Sunshine Coast Daily Photo

Playing together

2012-01-29T00:00:00.000+10:00

Off home for a warm shower.

King's Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Behind every candid photograph...

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000+10:00

There's a cast of thousands. Prop man, makeup, wardrobe........

Holiday fun!

Kings Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The fisherman

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000+10:00

What at first appears to be a cute photo opportunity............

Kings Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Australia Day

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000+10:00

Around the country today, people are celebrating the birth of our nation. There are barbecues and markets and sporting events and naturalisation ceremonies and breakfast and they are all taking place under the famously broad Australian sky.

But not in South East Queensland!

The summer rains are upon us, more than 400mm has fallen in the last three days, forcing the cancellation of many if not most planned events. Thankfully, thus far, flooding has been minor.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Construction

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000+10:00

It's late afternoon, and the construction force is still in full swing. It does seem a long way from the water if the moat is to be finished before dark though.

Kings Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Exploration

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000+10:00

I hope she doesn't get mistaken for a crab!

King's Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Cricket

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000+10:00

At any given time in an Australian Summer, there is a mum who could be mistaken for Sir Donald Bradman in full flight.

Whether on the beach or in a park, we love our cricket!

King's Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Above the Esplanade

2012-01-22T00:00:00.000+10:00

To plant or not to plant, that is the question.

Some who have invested large sums of money in Esplanade Frontages would prefer a clear, unobstructed view of the water, but I must admit that just as I like the filtered views of the sea at street level, I think the sea of green is quite nice above as well.

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Pizza View

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000+10:00

In Mooloolaba, for the price of a pizza and a cool drink, one can sit quietly in the shade and watch the holiday crowds rush by.

Mooloolaba.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Gaggle

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000+10:00

I don't know if there is a collective noun for kids on holiday camp, but they look like a "gaggle" to me.

Coolum

Red Togs, White Dog

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000+10:00

Cooling off at Coolum

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

A path well trod.

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000+10:00

The sand is peppered with footprints, a sure sign that there have been more people here earlier in the day. With a UV index hovering around 16 in the mid afternoon, those not under cover have about thirty minutes before they turn into little crispy pieces of bacon, yet still they persist in "sun bathing".

Coolum

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Below the haze

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000+10:00

From a distance it looked as though the beach was crowded, but as we walked down the hill, it became clear that there was plenty of room for us. Perhaps the sensible among us were home in air conditioned apartments watching the cricket.

Coolum

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Summer Haze

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000+10:00

Summer Haze

Coolum

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

And another.

2012-01-15T00:00:00.000+10:00

Up close and personal with "Crookneck"

Glasshouse Mountains

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Back to the Glasshouses

2012-01-14T00:01:00.001+10:00

A fleeting visit to an old friend.

Glasshouse Mountains

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Relax

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000+10:00

Evening on the balcony

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Clubhouse

2012-01-12T21:01:00.003+10:00

The Surf Club
Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Bridge Detail

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000+10:00

The footbridge over Twoway Creek on a sunny day.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Refreshment

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000+10:00

It's thirsty work, watching the surf in a heatwave.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Yesss!

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000+10:00

What the wait has been about!

Bottom turn,
Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Missing Caption

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000+10:00

This is one of those photographs that is just crying out for a witty caption, but for the life of me I can't get my keyboard around one!

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

More Scattered Showers

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000+10:00

Scattered showers, this time of the rain variety, just out to sea.

Dicky Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Scattered Showers

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000+10:00

We are fortunate to have shower facilities scattered in all sorts of odd spots along our foreshores. It's interesting that this one is quite a long way from the nearest patrolled beach, perhaps an admission that people are going to swim anywhere.

I wonder how long it will be until someone decides that this is encouraging people to "do the wrong thing"?

Moffat Beach
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Jack Bean

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000+10:00

The flower of the Coastal Jack Bean can apparently be seen around the world's dunes. These are part of street planting at Dicky Beach.

Dicky Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

In Flower

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000+10:00

It's that time of year again, when the Cotton Tree flowers decorate the canopy along the shoreline.

Dicky Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Two Way Creek

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000+10:00

The moods of the mouth of Twoway Creek may well feature more in later parts of the year, but it's probably time to say goodbye for a time.....

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Same Place, Different Time.

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000+10:00

Yesterday's photo seemed so calming, today's, taken from almost the same spot tells a different story. In big seas, when the tide is high, waves break right into the mouth of the creek and the current becomes a torrent. At other times the dunes close off the mouth entirely and it becomes a bathing pond.

Twoway Creek
Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

A New Year Begins

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000+10:00

Happy New Year to all!

Today's City Daily Photo Theme is "Best Photo of 2011" and while I'm not sure if this makes the grade or not, it is one that means a lot to us. It was taken at dawn the day after we'd moved into our "new" house, at the mouth of Twoway Creek, at the beach at the end of our street and very much marked a new beginning for us, just as New Year's Day gives us an opportunity to draw a metaphoric line in the sand, and put the past behind! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Ripper!

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000+10:00

It's not the cleanest of waves, but it's been worth the wait!©

Moffat Beach

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

In the washing machine

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000+10:00

They wait and wait for the one opportunity to get back to shore, so they can come out and wait and wait again. The seas have abated somewhat, but I recall some friends who were very good surf swimmers telling of a time they swam for several hours trying to pluck up the courage to come back in.

Good luck to them I say!

Moffat Beach

Adding to the confusion

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure what it's called when a surfer uses one foot to kick himself along in the opposite direction to the waves.

I think it's called a trick of the light.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Out of the Confusion

2011-12-28T00:00:00.000+10:00

Occasionally among the confusion someone finds a wave that can be ridden.

Moffat Beach© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Confused

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000+10:00

The term "confused" sea is used to describe a wave action that has no regular pattern.

Like this really.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Whipping up a storm

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000+10:00

Blue skies and showers, with an awful lot of haze from the angry looking sea. That just about sums up yesterday at the beach, with most beaches closed, but still hundreds or more turning up to spend Christmas day on the sand.

Three metre swells kept all but the foolhardy or diehards (or both) out of the water though.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000+10:00

I had grand plans of finding a perfect shot to reflect the day, but in the end madness and wet weather combined to deny me any more than a few figs stuck in the boardwalk. None the less the red berries do give some sort of vaguely Christmassy tone... don't they?

Ah well, Merry Christmas!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The night before Christmas

2011-12-24T06:58:00.001+10:00

Christmas is a time of great joy, and sending cards to all your friends, and hanging cards you receive on the venetian blinds.

Inspired by social media, it seems that it is now entirely appropriate to announce to the world exactly where one's social standing lies. These people for instance have 31 friends!

I hope Santa Claus is one of them!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Wipeout!

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000+10:00

Actually no it's not a "wipeout", its a poster viewed in the reflection of a pile of Body Boards waiting in the surf shop at Dicky Beach for the holiday onslaught.

The forecast is for big swells on Christmas day too, so we shall see what we can see!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Christmas Flowers

2011-12-22T17:56:00.001+10:00

I've never thought of Oleander as a Christmas flower before, but there it is on our footpath, and it's almost Christmas so it must be!

It is apparently the most toxic garden plant, the Oleander, but paradoxically perhaps relatively few poisonings seem to have been recorded. My friend Al who is a veterinary surgeon and knows about this stuff assures me that a handful of it can kill a horse.

I think I shall leave the commentary there!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Wave

2011-12-21T22:55:00.003+10:00

Yes I know, I nearly missed this day! The holidays are in full swing you see, and rain is coming, but the wide overhangs and bendy buildings which are reminiscent of waves will keep me dry until tomorrow!

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Hello!

2011-12-20T11:04:00.000+10:00

The tip of a Norfolk Pine seems to be asserting itself among the steel and glass. It reminded me a little of a weed in a pavement crack. Why doesn't it have a fairy on the top of it I wonder?

Cheers,

P
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Separated by a common language

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000+10:00

I amuse myself often by contemplating the strange ways of the English language, in this case by contemplating how uncomfortable it would be to wear thongs like these if one was unaware of the footwear connotation of the word.

But it must be said that there's nothing more comfy than wandering around town in summer in a pair of rubber thongs.

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Hats on please!

2011-12-18T11:58:00.000+10:00

The weahter is a little sultry at the moment, warm with grey sky, but the UV index is still hovering around an extreme 14 on the scale, so it would pay to wear a hat if you are outside!

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Enjoy

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000+10:00

This is Australia, we don't particularly like the "Happy Holiday" greeting promulgated by our friends in the northern hemisphere.

So let's make up our own nondescript half baked apology for having a holiday then shall we?

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Hitchiker

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000+10:00

There are more attractive places to have a rest and a cool drink, but to each her own!

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Scene but not herd!

2011-12-15T17:04:00.003+10:00

Was it the copywriter, the sign writer or the office junior?

If it's a joke, will someone please explain?

Mooloolaba

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

More Christmas Lights

2011-12-14T00:00:00.000+10:00

Santa on a Surfboard, the tree all trimmed and ready, and a few quiet drinks in the balmy evening.

Christmas, with or without the fattened goose, is coming.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Christmas Lights

2011-12-13T00:00:00.000+10:00

Actually there aren't any Christmas lights in the photo, but there could be. It's just another night at Norfolks, Moffat Beach.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Afterglow 3 of 3

2011-12-12T00:00:00.000+10:00

Just as I start to think I could sit here for ever, the tide starts to encroach on my territory, and it starts to become too dark to play anymore.

There's always tomorrow!

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Afterglow 2 of 3

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000+10:00

The ocean turns green, the sky a delicate pastel, and I pinch myself and wonder if it's Australia!

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Afterglow 1 of 3

2011-12-10T00:00:00.000+10:00

After sunset, but still with enough light to see, there's a sort of luminous quality about the sky.

The colours are just magically washing away until tomorrow, soon they will be gone.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Last Footprint

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000+10:00

The last footprint of the day lies waiting for the next wave.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

This morning I caught......

2011-12-08T00:00:00.000+10:00

The sun is already well below the horizon, but no one is in a hurry to go home.

Sadly twilight only lasts a few minutes, but they are all making the most of the day.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Wave Watching

2011-12-07T00:00:00.000+10:00

Fun times, late evening.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Moffat Pier

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000+10:00

This playground sits in the deep shade of the giant fig so it's a bit of a challenge to photograph on a sunny day, and besides it's barely visible then under the tide of children, so here it is quite late in the evening thanks to the miracle of the modern camera.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Chips

2011-12-05T10:00:00.000+10:00

Blue Chips or Fish and Chips, take you pick, we've got either.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Chameleon

2011-12-04T21:49:00.001+10:00

Is it possible that the somewhat oversized croton bush has taken on the colours of the house?

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Nice Hedge

2011-12-03T11:20:00.001+10:00

Staring defeat squarely in the eye, and after yesterday's embarrassment, we'll just call this a "nice hedge plant" shall we?

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Brain Fade!

2011-12-02T18:25:00.001+10:00

I took this photo and have now completely forgotten the name of the tree bearing these flowers!

Any help will be appreciated (and acknowledged!)

Thanks Elaine, I'd barely posted when I received your advice!
Buckinghamia celsissima - Ivory Curl Tree. Aus native, relative to Macadamia nut.

Landsborough
© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Incoming!

2011-12-01T19:59:00.001+10:00

Today's City Daily Photo theme is Action Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

I am always surprised at just how fast parachutes are travelling when their occupants come in to land. I'm also often surprised at the boardshorts and sandals that are worn, when I expect some sort of flying suit and boots!

Twoway Creek
Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

A Puzzle

2011-11-30T00:57:00.001+10:00

Why is it, that community notice boards end up in a complete schamozzle?

It's not through lack of pins, and there's a secure glass cover, I suspect it's someone's job to keep the notice board looking busy and cluttered and unkempt!

Landsborough.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Walking the walk!

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000+10:00

They really look the part these travel trains, and they are a reasonably economical way of getting to the City particularly when one considers the cost is well under a ten cents per minute of travel time.

If one likes train travel, then there are a lot of minutes involved as even the express barely manages to average 60 kilometres per hour, but it looks good and it's a start.

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Danger

2011-11-28T00:00:00.000+10:00

Do we really only have to worry about old steam engines, or should we be careful around the sleek shiny new trains as well?

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Blues

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000+10:00

Normally I would associate agapanthus with a much more temperate climate. I'm obviously not correct as these poor things look as thought they were very happy until the rain forgot to arrive.

There is a storm brewing though, so in a day or two they'll be just fine.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Christmas Tree Trail

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000+10:00

Last year, I remember being quite disappointed at the lack of acknowledgment of the Christmas season across the city.

As I was wandering around Landsborough today, I couldn't help but notice the wires strung through this poor tree, and then I saw the tinsel. It is one of 29 trees that form part of a Christmas tree trail around the city. I suspect a visit to all will entail around 100 kilometres of driving, and we don't have enough nights left to post all anyway, but we shall see what the coming weeks produce!

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

One month till Santa comes.

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000+10:00

There I was quietly minding my own business, walking in Landsborough, in a balmy 33°C and a storm building, when I happened upon this gentleman trimmed in fur, swaying a the hips and singing "Living in a Winter Wonderland".

Christmas is definitely on the way!

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Just park anywhere

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000+10:00

I can imagine the conversation went something like "Just go round the back and park anywhere you can.

Landsborough

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Night Play

2011-11-23T00:00:00.000+10:00

A month or two ago I posted this photo of this very same covered play area in Moffat Beach. To be fair it was looking a little "loved". At night, it looks spectacular!

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The edge of town 3 of 3

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000+10:00

Looking west, the Glasshouses lost in the humidity. The trees are dry enough to take on an almost autumn tone, there's been little rain for many months, yet the haze continues to feed moisture into the west.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The edge of town 2 of 3

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000+10:00

From the edge of town to the Pumicestone Passage to the glasshouse mountains. It's just a hop, step and a jump really.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

The Edge of Town

2011-11-20T00:00:00.000+10:00

I am standing on the ridge behind Caloundra's CBD, facing south west. The buildings are close enough to the main street not to argue.

We have a LOT of open space around us.

Caloundra

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Co-ordinated

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000+10:00

That brown stuff; it's lawn. Grass hasn't had a drink all month and summer temperatures have kicked in. The UV index hovers something well above dangerous, so people who work outdoors if they are smart, stay covered from head to toe.

Council are terribly fashion conscious, no detail is left to chance, notice the trimmer line is colour co-ordinated with the shirts of it's workers.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Vibrance

2011-11-18T00:00:00.000+10:00

Pines

2011-11-17T00:00:00.000+10:00

Another beach, another clump of Norfolk Island Pines. I've said it before, but I am intrigued at just why and how at some time last century, someone decided to plant these along the Australian Coast. Perhaps we have our own Johnny Norfolk-seed!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Confession

2011-11-16T00:00:00.000+10:00

There was a time, I think it was in the eighties, when panel vans were to be found laden with surfboards and decorated with air-brushed scenes which were never to my taste. The colours for instance were improbable, the silhouettes too perfect, the grading of the sky unrealistic.

And then I started taking my camera to the beach.....

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Ripples

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000+10:00

The ripples give the reflections a strange three dimensional appearance. It's almost as if they are reaching back out of the water!

Twoway Creek

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Watching

2011-11-14T00:00:00.001+10:00

There's something quite pleasant about sitting silently in the morning sun, just staring at the water.

Twoway Creek

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Buggy

2011-11-13T00:43:00.001+10:00

One really must get up with the birds to get the best parking spot.

Moffat Beach

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Home

2011-11-12T00:00:00.000+10:00

While poking around in the chemist shop in Dicky Beach at first I was a little taken aback by the diversity of the merchandise, then I read the sign and wondered how our boat was getting on sitting without us on the other side of the world.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

What's for tea Mum?

2011-11-11T00:00:00.000+10:00

There's no shortage of choice in Currimundi.

Perhaps a nice carrot and an apple would do?

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Rush Hour

2011-11-10T00:00:00.000+10:00

Do you ever just watch a car whizzing by, and wonder where it is going, why the rush?

Nicklin Way
Currimundi

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Reflection

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000+10:00

Now and then

2011-11-08T00:00:00.000+10:00

Thirty years ago, it was not uncommon to see old Kombi vans at the beach, filled to the gunwales with surfboards.

In those days, there were mattresses in the back though, not baby seats.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Kombi Blues

2011-11-07T00:00:00.000+10:00

When the building matches the colour of the car the reflections are even better!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

For Jilly

2011-11-06T00:00:00.000+10:00

Doesn't everything about this photograph scream "Monte Carlo"?

No?

Hmm.. Perhaps I'm not ready to put Jilly out of business after all.

Oh well, you can check out what's going on in Monte Carlo here.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Farmer's Feet

2011-11-05T05:30:00.000+10:00

Farmer's safety boots.

A pineapple farmer at the Currumundi Markets wearing his safety boots. Wearing shoes would be far more uncomfortable than standing on a bit of hot pavement.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Nippers

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000+10:00

The Surf Lifesaving Association Juniors are known as "Nippers".

I am not sure what the collective noun for Nippers is, but I think gaggle sort of fits, so here's a gaggle of Nippers going through their paces on the beach at Dicky Beach.

I really must see if I can get permission to do a short series on their surf-bound activities.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Landing Zone

2011-11-03T00:00:00.000+10:00

For a while I got excited, the yellow "X", the wind sock, the flags clearly marked "landing zone".

But the breeze was strengthening, the cloud moving lower, and just a hint of rain in the air. The parachutes never came, so we wandered up the road and had a cup of coffee.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Limpets

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000+10:00

There's something magical in just hanging around on the rocks beside the ocean, just ask a limpet.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Fences

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000+10:00

Fences are ever so much more fun if you can see through them!

The City Daily Photo blog theme today is "Fences".Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

On the rocks

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000+10:00

Waiting for the jets

2011-10-30T00:00:00.000+10:00

A small but curious crowd waits on the beach for the Hornets to fly over. Three minutes to go!

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Feigning Disinterest

2011-10-29T00:00:00.000+10:00

While the eyes of the small crowd were skyward, some of us just plodded along pretending to have no interest.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

They've gone!

2011-10-28T00:00:00.000+10:00

In a flash, the hornets were just a dotted shadow in the distance. In less than ten minutes they'll be a hundred kilometres away.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Hornet's nest

2011-10-27T00:00:00.000+10:00

Last Friday, we gathered on the beach at 11:08 to wait for this:-

There will be a mass formation flypast of up to 20 F/A-18F Super Hornets over the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Ipswich today as part of the welcoming ceremony for four new Super Hornets.

The arrival of the four new aircraft completes the Australian Super Hornet fleet to 24 aircraft.

Sixteen aircraft will depart RAAF Base Amberley between 10 am and 10.30 am and will fly in a loose formation to a point off North Stradbroke Island, where they will form up and fly south, crossing the coast at Southport before flying down the Gold Coast to Tweed Heads.

The armada will then fly out to sea and reform at a point off the Sunshine Coast where it will join with the four new Super Hornets.

The formation will fly south from Noosa Heads down the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane where it will then fly over the CBD en route to Ipswich and RAAF Amberley. It is expected to pass over the base at 11.30am.

The mass formation flypast of up to 20 aircraft will be not only an historic event which may not be repeated, but an important training exercise for operational planners and aircrew.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Attention Span

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000+10:00

Some of us can sit for hours just watching the waves crashing on the beach.

And some of us can't.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Shipping Times

2011-10-25T00:00:00.000+10:00

Freedom is being on your sailboard in a stiff breeze with nothing between you and the horizon.

Except perhaps a couple of container ships.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Invisible

2011-10-24T00:00:00.000+10:00

In the present conditions the sailboarder is almost invisible, in an hour or so when the breeze starts to kick up white caps off the top of the chop, he will disappear entirely.

This is not the time to break any gear on board. Rescue just might not happen.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Almost away

2011-10-23T00:00:00.000+10:00

Another board launches, leaving the beach deserted.

I wonder at how fussy we have become, or spoiled perhaps. I have sat on a beach in another part of the world, in temperatures twenty degrees less than this, and similar breezes, pretending to enjoy my ice cream.

Here, we just go home, and leave the place to the mad men.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Poise

2011-10-22T00:00:00.000+10:00

It takes more than a little coordination to keep a board and sail balanced into the wind, while receding waves do their best to sweep one's legs from under one.

© Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia