On the Road

It has taken me a few days to get the photos together and get settled into our new digs, but finally, we start the tale of getting there. Along the road, not far south of Toowoomba, we find hundreds of these beautiful yellow flowers.

Stick Your Head Out the Door!

Here's what we have to look forward to in Seattle. Think it might rain?

Movin' On

Tomorrow, we leave Toowoomba and Queensland for points south. Our house sit here has ended and we start a two-day drive south to Lemon Tree Passage.

At the Movies

Went to see Dr. Strange at the cinema. It was a fun ride and Benedict C. did a great job. I thought that a time or two the special effects were moving so fast across the screen that I was going to loose my lunch. But the story was fun and it is clear that several of these are in the works.

A Drive in the Country

It finally warmed a little and we had ourselves a bit of a drive in the country side just outside of Toowoomba. Just south of town on the New England Highway is a turnout from which it is possible to look south and east across some truly wonderful farmland.

Shopping

Mozzarella cheese in Australia is very different from what we are used to. I thought that all mozzarella was made from buffalo's milk since this is all that we get in the US. It makes a creamy white cheese with a distinctive but subtle flavor.

Tasmanian Devils May Save Us

Great article from New Scientist today. The lede says:

Milk from Tasmanian devils could be used in the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, new research from Australia finds.

 Worth a read. Here I thought that everything here was designed to kill you. Here's one that may save us from ourselves.

I'm just disappointed that the real Tasmanian Devil is not really a whirling dervish as I first learned from Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Retrospective

A few minutes to look back at our trip in August this year. I thought a few of the images would work in B&W. This one is from a clearing in the Bunya Mountains gives a view of the valley beyond and some nice clouds floating above.

The Beach at Noosa Heads

In a cove protected by the headland is a beach facing north. This beach is paralleled by the town of Noosa Heads...a place filled with all the usual beach-type of places.

Backyard Visitor

Since spring is well underway here, it the time of year to watch for those winter-sleeper, reptiles and amphibians. We recently found a Common Blue Tongue lizard in the backyard - also known as a "bluey".

Yummy Face

Here's a commercial that is now playing on Australian TV. There's just something about the "yummy face"  that cracks me up.

I'm expecting that new grandchild to be making yummy face all the time.

Australia Zoo

While visiting Noosa area, we also made a visit to the Australia Zoo. This is a place made famous by Steve Erwin. He grew up in Queensland not far from Beerwah where the zoo is located.

Performers at the Eumundi Market

Music and street performance was a constant theme at the Eumundi Market. Some stalls had vendors who made musical instruments such as this fellow who made didgeridoos for others to use in making traditional music. Others also make drums.

People watching II

At the Eumundi Market, there is plenty of food to be found. Much of it has an Asian theme. This fellow is cooking skewered chicken.

Announcement!

We are proud and pleased beyond words to publicly announce that we are about to be grandparents! Our beautiful daughter, Anna, is expecting in April.

People Watching at Eumundi Market

We visited the Saturday market in Eumundi. It is really, really, large. It's yuuuge, and the best ever (Sorry, too much of American politics is leaking through to us).

Dispossessed

The closing on the sale of our house has happened. We have now officially cut our property ties. We have a few things in storage but the stuff we use routinely fits into the back of our truck. We live now on four wheels.

A Visit to the Beach

What would a trip to an Australian beach be without a visit from a bluebottle? I don't know...safer maybe?

A Brief Interuption

We are off to Noosa Heads for a few days with friends visiting from home. I should have some fun to report by the time we get back. Don't go away, we'll be back in a few days.

The Time Change is A'Comin'

Here are the time zones in Australia. When standard time is in effect, as indicated above, we are between 8 and 10 hours ahead of UTC (basically London with Daylight Savings time off there).

Retrospective

A visit to the Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico back in 2009 finds a study in color contrasts and textures.

Insects in the Backyard

We were visited by some manner of critter in the backyard here in Toowoomba. the video doesn't show anything but bush, but the noise is certainly loud and persistent. Of course, given the reputation Australia has for deadly things, I choose not to stick my hand in to find him.

After talking with our neighbor about what this might be, he went out and caught one cause this is what Australians do. It is a Bladder Cicada. It is about two long with large green wings. It looks like a leaf, hence the reason they are so hard to see. With vibrating diaphragms on both sides and the large bladder in the back to resonate the sound, that certainly are loud. You can read more about them over at the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

South Brisbane Cemetery

Time for a visit to another cemetery.

We've seen lots of things in cemeteries, but this is first time that we've seen socks and shoes left as a memorial on a grave.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary II

One of the two largest birds in Australia, the Cassowary (the heaviest of the two), is a significant carnivore and, by all reports a nasty tempered critter. As you can see there is a fence between us and this old bird has learned to be calm with all the humans walking about

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

In a dimly lit room with very large aquaria along one wall, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary has several platypus in captivity. Here is the best shot I could come up with. The ISO was set to Hi2 on my Nikon D800E and the Aperture was open all the way to f/1.8. No flashes were allowed. There are much smaller animals that I imagined - perhaps 15 -18 inches long. They are busy swimmers.

Brisbane Botanic Garden

Earlier, we visited the Botanic Garden in the City of Brisbane. It is located on the river surrounded by the CBD. There is a larger one at Mt Coot-Tha.

Brisbane Pet Sit

We are taking a break from our house sit in Toowoomba to do a pet sit in Brisbane for a few days. We are taking care of Jazz, a yellow Lab, while her mum and dad are away. We took her out to the local dog park for some off-leash time with a tennis ball.

A Ride Through the Country

The sun finally came out and we took a bit of a ride though the country. Out past Spring Bluff where we gave up in the rain before, we went down to Murphy's Creek.

Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery III

There are come very interesting graves in this cemetery. This one, made of brick, give the odd appearance of a barbecue.

Spring Bluff in the Rain

We're having a spot of weather here. You may have heard that a big weather system moved through South Australia the other day and that entire state lost power. We have been getting rain, although clearly not of that magnitude. One day clear, the next soft.

Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery II

Some of the graves in the Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery are marked very modestly. Others are grander.

Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery

We realized recently that there is a large cemetery in Toowoomba, one of the oldest ones in Queensland. It is also significantly larger than the ones we've explored in Australia so far. So we traveled to the western side of Toowoomba to investigate.

A Brief Look Back at Belize & Guatemala

Back in 2008, we visited Belize and Guatemala. I thought you might enjoy a short stroll down memory lane.

Cabarlah Market

Interestingly, the flea markets here all seem to be on Sunday mornings. The nearby community of Cabarlah recently had one. Among the many things we saw on sale there, we saw chooks (chickens).

Kilcoy Beer & BBQ

Over the weekend, we drove to Kilcoy to enjoy a bit of small town Australian fun. The street fair was held under a warm sunny sky and filled with characters. We also had some interesting choices of food.

Table Mountain

Soon after we arrived in Toowoomba, we had an evening with our neighbors and over wine and finger-food, we talked. One of our neighbors, John, is a teacher with a degree in biology and loves, as do all Australians as near as I can tell, to go for a walk. He offered to take us on a walk to Table Mountain. Weather and travel got in the way, Elizabeth realized that it is a hard walk and backed out. I did not. We've finally made the excursion. Above you see the top of the extinct volcano and a short section of the track to the top.

Pioneer Cemetery, Chincilla

We took a drive westward on the Warrego Highway to visit Dalby and Chinchilla. the towns were nice but nothing to  get too excited about. However, the Pioneer Cemetery in Chinchilla was a pretty interesting place.

Glen Lomond and Duggan Parks

Toowoomba sits on the crest of the Great Dividing Range. Along the eastern face of the mountains where there is a sharp drop down to the Lockyer Valley are a series of parks. We recently visited a couple of these parks: Glen Lomond and Duggan.

Carnival of Flowers Parade

The Carnival of Flowers is an excuse for the city of Toowoomba to metaphorically put on shorts and a tee-shirt (actually people wear these all winter) and bask in the spring warmth. Since The Friday before and the Sunday after this Saturday were rainy and cold, it has to be done in a hurry.

At the Anglican Church (St. Luke's) there was, in addition to the sale of flowers, there was a sale of woolen good in the fellowship hall.

Those darned Magpies!

During magpie nesting season, these birds get extremely territorial and will attach anybody or anything that they feel is a treat.

Taking the Plunge

After giving it some thought, I have finally decided to go "full monty" and have now connected the blog commenting to Google+. They are now one. New posts will appear on my feed (is that what it is called?) on Google+ and comments left there will appear on the blog and vice versa (I think).

Jump in and enjoy. Let me know if there are issues. Just trying to get a little bit more exposure for the blog. We seem to currently have regular readers in France, Germany, and Australia in addition to the US. A few other countries show up pretty regularly but it is hard to tell if places like Russia, Serbia, and Thailand have real readers or are simply someone (somebot?) just trying to spoof me and drag me into some sort of mess.

Queen's Park Botanic Garden

With the arrival of spring is the blossoming of the Queen's Park Botanic Gardens in East Toowoomba. We went out on a misty morning to catch a few of the flowers at their best.

Tamborine Mountains Overlook Panorama

I finally had time to put together the photos from the Rotary Overlook in the Tamborine Mountains and make a panorama. This is closer to what is was like to being there. I thought you'd enjoy the scenery

Australian Pelicans at Cooby Dam

A visit to Cooby Dam with warmer weather finds the Australian Pelican in full form.

Main Range National Park

Back in July, we visited the Main Range National Park and stopped at Queen Mary Falls (here and here). Since spring has advanced, decided to stop by again and see what is going on. For one thing, the Satin Bower Birds are clearly fatter.

Got a Sweet Tooth?

There is a kiosk store in the Toowoomba Grand Central shopping center called Donut King. They sell coffee and donuts. Seriously sweet donuts covered with multiple layers of sugar disguised in party colors.

Even the people I know with a significant sweet tooth probably can't get though more than one of these without sugar coma. There's something of the British love of sweets here that is ramped up in the southern heat.

On some of these, the "icing" is thicker than the cake underneath. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

Driving on Hills

In the US, we often climb and descend hills when on the highway. But in Australia, when you climb a hill, it is really a serious hill!

In southeastern Queensland, the land is largely flat farm land punctuated periodically with a mountain or hill. This means that there are little to know foot hills as Americans and Europeans would recognize them. You just drive along and suddenly, you find yourself climbing a 500 - 1000 m high mountain. This produces some very steep climbs like the one above. This one is on the way to Spring Bluff near Toowoomba, but we've seen similar hills in the Tamborine Mountains and in the Bunya Mountains. And yet, we routinely find large trucks, very often with two large trailers behind the tractor climbing these hill (very slowly). This particular section follows the old stagecoach/wagon route between Toowoomba and Brisbane. We've read that when descending these hills, the wagons would drag logs behind them to keep from running over the horses. I just use low gear.

There are certainly some interesting things to be found simply by driving about the countryside.

Spring Bluff

Just a ways north of Toowoomba is a small, old train station that has been converted to a cafe. The grounds around it are filled with flowers in bloom.

Laurel Bank Park - Spring has Arrived!

Spring is making an appearance finally! At the Laurel Bank Park, not far from the Grand Central shopping center in central Toowoomba, we find lots of sunshine and flowers.

McDonald Park, Tamborine Mountain

Another section of the Rainforest on Tamborine Mountain is McDonald Park. The tree above is one we've seen in several rainforests. It is a Piccabeen Palm

Rotary Overlook

The Tamborine Mountains rise suddenly from the surrounding plain. On the western side there is an overlook maintained by the local Rotary Club.

Curtis Falls, Tamborine Mountain

We had to spend a few extra days away from Toowoomba before returning so we spent a couple nights at Bribie Island and one night on Tamborine Mountain. The afternoon we arrived we hiked down to Curtis Falls through the rainforest.

Tamborine Mountain

The town of Tamborine Mountain reminds me very much of places like Boone or Banner Elk, NC. There is a small community of residents and lots of coffee and sandwich places for the tourists. One stretch of road has a winery, German clocks, Clothes, ice cream and burgers...just the sort of stuff you expect to find in a tourist destination.


The forest is very lush and beautiful and quite a change from Bribie Island. It really does feel like visiting the mountains in the southeastern US. There's food, farmers, coops, vegan stores, and people dressed just like you'd expect mountian people to be.