Sunshine Coast Daily Photo

Monday, 29 June 2009

She Oak

Nothing tells me I'm at the beach more than the gentle shhhhhhh of the wind through the Casuarina (She Oak) trees.

Well there is the water, and the sand, and of course the roar of the waves, and the sun glistening off a swimmer's back, and......

Oh heck, you know what I'm getting at!

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Racing Ski

A lifesaver takes off for a training paddle late in the afternoon. These skis are dedicated lightweight racing craft, deceptively difficult to keep upright, about the width of a K1 racing kayak, but of course with waves and wind to contend with as well.

He'll be back before the sun goes down.

Probably.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Urban Landscape

I think this First Avenue apartment owner should get a certificate, confirming they've had a "really good try" at growing plants on their deck.

Two yuccas do not a forest make, but it's a start.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Life Imitates Art

I'm sure building sites were not as colourful before Bob the Builder came along.

No Go Zone indeed, everyone knows that green means GO!

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Skim Boarding
4 of 4

Sadly, there's no elegant way of getting it wrong.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Skim Boarding
3 of 4

With split second timing the rider uses the momentum of the wave to fire him skywards, where he executes a quick double roll with twist and half pike before landing waist deep on his feet.

It's not an old man's game!

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Skim Boarding
2 of 4

Following from yesterday's post, here is a skim boarder whizzing down the sand, about to make contact with the incoming wave, no doubt mentally preparing himself for some stunning jump.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Skim Boarding
1 of 4

The skim board is a strange beast, it was developed in the 60's for kids like me who couldn't afford a proper surfboard. In our day it was a simple ply disk, which was skimmed along the shallow water as a wave receded, and one would run and mount it, skimming along on the sand.

Times have changed, and the boards are now a little more extreme. The object now is to skim into an oncoming wave, and using it's power to jettison oneself skywards, execute a series of elegant aerial manoeuvres!

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Watching Brief

Surely it's just coincidence that the day after I publish a photo of a wedgetail eagle on my Postcards blog, I stumble across this Osprey, sitting quietly near ground level.

Perhaps I could become a raptor whisperer.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Home at last

After being so far from the water for so long, today I just had to go down to the beach. The coast has had some enormous storms while we were away, a couple of days deposited eleven inches of rain EACH DAY, which combined with huge seas to make quite a mess of the sand stocks on the beaches.

As a consequence, there are quite a few more rocks visible than there once were, but the sand will build up once again given time.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Arkaroola Sunrise
A touring holiday Skywatch

As most regular visitors will be aware, we've been away "on the road" for almost six weeks, and have left posting to this blog pretty much on autopilot the whole time.

Of course I'd like to send a big thank you for all those who have visited and left comments in that time, and now that I'm back I'll be trying to get round the blogosphere to see what I've missed!

In the meantime, I've run out of Sunshine Coast Photos, so thought a sunrise shot from Arkaroola in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia would make a perfect skywatch. I hope no one minds this little souvenir of our holiday. The curious may see more at our Postcards Blog.

Of course it's Friday, and we're back so we can once again link to Skywatch Home where you can find links to skyshots from around the world.

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Bodyboarder

Winter wave, late afternoon, Caloundra.

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Old Surfers

The love of a wave just never seems to die.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Board Meeting

Doing a little business, Sunshine Coast style.

Note the disparity in dress, it's what happens when one lives in a "perfect" climate. What we think is cold and wetsuit weather, southern tourists consider to be warm and inviting!

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Winter Wave

Enough of the navel gazing, let's get back to the naval stuff!

A little winter wave at Mooloolaba rolls into an offshore breeze.

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Loved

I'm the first to admire towns and buildings which display a hard earned patina, a lack of lustre which reflects a long and useful history, but I'm not sure that some of Nambour fits that category.

I'm not sure that it just doesn't reflect a certain lack of pride, or perhaps more charitably a lack of understanding that a coat of paint and perhaps a repair to a sign here and there could well improve the business of the town.

Or am I an unnecessarily harsh critic?

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

In the shadow of St Joe's

There's an architectural expression which goes: "Heaven is in the detail", and while I'm sure the "management" of St Joseph's have a different view of where heaven is, there are glimpses of heaven, in this modern link to the older Church building. Sometimes, when a designer thinks about light and shade, it is apparent in the outcome!

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia