Desperate

Here's someone who needed to send an email urgently!

Maybe not, but if you have to spend your life on your computer, this isn't a bad place to do it.

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kite Pilot

The pilot in yesterday's kite photo is a picture of concentration.

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kite

Even though the breeze is quite light in the late afternoon, this is a monster kite and the pilot is having a struggle controlling it!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Kings Beach Apartments

Kings Beach features an eclectic bunch of apartment buildings in uninspiring styles from the past decades. It is helped a bit by it's topography though, if it was all flat it could be a complete visual disaster!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Facing West

If you buy an apartment facing west, even if it's a few metres away from the beach, you'll need to keep the blinds drawn all afternoon!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Surfcraft

The wreck of the Dicky makes a nifty physical barrier between surfboards and other craft, and the area for bathers. It also creates a nice little gutter which forms its own little surf break in the right conditions.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

More Dicky

After washing ashore, the steamer Dicky was pretty much in one piece, but while it was unrecoverable it was sitting bolt upright and level on the beach. It was used as a dance hall for many years until around the thirties (I think) when it was burnt out.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

Dicky

I posted a shot with the wreck of the S.S.Dicky in the background a few months ago, and it elicited some excitement from a few former residents, so thought I'd return with some more.

The ship was wrecked in around 1900 and is variously buried by the sand or exposed depending on the state of the beach during the year. A few years ago it was completely exposed deliberately, and the steel treated with rust preventative in an attempt to slow the decaying process, as it is seen as a part of the identity of the neighbourhood which derived it's name from the wreck.

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

Crane View

The good thing about having a view of a crane boom like this, is that you know it's only temporary.

The bad thing about having a great view of a crane boom, is that once it goes there will be a building where it once was.

Caloundra

Common Crane

There are two kinds of common crane to be found on the Sunshine Coast, and the other is a type of bird!

With so much construction happening even in a relatively uncertain economic time, there's still no shortage of building cranes.

Caloundra

Book Shop

Faded titles at a market stall.

Cotton Tree Markets
Maroochydore

178 photo blogs are taking part in this months theme, "Books", click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Street Light

This street light in Caloundra over the boardwalk is warming up for a good night!

It's getting a bit of an early start, as the sun has not quite set, but I thought it made a pretty picture in any case.

Caloundra

Pineapple Tree

The Pandanus fruit comprises a cluster of nuts, which turn orange/yellow when they are ripe and they bear more than a passing resemblance to a pineapple. More than one stranger has been tricked into thinking this is how pineapples grow.

I'll try to get a photo of a ripe fruit cluster shortly.

Perhaps I'll pay a visit to a pineapple farm as well!

Kings Beach
Caloundra

Between the Flags

The Volunteer Lifesavers have been back for a month after their winter break, so it's a good time to remind everyone on surfing beaches to bathe between the flags.

The Australian Surf Lifesaving Organisation owns the copyright on the red and yellow flags, so if you are going to steal this image to use in a paying publication, don't blame me if you get into strife! (It's OK to use in a not for profit way.)

Dicky Beach
Caloundra

Pondering

A garden gnome sits, wondering what life will bring once he leaves the comfortable gardens of the shop, or perhaps why I wasted my 228th post on this blog with a photo like this!

Montville

To The Beach!

It's a bit cool, so you wear a jacket, and put rubber thongs (flip-flops) on your feet to stay warm.

Many people (mostly kids) carry surfboards on bicycles using racks like this, the board isn't blue, it's just got a neat cover to protect it from damage and UV rays when it's not being used.

Mooloolaba

More Boats on Mountain Creek

Boats made from what we refer to as bondwood are very rare these days and sell for a few dollars. Most small recreational fishing boats are made of aluminium and need no maintenance.

Mountain Creek

Mountain Creek

This is a sort of a boring photograph, and unless you get down into the mangroves you could be mistaken for thinking the banks of the river were boring as well, but they are a haven for all manner of breeding wildlife, from flying foxes to small fish.

This piece of Mountain Creek is a few hundred metres from a densely populated area, and less than a kilometre from central Mooloolaba.

Mooloolaba

Boats on Mountain Creek

There are a few things about this shot that aren't at all typical. The rocky river bank is one. The rocks are an engineering device to stop the sand scouring away as the river goes under the bridge on which I am standing.

Notice that someone has put down a piece of old carpet to protect the bottom of their boat as they launch and retrieve it.

The boats themselves are a dying style, made of timber, and there would be no more than a handful still in active service.

Mooloolaba

Sunshine Castle

If you lived somewhere in Europe the site of a fortified castle or chateau may not be an unusual one, but if you remember that we live in a country that wasn't really settled until close enough to the 19 th century and that we live a fair distance from the possibility of Norman invaders, it all becomes a bit of a puzzle.

This castle has been built over a few decades using concrete blocks and houses a collection of dolls (apparently). It has always been known as the Bli Bli castle after the suburb in which it resides, but I notice that the gates now proclaim it to be Sunshine Castle!

Bli Bli