Purple panic

Some weeks ago the hubby and I were arguing in a street about whether the tree in front of us was a flame or a jacaranda. A woman walking by heard us and stopped. She explained the difference between the trees and then told us all about the jacaranda and its significance here - it is commonly known as Purple Panic because all kids associate its flowering with the time that exams are approaching so a lot of young people might be quite conflicted seeing this tree come into bloom. Exam time, long gone for me, so I can only truly enjoy the splendour of their blooming all over the city, in my valley and and rather annoyingly in my pool. Still, looking for the silver lining here, I thought there was something rather special about the fallen flowers gathered in the corner so I took a picture of them for you. 

Along the river

In the pool 

From my balcony 

 Our very own jacaranda tree in the back garden 

They are natives of South America but do exceptionally well in slightly hot tropical or sub tropical climes and they clearly are at home here.Purple splendour and haze. Purple Haze of course a more familiar sound track of Jimi Hendrix's that some of us may still recall. 

National Bowel Cancer Screening program

A box popped into my letter box the other day and I am happy to share its contents with you as I was quite impressed with them. I was invited to take part in a National Bowel Cancer Screening programme.

The test is free and it comes with full instructions and a booklet explaining how to go about collecting your stool samples and how to then put them in the envelope provided and send them to the laboratory for testing. You are warned that temperature and time can affect the test results but that if you follow the rules your samples should arrive in a good state and your screening will go ahead.

Well how is that for proactive and preventative medicine all rolled into one. Not your ordinary postal package eh ! 

Brisbane Festival 2013

It started on the night of the election with a welcome to country from an aboriginal group, some official speeches about this year's festival and almost a fleeting mention of the fact that on this very day the country was in a general election and was likely to wake up to a new government. 

The 7th of September saw the start of the Brisbane Festival, a three week extravaganza of music, theatre, exhibitions, acrobatics of the highest order and venues hosting a hundred and one events for the culture thirsty society of this small big city. 

The venues are all full, the performances, those that I have been to, which amounted to several in the last week, were of the highest order and the atmosphere is exactly what you want a festival to have, fun loving, inclusive and spectacular at the same time. The Santos GLNG City of Lights which is on every night and is free, is truly jaw dropping. Here are some of the wonderful colours from it - a mixture of water and lights-with acrobats if you can picture it- electric in every sense. 

Spring

An unusually mild winter and some high temperatures has meant that spring is already on its way.
Here are some of the images on my walks which are erupting almost daily. There are signs of the blue coming through but more of that in another blog.

Beached whale

Ever wondered what a beached whale looks like ? Look no further - exploring the eastern coastline of Bribie we went off roading with the boys and drove along the shore line. There was something surreal about this endless beach and the rolling ocean. The only other vehicles were supped up 4x4s Ozzie style. We eventually hit a spot where we could take the car no further so we got out and walked and this is what we found. A beached humpback whale in all its enormity. Probably some 30 meters in length with the tail spanning about 6 metres. Quite amazing, quite enormous and quite mind blowing.

Whale and boy watching

Out on the ocean the first thing you do is discover your sea legs. Not everyone has them. Assuming all is Ok on that front, you quickly appreciate that watching the whales is so transitory that you cannot be a blogger, photographer and raconteur all at the same time. Something has to give, so in this case it was the photography. Let's put it this way - they do what they want when they want it and with these gentle giants you cant really argue and freeze the frame, but just enjoy the momentary spectacle their breaching, blowing and diving provide. In other words, forgive the crap pictures - you will get but a soupçon of their greatness.

A little about them. The eastern coastline in Australia comes alive with humpback whales from June to November. In June they migrate north to mate and give birth and in September to November they are heading back to the Southern Ocean with their young. Of course they were largely hunted for years and years which decimated their population but they are now a protected species so their numbers are slowly creeping up again. They can live to be 80 and for mammals of such size they are the most proficient ballerinas I have ever come across. When they breach they lift themselves out of the water like they are pirouetting and when they fall back they often twist their body elegantly displaying their tummy with or without barnacles. To titillate us they will also flick their enormous tail occasionally and roll in and out of the waves effortlessly and buoyantly.

We saw a pod of several, a little at a distance, but closer a mummy with a baby, gently slipping in and out of the water with an occasional blow of their spout to make sure we knew exactly where they were.

Given that capturing them was hard work I turned to more manageable tasks, of capturing the rapture of the people on the boat and some lovely boys.

Storm season

I got a newsletter from the Mayor today and it was almost exclusively devoted to preparing for the Storm Season. Yesterday was the first wet day ( just a few showers in the morning ) since my return to Australia mid July. So it is dry - but people take it very seriously here and perhaps with good reason so I have copied the page which is asking us to prepare - there is an early warning Alert service which is free to all Brisbane Households and which sends out messages via SMS or email or recorded telephone message. 

There are storm videos offered in a number of languages and a whole slew of contact nos to ask for help. Once bitten twice as ready it seems here. 

The title to this page which you may or may not be able to read is Brisbane is a sub tropical city and severe weather, bush fires and flooding are part of our natural environment.