GPS

Pandanus on the foreshore of Redcliff Beach.


Casuarina. Redcliff Beach.


Mangrove at Nudgee Beach

The beaches on Moreton Bay (and all those that I have seen so far) are so different from what I know as a beach. I think it would take another lifetime to acclimatise me to them.

Pandanus and this incredibly dessicated looking casuarina are to be found on every beach I have so far seen. Shallow beaches, dirty water and warm. But there are all those islands off the coast, so the water is shallow and fed from all the muddy mangrove creeks and rivers...everywhere. Also incredibly salty.

I have brought up the car from Sydney using the old Satnav. But I clearly needed newer maps and so had to buy a new one (no maps available on the old one). So I was determined to venture forth and try the roads and the navigation.

I set out for Redcliff, having seen photos from a Flickr friend, but diverted to various places on the way. So I thought that Nudgee might serve for a swim. Clearly not. Great for fishing. And so I continued on.

The Norfolk pines of Redcliff looked somewhat the worse from the long drought, but it was a swimmable beach and so I swam.

The new satnav is not as satisfactory as the old: it does not automatically tell me to continue straight when I reach an intersection with millions of directions. You need to keep a sharp eye on the number of metres left before the turn or you will turn too early. Also the maps are crappy. We now have voiced streets, but this is not always helpful: Sir Fred Schonell drive becomes "serve ridge..." and Brisbane is pronounced with the last syllable rhyming with rain. Anyway it took me there and brought me home safely so I should not be complaining.

The Web

Mangroves on the flood tide. QUT.


Cassia javanica. The Women's College.


Leopard tree with new leaves. The Women's College.

It is an amazing new world. This morning, still pursuing documentation for my flower and plant photos, I was pointed to the EOL (Encyclopaedia of Life) site. It is still extremely rudimentary. But it plans to point to all the various pieces of documentation about a species. Australian plants don't yet exist. But where there are entries, they look pretty good. Check it out.

It took me to the BioDiversity Heritage Library site, which appears to be putting up every journal/book that has been published since people started naming plants and animals. They are making available the facsimiles for us to read, and using optical readers to index every text. Again, they scarcely seem to have touched Antipodean stuff but perhaps I am expecting too much. But check out this Joseph Banks publication.

The photos are of the mangroves this morning on the flood tide at QUT, the beautiful new bronze tiny feathered leaves of the leopard tree, and of the Cassia which has come into greater bloom since I first saw it a few days ago. The masked lapwing is still sitting on her second set of eggs (I think it's a least two weeks and if I don't see chicks on Friday morning then I won't see them at all this year, since I'm off down to Sydney on Friday.) Her bloke came up to protect her when I took her photograph, so it's not all as solo as at times it has appeared.

Along the river

Mangroves at the QUT ferry pontoon


Southbank. Bougainvillea, weeping figs & palm trees


State Library from the river


Gallery of Modern Art from the river


Poincianas on the building site. (Gallery of Modern Art behind.)


Cranes



Two days earlier. Same site. Pile-driver (yellow) and two cranes.

They tell me Joh was responsible for the Cultural Centre and Southbank. I must think more kindly of him. It is a beautiful place and all Brisbane seems to flock there to barbecue, to picnic, to eat, to swim, to do cultural things and to just enjoy themselves. The people pour off the ferry at the Southbank stop and on again and it doesn't matter what hour of the day or night it is.

The ferry has to slow to a crawl between Regatta and North Quay so as not to disturb the building works on the river. I heard the yellow pile-driver first and then saw it. Amazing that they have built this way since at least the Bronze Age.
See
www.tv.com/time-team/vauxhall-london/episode/450351/summa...

The bridge being built is the Tank Street Bridge
Wikipedia
For the design see
Department of Public Works
I hope it doesn't clutter up the river..

Patonga Creek

Looking across the creek


Cabbage tree palms


Mangroves in the saltmarsh


Rushes, casuarinas and mangroves and saltmarsh beyond


Brush turkey

The last time I went to Patonga, I went by ferry from Palm Beach, and we paddled up the creek. But the ferry no longer runs, so I drove. I had a memory of how beautiful it was, but I had forgotten nonetheless.

I was surprised to see the turkey, but I had to include him, since he was so decorative. (I took photos of crabs and flowers too, but it was the landscape, which really knocked me out.)

After Sunday's storm

Many mangrove seeds have washed up on the beach after the big storm on Sunday (along with the usual debris from broken and burnt trees).
plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&am...


The storm after it had moved out to sea.


This morning. An overcast sky but no rain.

There's been no rain today over the house. But right now it's raining over the sea and perhaps on the central coast.

I've been working away on literature for the Ph.D. And am mind-boggled by the ease at which references are now available.