SKY WATCH FRIDAY

SNAPPER ROCKS


It was a wild and stormy day at Snapper Rocks.


What are these blokes looking at?


You make your own judgement about the wisdom of their behaviour. In the picture below, you can see that 2 of them are holding glass stubbies of beer.


For other thought-provoking SWF posts, visit the home of SkyWatch Friday.

ABC WEDNESDAY

D IS FOR..........DIAMANTINA RIVER

The Diamantina River flows through central Queensland, in a SW direction, through the Channel Country, becomes the Warburton River, journeys on into South Australia, and, if there is enough flow, eventually into Lake Eyre.


We first glimpsed the Diamantina in 2002 and returned in 2003, to camp on her banks at Old Cork Station, on our way to The Kimberley. I'll quote from my diary...

"Sitting in peace & solitude, high on the banks, overlooking the coffee-brown waters of the Diamantina...budgerigars feed nearby, gorging on grass seeds...this place is so beautiful,peaceful, redolent of history in the abandoned homestead."

Breaking that peace, above, are Tim & Peter, zipping around the river in the tinny.

Most of the country along the Diamantina is flat & rough, and is used for grazing cattle. The photo below was taken in 2002, along the Diamantina Road, when the country was in the firm grip of drought.



Old Cork Station was featured in my post "Loo With A View", just below the Divas' post, and will appear again later in ABC Wednesday.

Mrs Nesbitt does a wonderful job hosting ABC Wednesday and in this link,you'll find links to loads of great D posts.

Duo Divas

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra, mentioning soprano Liza Beamish. That's Liza on our right in the picture above.

Liza has joined up with Kathleen Procter-Moore and they are performing together under the name Duo Divas. About 100 fortunate people gathered together in the Tweed River Art Gallery, at Murwillumbah, this morning, to listen to a fabulous program of duets, with a couple of solos thrown in for variety. Such a bewitching combination....soprano, mezzo and the backdrop of the magnificent Tweed Valley!

If you visit here, you'll be able to listen to the Duo Divas signing the Flower Duet from "Lakme" while reading a little more about them.

LOO WITH A VIEW!

In her Daily Rabaul Photo blog today, Jules post a photo of some gorgeous outdoor dunnies near Goroka.

This is a 'sister' post...of our fantastic loo with a view, built by Peter & Tim high above Cork Waterhole, at Old Cork Station, in western Queensland. Below, is the view from 'the throne'.

Old Cork Station is one of my favourite places in the universe.

PS In answer to a query, all waste is collected in a tin drum and then thoughtfully buried well away from water-courses.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

CASUARINA SCULPTURE WALK

An outdoor sculpture competition is held every two years at Casuarina, just along the beach from the coastal village where I live. Artists are invited to submit work which is then installed along the board walk & in the parks. This piece really grabbed my attention in 2006, & ,actually, really unsettled me. Sorry, no idea who the artist is.

If you go to Casuarina Domain & click on "sculpture walk" in the drop-down "Activities " menu, you can see some more past winners.

To see more SWF pictures, & read a very thoughtful post about 'taking time', visit the home page for SkyWatch Friday.

A WEEK IN TOWNSVILLE

If you're visiting to see SkyWatch Friday, it's not here this week....and ABC Wednesday will be late!

I'm spending this week in Townsville, the regional capital of North Queensland. My sister has just be appointed to a position here, & so she and her husband have moved from Bundaberg.
These photos are just a quick trip around the city. Above is the view from their balcony.

Townsville was originally settled to provide services for the the farming industry of NQ in the mid 1800s, and quickly developed into a busy port. There are some beautiful historic buildings dating from the 1880-90s, though bizarrely many of them are now nightclubs & bars! Above is the magestic old Victorian railway station, while below is the HM Customs.

Around the port area of South Townsville, where the wharfies live, there still exists some of the gorgeous original workingmens's pubs. Below is the Commonwealth Hotel.

The most distinctive feature of Townsville is Castle Hill, quite literally in the middle of the city. In the early mornings & late afternoons, it seems that almost everyone is walking up or down the hill! Here's the view from the top, out towards Magnetic Island.

We walked it on Sunday morning before breakfast.

Just a 20minute ferry ride away is gorgeous Magetic Island, named by Capt. Cook in 1770. We spent the day over there yesterday, doing a bit of bushwalking and relaxing! Here's the view from the ferry, back to Townsville.

Below is Alma Bay.

Some of the beautiful lichen-covered boulders scattered through the hilly interior of Magnetic Is. is pictured above.

Townsville also played a significant role in World War 2. A post about that history is 'coming soon'!

As always, if you click on the highlighted words in my text, you'll be taken to more information.

ABC WEDNESDAY

B IS FOR ..........BOAB TREES

Boabs, or adansonia gregorii, belongs to same family of trees as does the boabab. It is the only variety of boabab found in Australia and is thought to have derived from the boababs found in Madagascar.

In Australia, they are native to the Kimberley area in the NW, and in some parts of the Northern Territory. The majestic boab above sits on the north coast of Western Australia at Murragurra, and has withstood countless summer cyclones.

They also grow in little groups too, of 2 or 3 trees, & many clumps look like friends having a communal hug! Boabs are deciduous & bear white flowers in summer, then huge woody seed pods. Juicy, young boab roots can be chopped up & used in a stir-fry too!

The above boab we camped near in the Gregory National Park in the Northern Territory. In the pre-dawn it filled with Little Corellas, all squawking & carrying-on an awful treat.

On my 'B' list were 13 different things from our 2003 adventure, but , following the 'KISS' principle, just one will do!

However, to see what others came up with, wander over to Mrs Nesbitt's ABC WEdnesday site & click away!