Mooching Around Mooloolaba
It is not only humans who enjoy this Australian East Coast Seaside Resort; we awaken on Zoonie in the mornings to the sound of the local mynah birdsong, paddle-tailed bush turkeys pick over the tinder dry undergrowth for grubs and ospreys nest happily on the top of poles within easy reach of interested eyes and camera lenses.
It is easier to show you Zoonie’s ‘venetian’ canal mooring in the two photos from the chartplotter rather than try to explain it. On the way in we had to keep well right to enter as the sand builds up on the left side leaving scant sufficiency of depth even at high water. From the beach it is easy to see the lighter shallower area and is well worth a little study ready for our departure along with the ease of following the black line Zoonie laid on the way in.
Lynne and Geoff live in the house shore-side from us. Geoff had a good job with the World Bank and was living the life, fresh air, exercise, entertaining and travel when one day a stroke robbed him of all of that and despite trying to ask for clot busters in the hospital where he couldn’t make himself understood and is now wheel chair bound and highly dependent on Lynne and his carers. He can talk now and makes witty jokes and shows an interest in us and is very upbeat. He still works on the management of property he owns locally and at least he hasn’t had to leave his home. The adjustment must have been very tough. Where but for good fortune go you and I.
The young of today play water games and whizz around the canal next to Zoonie on their boards exercising and practicing under adult instruction, maybe to be tomorrow’s lifeguards. The lost fishermen of yesterday are remembered in bronze and families and couples of all ages love to be beside the seaside here either on holiday or living in the apartments of which there are many, or in spacious homes on the wide streeted leafy suburbs.
From the photos you can see how well the river is used and how popular it is as a living place. The little island of Minyama is joined to our landmass by a bridge over under and around which fishing takes place on a daily basis. Some river users get it wrong; the upended yacht anchored on a coral head or rock and fell off it as the tide receded. The owners were not on board and have been uncontactable since. The residents are sick of the ugly sight, maybe the owners are uninsured. We motored many times around to the free public pontoon in town in the tender and enjoyed seeing dinghies still sailing in the river. The ethos that all types of river users are welcome even to anchor for free amidst these million dollar homes is one thing I like about the place.
Rob has experienced some of his first bush tucker, Bush Tomato and Kanga Bangers with smooth skinned kumara potatoes and Clawson Stilton Cheese (Yep, all the way from Melton Mowbray). He spent the best part of one day in the hospital having tests for his giddiness, which turned out to be calcium crystals getting into the wrong part of his ear. Some physio on the spot and advice on exercises to do himself and he was soon back, thanks to Uber and chatting with the riggers who were measuring up for the new stays.
We soon found our local, the James Squire amidst the multitude of restaurants and bars facing the river and anchorage and watched the England v All Blacks Rugby match finding we were amidst more England than NZ supporters judging by the cheers.
We were happily caught up in the holiday atmosphere for a few days. There were jobs to be done on Zoonie and we decided while still held in the town awaiting our service providers that we would visit the city of Brisbane travelling by coach from here rather than take the time to cruise Moreton Bay with Zoonie and then have to come out again as time is of the essence if we are to make our Christmas in Tasmania rendezvous ready for crossing the Great Bight.
Jesse and Danny from Quin Rig came and laid out their tools kits on Zoonie’s freshly carpeted pontoon and replaced the five shrouds that were in the invisible process of becoming undone, single strands of steel were breaking beneath the swage. At some stage they have been overtightened, they are the shorter inner shrouds and are meant to be slightly slack ready to take up the strain of the masthead shrouds.
John brought our new auto pilot control box for the cockpit. The rusty liquid seeping from the unit and staining the white fibre-glass was a give-away and we are very grateful to John who discovered the unit was still under its three year warranty which expires in January, so saving us at least £600.
As soon as the work was done I got on to Greyhound Buses to book a day trip to Steve Irvin’s Australia Zoo on the Saturday and a return five day trip to Brisbane on the Monday securing a double ensuite room in the City Centre Youth Hostel for $444 (£225), on arrival we were in hostel/backpackers paradise and we could have done cheaper but I doubt we could have done better.
Greyhounds taking us to the Zoo Tomorrow
I don’t think I would be far wrong in saying that the late and much loved Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s ethos in life was to love, understand and respect the animals with whom we share the world and by extension to take action to protect animals in the wild by stopping the human behaviour that causes them extreme harm and the real threat of extinction.
The purpose of his zoo is to educate the general public on the beautiful life and behaviour of animals and raise funds from the business to enable national parks to be patrolled and poaching discouraged and to literally move whole villages away from the habitat of especially tigers. Australia Zoo works with Wildlife Warriors by funding the training for Tiger Protection and Conservation Units combating poaching.
The Zoo also works in partnership with Fauna and Flora International in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Sumatra on tiger conservation. And a little of what we spent there is helping protect crocodiles, tigers, wombats (all cuddle), elephants (Two are in quarantine awaiting their journey to the Zoo), giraffes (Rob was in 7th Heaven) and cheetahs. In the state of the art Wildlife hospital native and the resident animals receive the best veterinary care.
Despite a family fallout between Steve’s father and the rest of the family Steve’s widow, Terri and his daughter Bindi and son Robert are still working hard in the family business and on their own projects. Possums are safe in Aussie unlike in NZ.
Bindi has had a broadcasting career for many years, educating people of all ages about animals. She has also produced fitness and exercise DVDs, appeared in TV series with her brother Robert, about animals of course and was the lead character, Kirra Cooper in the 2010 ‘Free Willy’ film. More recently this multi-talented lass won the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ TV Contest in 2015 with her dance partner Derek Hough at the age of 17 years. Her Dad would have been so proud.
Bindi has recently become engaged to a young American, Chandler, he is a professional wakeboarder from Florida who passed Robert’s test when he happily fed the crocodiles. He is now part of the business and shares the environmental ethos towards conservation having loved to watch the TV series about the zoo since he was a boy.
Robert has dedicated himself to the art of animal photography and the products made from his work are sold in the shop. He says photography is his greatest passion, so it might turn out to be Chandler who most closely follows in Steve’s shoes.
The staff the team have recruited are very performance minded and their co-stars are the snakes, birds, reptiles, koalas and tigers. If they are not in performances then the keepers walk them in amongst the visitors who can see them up close, get amazing photos and ask all the questions that come so easily when not under pressure. We saw a wombat and cheetah taking their keeper for a walk.
The shows are designed to explain the reason behind the animal behaviour shown in the performance and to allay the many false stories that are told and believed about their degree of ferocity. There was no sign of stress, except when the low flying cockatoos nearly parted my hair as they flew diametrically across the Crocoseum.
We had a gentle wander around the otter enclosure and the through the dimly lit snake arcade. Steve’s presence comes through in the narrative on the description boards, “crikey”, “whopper” and “beauty” are reminders of his endearing and reckless personality to me.
The Rainforest Aviary was a delight, full with healthy plants and bushes you could almost hear growing and the abundance of birds sneaking around the undergrowth and yet fearless and at close range, could have been how it was two hundred years ago before the mass destruction and extinction began.
I can imagine the little girl wearing the pink cap in the picture will always remember the big, white eyed tiger coming right up to her. He was born at the zoo and despite numerous operations he will always be blinded by double cataracts. He finds his way around his enclosure no problem and looks quite happy with life. We listened to a brief talk on tigers before heading to the upstairs restaurant cleverly designed like a supermarket so that there were numerous checkouts and no need for queues. We munched as the crocs in the enclosures below languished in their pools.
Crikey, We Haven’t seen half of it yet!
Our only afternoon commitment was the Tigers Live Show and on our way there we wandered slowly through the kangaroo and wallaby enclosure and inspected Bindi’s childhood tree house. At the show the one tiger showed us how he could sit on his haunches and how tall he could stand. He does this leaning up against a tree in the wild and then slides his claws down the trunk so as to leave a marker of his territory and to sharpen his claws. His reward was a quick squirt of milk from a carton and the show lasted only twenty minutes or so and gave him something to do in an otherwise restful day.
There was barely any standing room left as this show was so popular, an indication of people’s admiration for these beautiful beasts. I respected the zoos efforts to protect these magnificent creatures in the wild too.
With over 100 bush fires burning throughout Queensland and New South Wales at the moment and the devastation that will inevitably cause to wildlife, especially the animals that cannot escape the inferno like koalas, the role of this zoo in protecting indigenous species is as vital as its work in protecting foreign species. One known colony of over 300 koalas has succumbed to the fires already and they are predicted to get worse. Today (11.11.19) the air quality in Brisbane is worse than Beijing; it was deteriorating when we left Brisbane 3 days ago.
Back to the zoo. The photos of the lake are taken from Bindi’s Island where snakes, tortoises, lemurs, parrots and red-eared sliders (turtles) turn in at around 4.30pm; and looking out from there we watched the keeper pull herself across the lake to the lemurs exclusive island enclave to give them their dinner we noticed beyond another large enclosure which we would otherwise have missed.
The afternoon may have been very hot but seeing the animals so relaxed and contented was a relaxing experience for us too. Rob loves giraffes so we hung around there and enjoyed their elegant movements; that was except when the youngster disapproved of the keepers near proximity and chased him away. They can move very quickly when they need to.
Seeing adults with their babies is always a good sign since they are obviously relaxed enough to breed and especially the white rhino with her baby gave us some hope for their avoiding extinction. Even the quite long hot walk to the far end of this enclosure did not put people off making the effort to visit the endearing meerkats, how often do their lookout movements remind Rob and me of our watch keeping 360’ horizon checks when we’re on passage.
We have recently visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary a few miles up-river from Brisbane (more about that later) and last time we were in Aussie as you know we went to the Reptile Sanctuary with Jane and Greg; so while places like this exist as stalwarts against extinction and are supported by the many ordinary people like us who love animals I feel there is Hope.
Remembering the people of Past Wars
Dear Readers,
You know me very well by now so you will predict that on our recent visit to Brisbane I took quite a few photos and I then had the dilemma of how to write up our five days there using the edited pictures. Five chronological blogs, one for each day, would not work because for example, I took pictures of the buildings and the scenes at South Bank and Streets Beach throughout our stay and to write about our activities each and every day would invariably lead to tedious repetition so on studying the pictures I decided the Brisbane blogs should be Topic Based. Here is a list which the computer decided should be presented in alphabetical order!
1 Anzac Square
2 Brisbane Arcade
3 Brisbane Architecture
4 Botanic Gardens
5 Channel 7 Wheel of Brisbane
6 City Hall and Museum of Brisbane
7 GOMA QAG (Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery) and Library
8 Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
9 Maritime Museum
10 Melbourne Cup Day
11 Queens Plaza
12 South Bank and Streets Beach
13 Youth Hostel Roof Top
So here goes with Anzac Square.
Brisbane is blessed with plenty of green spaces and one of the oldest and most carefully preserved is ANZAC Square. ANZAC formally stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps 1914-1918, but the informal and more appropriate meaning is anyone from Australia or New Zealand because the Boer War, Second World War and Vietnamese War fallen are also remembered. The two fine Baobab or Boab trees that beckon one down the steps from the eternal flame in its pillared enclosure were planted at the end of the Boer Wars (Dec 1880 – Mar1881 and Oct 1899 – May1902) and have been providing welcome shade to the city dwellers since.
There is a fine museum underneath the circular ‘temple’ of the flame, where extensive records are kept with lists and other treasured memorabilia and vast interactive tables that with finger-tip direction from the inquisitor will reveal as much of the history as is desired. The two kindly attendants are both very young, quietly dressed and nowhere near thirty years old yet.
The photo of Vincent Law, who was an aboriginal veteran soldier from the First World War, is from the Queensland Museum, not the Anzac Archives but since he was an inspiration to his family whose son served in Vietnam and three of his great grandchildren are now in the Australian Army I felt it relevant to include him here.
Between 50 and 210 Aborigines served in the Boer Wars as trackers in South Africa despite not being recognised as Australian Citizens and it is possible that some were not allowed back to their native homeland because of the White Australia Policy of the time. Indigenous intellectuals and academics are busy researching the history of their people and writing books about their past within an ever changing society of mixed opinions and politics. Also it is a pleasure to hear on the radio interviews with indigenous people who are living and expressing themselves and their origins within contemporary Australian society, not forgetting of course the ongoing struggles of people such as our friend Tyronne Bell fighting for the restoration of land titles around Canberra and other centres of modern civilisation.
Brisbane Arcade – Paradise Down Under
Do you remember the two TV Series about the Victorian London (1875) based Paradise Department Store that aired over 2012 and 2013? When Rob and I poked our noses inside the opulent arcade and wandered downstairs to the department store we were reminded of the carefully planned displays and colour co-ordination of the UK TV series, even though this arcade is of a later mixture of classical and art nouveau styles and was built between 1923 and 1924 by two of his children to atone for the misdeeds of a certain Patrick Mayne.
Patrick Mayne’s life was dark, disturbed and short. He lived for only forty one years and was possibly plagued by an inherited mental disorder. At 24 years old he allegedly killed and robbed Robert Cox in a pub and used the money to buy a butchers shop on the site of the now existing arcade. Hints of Sweenie Todd come to mind. He was successful in his business dealings and in his better moments was said to be kind and caring. But his other side framed another man over the murder, who was then tried, convicted and hanged. Despite his own success at fatherhood, he forbade his six children from marrying lest they should carry on his mental illness.
His widow left the land her late husband had procured over the years to the University of Queensland and in 1923 her two remaining children employed designers to build the Arcade as a legacy to the people of Brisbane on the site of the old butchery business. A phoenix rises from the ashes of his malevolence.
Harmony in Brisbane’s Architecture
The weather was clear and blue for our five day stay in the city and I mention that for two reasons; first it is the best light in which to appreciate the modern buildings because most of them are more glass than impenetrable walls and second because by the day we left, Brisbane CBD was becoming engulfed in the acrid smoke haze from the bush fires raging not far away. The koalas in the wild could do with a flight arranged by the Flight Centre to air lift them out. That is exactly what is happening for some lucky ones I heard today.
It is because the churches stand the test of time so well, along with grandiose municipal buildings like the National Bank of Australia, that I am comparing their robust style, built in stone and designed to last, to the elegant high rise buildings that now surround them. Not because I am particularly religious or an ecclesiastical buff although I am interested in world religions and the human need for them. The old wooden domestic buildings have not fared so well, unlike the kauri homes in NZ that are still providing a lovely place to grow up, the Brisbane CBD ones that are left are rotting away and have rusty crinkly tin roofs, which is sad in a way. As you will see from the Youth Hostel roof.
Look at the pictures and see what you think. To me what I saw was that time and time again the architects and designers have created modern buildings that enhance and even stand buddy like watch over their miniature, old generation counterparts. Maybe they even protect them from destructive weather. Waxing lyrical for a second a person of religious faith could argue that like a candle flame the blue glass, reflecting the pure blue of the celestial sky, is a passageway for the prayers of the devoted from the church below, up the reflective blue glass of the building standing sentinel, to heaven above. Well one could.
Growing our Short Term Brisbane Lifestyle
In the Two Gardens
The first five photos are of the City Gardens that are a wonderfully peaceful alternative to the noisy, bustling street life of the city just a few paces away. The title is following the concept of the brochures ‘Growing your Brisbane lifestyle’ and Brisbane has plenty of open places where busy city-dwellers can relax and unwind. There are nine special areas in the gardens that can be booked for special events including the Lilypond lawn and Rainforest Hideaway, the photo opportunities would be wonderful.
The birdlife in the city garden was delightful with the blue winged kookaburras, bush herons chilling in the shade and an extensive ibis colony nesting in the tree tops. The city gardens border the Brisbane River which provides fine vistas towards the buildings on the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and around towards the Maritime Museum and South Bank. More about those later.
To get to the extensive Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens we bounced up and down little hills through the suburbs of old wooden and new homes, around tight corners and across busy roads in the number 471 bus from Adelaide Street in the CBD. Quite an adventure in itself.
The temperature was 37’ and rising so we thought we’d explore the Lookout at the top of Mt Coot-tha first and we had an hour there before the same number bus would drop us at the gardens. The photos speak for themselves and we were lucky the haze wasn’t too bad on the day. A refreshing iced coffee later and we made our way to the bus stop where ‘a man in black’ decided to tell us about how he had found a unique niche in the money market so he buys and sells foreign currencies for people and makes an income himself.
I explained that this is a regular part of the financial market in the UK, but he didn’t accept that. He then went on to astound me by saying that in Canada euthanasia operates to ‘put down’ elderly people as a matter of course and the same is now legal in Victoria. When I mentioned that it is a matter for the person concerned to decide on whether they want to be euthanized, he wasn’t keen on that intervention either. I mention him because the same happened to us in Coffs Harbour Botanic Gardens and I wonder if it is us, or me that attracts ‘em. What do you think?
At the Reception the lady told us the gardens are run by volunteers and the buses up to the top lake are not operating, but they do have a seed bank which is shared with Kew. This second botanic gardens came about in 1970-76 because several major floods washed through the city gardens damaging their plant collections. The new gardens cover 56 hectares and look beautiful in that the plants can look after themselves but are run down with many dead plants and uncared for areas and rotten wood. The drought conditions are abundantly clear with water levels down and water features turned off. We watched alarmed as two cormorants in the lake were swallowing a fish on each of their frequent surfacings after their dives. At that rate the enclosed lakes would soon be empty of fish, but I guess nothing could be done about that.
Deciding on a break from the heat we went into the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. Namesake of the city Thomas came from Scotland and decided for understandable reasons of self-preservation, having come near to being shipwrecked on route to the West Indies, to take up astronomy, which being a member of the elite class of the British military he did in style by building three observatories, the first in Sydney at the start of his four year governorship of New South Wales in 1821 and two in Scotland.
He dedicated time and funds to childrens’ education in his later years, outliving his own children, as so often happened in the nineteenth century, and this ethos is ongoing in this planetarium which rightfully bears his name. When we enquired about the shows programmed at the planetarium the lady politely said that even for a couple of young at heart oldies as us the show was pitched at a much younger level, primary level!
So we had a rewarding time studying the history of astronomy and the aboriginal understanding and use of the stars in story-telling and for navigation and learning that indigenous folk have studied the stars for 65,000 years, makes the second century Ptolemy and sixteenth century, contradicting knowledge of Copernicus seem like last night’s late show doesn’t it.
We explored the gardens some more and decided that with Australia’s strong ties with Japan in the way of gardens we would love to see some real Japanese gardens one day. I need to learn how to bonsai properly or at least care for them as a pretty little bonsai tree will take one look at me and die. We pondered the idea of walking up to the lake at the top but there was a steep hill down and back up first and the day was at its hottest. What a shame the little buses are no longer running around the gardens and the lovely lake is ignored. I wondered if the cut backs were Federal or Central Government.
A Spur of the moment choice to spin on The Channel 7 Wheel
It came at the end, the very underneath of an amazing day, which is appropriate really for an excursion down under. We had spent the day at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, followed by a swim at Streets Beach, and a light supper in the Beer Garden by the beach, but more about that later. Daylight was nearly gone and the South Bank floodlit bougainvillea flowers, gardens and pagodas were looking lovely and I had often thought this area would look even more beautiful at night under the sophisticated glamour of night lights.
Similarly, while the Wheel would have afforded good views of the city in the day I thought they would be improved by the absence of harsh daylight. But in the end it was a spur of the moment decision and we were hustled very efficiently into our own pod by young attendees who were just glad of something to do.
The Wheel is half the diameter of the London Eye but we got four revolutions for the ticket which seemed like a bargain. Forgive the reflections in the photos but in a way they add effect.
After this final indulgence we made our now familiar way ‘home’ to the Youth Hostel past all the wonderful houses of culture; the gallery, library and museum and across the creamy William Jolly Bridge, up the hill, past the smiling reception staff to our room. On with the air-con briefly and that was the end of day four.
Brisbane City Hall Between George, Adelaide and Ann Streets.
A small group of us huddled together in the 1930’s cage lift on our free trip to the top of what was Brisbane’s tallest building for 37 years, from 1930 to 1967; Brisbane City Hall, home of the mayor and deputy mayor. Our young guide re-assured us that the lift was thoroughly overhauled in the big three year refit of nine years ago so watching her hand operate the well-worn lever on the patinated brake was novel rather than disconcerting.
Suddenly it became evident that one of the best ways to view the disparity in size of the buildings old and new was from the top. The church below on its neat square of grass looks like a pristine model in mint condition amidst the modern glazed giants. And look at that smoke haze developing by the day out towards country between the high rises, a tragedy in the making. Through filthy Perspex windows we looked up to just make out the four massive bells, the voice of the cheery clock face.
Our first jolty stop on the way down was on the clock face floor level and we peered through our cage like trapped zoo animals at the clock workings. Once on the ground level again we couldn’t view the apparently fine auditorium based on the Pantheon in Rome because Melbourne Cup Day Celebrants were enjoying a banquet while watching the racing on a giant screen. But in there is the Father Henry Willis Organ comprising 4300 pipes and originally assembled in 1891.
The museum told us about the transition of the city to its present day state and ‘our’ astronomer Governor of NSW, Sir Thomas Brisbane was the man who initially commanded the setting up of the penal colony on the swamps of aboriginal land that is now the city. It is good to know that descendants of the original inhabitants have at least some say in the running of the city.