cornmeal Creek, I almost stumbled over this paving insert, which, the observant among us will note mimics the pattern on the banner flying above.

It's a graphic representaion of mangroves and their importance to the ecosystem, which perhaps I find a little ironic given that the creek has had the full engineering anti-erosion treatment with rock and mesh sides, hardly conducive to mangrove growth.

Perhaps the terrazzo from which it's made is meant to be a black artistic reference to a tombstone?