Noosa's Famous Fringed Lily

Our trip to Noosa also coincided nicely with the locally abundant and very delicate fringed lily (Thysanotus tuberosus) coming out in bloom. My camera, which usually seems to struggle with getting the correct shade of purple, is right on the mark this time. Rumour has it you can eat the crisp juicy tubers, raw or cooked. We managed to restrain ourselves and went to a restaurant.

Noosa Koalas - Not Many Left

We've just got back from a few nights up in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. On our first day there we headed to the Noosa Heads National Park hoping to see some koalas. On previous visits we've usually seen a few. Not a skerrick to report this time though and the latest news is not good. We were lucky to catch this little fellow up in one of the trees in Hastings Street, right outside the Tourist Information Centre.

City View

Brisbane's skyline from Mt Coot-tha on a hazy day a few weeks ago. There's only one crane in sight at the moment, a far cry from the situation shown in my header picture which was taken several years ago. The number of cranes is a pretty good barometer for the state of health of the local economy. I'd give it about 3/10 at the moment. We probably have another six months to wait before big-business is game to poke its head above the parapet and get the economy moving. Bring on the election.

Something Fishy

Mackay's Bluewater Trail is home to a number of large artworks, one of the more prominent being this set of fish bones by artist Fiona Foley. The other artworks commemorate Mackay's heritage so I guess this has to fit in there somewhere. I initially thought they might be miner's picks since that is the current lifeblood of the community but apparently not. That's the heritage listed Custom's House in the background.

Mackay Misspelt

Just back from our long weekend in Mackay, visiting the latest member of the family. Mackay's growing very rapidly but the giant Caneland shopping centre, much bigger than I remember from my days around Mackay in the late 90s, has sucked the living daylights out of the town centre which now bears a passing resemblance to a ghost town. Orthographic correctness would also appear to be dying along with the town centre. Here's a novel way of spelling 'chips', although they did get it right further down the page. We also saw 'crumed steak' and 'meringe pie' in our travels.

Chinatown - Driving on the Right

This is part of Chinatown in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley. It's also the only place in Brisbane, as far as I know, where you have to drive on the right.  It's quite entertaining to watch because it's the exact opposite of the state road rules and confuses a lot of first timers - drivers and pedestrians. This peculiar arrangement serves merely to simplify getting in and out of a car-park a short distance up the road. Only a bureaucrat could have come up with this idea.

Another Flood Appeal

Yes, predictably there's another flood appeal although I suspect that people will be less willing to contribute this time around - like me. Last time round we happily contributed to the appeal (although goodness knows how much got chewed up in administrative bullshit).

Since then, three things have happened. Firstly I got hit with a flood levy. Not a great deal but that changes the ground rules. Why donate when you're probably going to cop an extra tax anyway ?

Then a load of people received $1000 because they lost power for 24 hours. We didn't, but the biggest incovenience most people would have had was their freezer contents thawing out. It was excessive and unnecessary and everyone else had to pay for it.

Then the home insurance premium went up by a savage amount to cover compulsory flood cover. I don't want flood cover. I don't need flood cover. I bought a house where it will never flood. Again, I'm paying for the poor buggers who copped flood damage.

So I get to pay a flood levy, watch the money being splashed around like confetti and then have to pay for flood cover that I neither need nor want.

No, I won't be contributing to the appeal this time around.