Balancing Rock

This large rock balances near the top of the first Pyramid in Girraween ("place of flowers") National Park in Queensland. The local area, also called the Granite Belt, is full of interesting rocks, outcrops, ridges, and other geological sights. It is still relatively wild and has a lot of native flora and fauna.

The Treasury, Brisbane

This is the old Treasury Building in Brisbane. Guess what it is now? Why a casino of course. Gambling is the only sure way of making money there is outside of printing it. At least for the house...

Barracks Arch, Perth

Last week I visited Perth on the West coast of Australia for the first time. There wasn't much time to see things but I did walk around the central part of the city a bit. This tower used to be an entrance to a barracks that housed guards for the convicts who built some of the original civil buildings in the city. It was still housing guards into the earliest part of the 20th century long after the shipment of convicts had stopped.

Perth is nice but I think I like Brisbane better. Once a Queenslander, always a Queenslander.

Pink Floyd

Sunday I saw a middle aged bald man in Brisbane with a beer belly wearing a Pink Floyd concert t-shirt that said "Wish you were here" on the back. That is pretty much equivalent to seeing a Deadhead sticker on a cadillac. Thirty years ago that would have been a pretty strange sight. He even looked like he could have been a school teacher - "Teacher! Leave those kids alone!"

This picture has nothing to do with Pink Floyd except that it has some pink and you can see South Bank where I sighted the gentleman with the t-shirt.

Bribie Island

Bribie Island is close to Brisbane and has nice sandy beaches.

Sunset at Noosa

This picture was taken from Noosa Park back towards the town of Noosa. It's a beautiful place with great views and a mix of coast, heath, coastal scrub, and rain forest all coming together.

South Bank 1885

Brisbane has a lot of buildings and houses from the colonial period and I like this one in South Bank that was apparently built in 1885. We walk down to South Bank most Saturday mornings and eat breakfast. My favorite spot is at Stanleys, named after the street, in the middle of the weekly market. This building is across the way and I took the picture as I ate my eggs and toast.