It was raining today, and I took the No 454 bus from Queen Street Mall that ran out to Indooroopilly* to see some of suburban Brisbane.
*Derived from either the local Aboriginal word nyindurupilli, meaning ‘gully of the leeches’ or yindurupilly meaning ‘gully of running water’ (Source: Wikipedia)
I got off the bus just to go back and take a decent picture— instead of a drive-by picture through the soggy window pane— of the Royal Exchange Hotel at 10 High Street, Toowong. It was constructed in 1886. The hotel’s pub featured in the 2007 film All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane. In 2013, The Guardian newspaper referred to it as a “cult film” inspired by “a typically Brisbane lament: the departure of people in their late 20s to Sydney, Melbourne, London or New York”.
.It’s a straight shot down south on the M1 Pacific Motorway from Brisbane to Gold Coast. The 110 km/h speed limit equals 68 mph. The price of gas is roughly equal to what we have in the USA: AUS $1.77 per liter which is USA $4.23 per gallon.Gold Coast is famous for its surf —and for surfing.We took the train back from Varsity Lakes the very last stop on the Gold Coast railway line that runs up all the way to Brisbane Airport. Varsity refers to Bond University nearby, and the Lakes is a reference to the swampy terrain around the Nerang River making its way to the Pacific Ocean.Here comes our train. We boarded and while we were waiting for the train to depart, the station attendant came through and did a perfunctory wipe-down of all the railings inside the train cars. ‘It’s the very last day I’m doing this’, she told us. (It had been a COVID protocol until today).
My sister-in-law and I drove down to Gold Coast this morning.
We had borrowed my niece’s car for a few days and took it back to her.
(The other family car had been shipped from Perth, and word is that it has arrived in Brisbane harbor).
Story Bridge was constructed in 1940 and is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. It is named after prominent public servant John Douglas Story.
The south end of Story Bridge rests on Kangaroo Point, the tip of a narrow strip of land just east of downtown Brisbane.There is a promenade around Captain Burke Park, all around Kangaroo Point. I am approaching the Bridge from the southwest.This is The Rock (1988) by artist Stephen Killick (epoxy paint on concrete). It featured in the World Expo ’88 in Brisbane and was later moved to this location in Captain Burke Park.I made it down right to the river’s sandy edge, with steps down from the promenade path. Across the water under the bridge, is a microbrewery called Felons Brewing Co.On the southeast side of the bridge, and looking towards the northwest.There is a project underway to restore the below-deck steel on the bridge.I was too tired of walking to walk towards the north over the bridge, so I took the bus! The bus is heading north towards downtown Brisbane.And here’s the view from the spot where I had a bite to eat. This is the Riverside Ferry Terminal, looking northeast towards the bridge.
We drove north for an hour or so today, to get to the Australia Zoo.
The zoo was founded in 1970 by Bob and Lyn Irwin (parents of ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin of television fame) and is still owned by the Irwin family.
Australia Zoo is an hour north of Brisbane, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. It’s been 16 years since the tragic death of Steve Irwin, the famous ‘Crocodile Hunter’ from television.Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), the largest extant species of lizard and endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang.Dingo (Canis lupus dingo). The dingo is an ancient lineage of dog. ‘Their genome is substantially different from modern dog breeds, suggesting the canines have never been domesticated in the past’, says newscientist.com.Here’s ‘Mossman’, a 13-ft saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). Mossman was a troublemaker in the rural town of Mossman near Cairns— and subsequently caught and relocated to the Australian Zoo.Look but do not touch. A dyeing poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius), this exotic creature is found in the rain forests of Guiana and Venezuela. They are highly toxic if consumed, and just touching them will cause a numb sensation on the skin.The taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)— probably Australia’s most famous venomous snake. They are large, fast-moving, highly venomous, and endemic to Australia and New Guinea. They defend themselves with a number of lightning fast strikes.Come and get it! Feeding time for these short-legged, muscular marsupials that are called wombats (Vombatus ursinus).A rose-crowned fruit dove (Ptilinopus regina) in the large bird enclosure.An eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) in ‘chill mode’ in the kangeroo enclosure.At the far end of the kangaroo enclosure there is a handful of trees with koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). Do not say koala bear, since they are not bears: they are arboreal herbivorous marsupials. The game wardens keep an eye on them and see that they have a fresh supply of eucalyptus branches to munch on.Here and there in the park, there are life-sized dinosaur models, very artfully done. Spinosaurus (this one is nesting) roamed around 97 million years ago in what is now North Africa. They ate fish and crocodiles and lived for up to 100 years.I love this Pterosaur. These creatures lived 228 million years ago, along the coasts of Europe and all the way down to southern Africa, and could become up to 150 years old.
I took the train to the city to check out Brisbane Central Station today.
Here comes my train: the northbound train on the Ferny Grove Line approaching the Park Road Station.Four stops later gets one to Central Station. There are 6 platforms for the 6 lines that serve the city and its suburbs. I had just stepped off the train.Inside the main hall of Central Station: a pretty standard train station hallway with information screens, ticket counters and a few places to get something to eat.The Ann Street entrance and the original 1889 building for the Brisbane Central Station.St Andrew’s Uniting Church, at the corner of Ann Street and Creek Street. Designed by George David Payne and built in 1905 by Alexander Lind & Son.Anzac Square & Memorial Galleries is located just across the street from Central Station. This is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dedicated Memorial Queensland, in honor of First Nations servicemen and women in Brisbane. The memorial is brand new, and was unveiled in May of 2022.A little further on is Post Office Square with stores and a food hall below street level. The main Australia Post post office is across the street. I endeavored to buy some 2022 issue Australian postage stamps, one set with Australian dinosaurs on and another set of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but they were out of stock on both counts.These interesting geometric window pane patterns are on the Brisbane Club Tower nearby.There is coffee everywhere in the city, and a few Starbucks locations as well. I thought Starbucks had withdrawn entirely from Australia, but there are still 50 or so locations in the Brisbane, Melbourne, Gold Coast and Sydney areas.
I took the No 120 bus to the bus terminal under the Queen Street Mall in downtown Brisbane today.
The Queen Street bus terminal is reached by tunnels under the Queen Street Mall. It’s best to check with Google Maps to make sure you wait at the right place! (and Google’s Platform 1-E is the same as Platform 1e on the signs).There was a flea market on Brisbane Square today. That’s the Treasury Casino and Hotel Brisbane in the distance.The art deco façade of the 1929 York Hotel was preserved when the Myer Centre at the Queen Street Mall was constructed in 1982.Another building, that of the Hotel Carlton (constructed 1891), was preserved, along with its beautiful wrought iron railings.These kangaroos are at the corner of Queen Street and George Street.Walking along George Street, and looking up at the W Hotel (front, opened in 2018) and The One condo tower (at the back, opened this year).Looking out from the entrance at the Brisbane Magistrate offices off George Street. The aluminum and concrete artwork was installed in 2009 and the artist is Daniel Templeman.The McDonnell & East Ltd Building at 414 George Street is a former department store, and now a heritage-listed building. It was designed by Thomas Ramsay Hall and built from 1912 to 1928 by Andrew Gillespie.Here’s the Albert Street Uniting Church, holding its own against its concrete and steel neighbors. It was designed by George Addison and built in 1888-89 by Thomas Pearson & Sons.A pair of kangaroos on King George Square. Mama kangaroo has a joey in her pouch (a baby kangaroo is called a joey). Here’s Brisbane City Hall, inaugurated in 1930. The building design is based on a combination of the Roman Pantheon, and St Mark’s Campanile in Venice— and is considered one of Brisbane’s finest buildings.I made my way back to the Queen Street Mall, standing under a large steel and glass canopy and contemplating if the two colors on the historic old building complement each other well enough.Here’s a Tesla Model 3 slipping into a parking garage nearby. I thought BUZINGA might be Australian for Yowza! or something like that. All that a Google search revealed is that Buzinga is a cutting-edge software company in Melbourne.Here’s a classic Queen Victoria statue, this one keeping watch over the grounds of the Queens Gardens Park. Victoria’s reign of 63 yrs (1837 -1901) has been eclipsed only by the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.Taking a closer look at the Queens Wharf Tower construction project nearby, at 1 William Street. It is scheduled to open in 2023.
To MR WILLEM
Hi sir we are sending a msgs to let you know the progress of your missing luggage unfortunately the number you had provide is unreachable please give us a call 0481011572 .
Regards
Swissport
I made the phone ring off the hook at that number, sent an email back on Friday. No response.
The courier showed up this morning with one bag.
Off I went to the airport, when my phone finally rang. Swissport Baggage Service. They have my other bag, working on a courier that could deliver it between 1 pm and 5 pm. Well – you’re too late, I said. Your logistics had failed me multiple times. I’m on my way to the airport to retrieve the bag in person.
The TransLink train, departing Park Road Station, after I had stepped off with my luggage in hand.I love the chromed (?) benches at the station and the simple, straight-forward information station next to it.Looking down on the station after taking the lift (Australian for elevator) to get me across a set of tracks to the other side of the station.
We took the bus this morning to South Brisbane and South Bank, on the banks of the Brisbane river.
Inside the Route 125 bus on the way to the South Bank bus station. The TransLink Go card that I had used on the train yesterday, is good for buses and ferries as well.This is Street Beach on the banks of the Brisbane River. The sand is trucked in from the a beach on the coast! The green is a large swimming pool. The brown above the green is the Brisbane River. The prominent skyscraper in the middle is 1 William Street (42 floors, opened in 2016). The construction project to its left is Queen’s Wharf Brisbane, scheduled for completion in late 2023. It will contain high-end residences (around US $2 million) and public spaces and entertainment venues.The Clem Jones Promenade runs along the river, with a green space and magnificent fig trees providing shade for warm summer days.This is the Nepalese Peace Pagoda nearby, that was built in 1988 by craftsmen from Kathmandu for the Brisbane Expo 88.Looking northeast towards the downtown skyline. The Victoria Bridge (concrete, constructed in 1969) is on the far left. The skyscraper on the left is ‘The One‘ apartment (condominium) tower that had opened earlier this year (82 floors). The Queen’s Wharf Brisbane construction project is on the right.The intersection of Queen Street & William Street on the opposite side of the Brisbane River, at the Victoria Bridge. The periwinkle, yellow, orange and lime green buildings are part of a public square called Reddacliff Place, named in honor of prominent Brisbane architect Trevor Reddacliff (born 1942, dec. 2005). The Treasury Building on the right, was constructed in 1930. It is now the home of the Treasury Casino and Hotel Brisbane.The Australian white ibis is found across Australia, and I have already seen a few of them here in the city. They eat frogs, fish, crustaceans and —scraps of food that humans may have discarded on the streets.
My phone’s lock screen looks different now (the green dot is Brisbane).
It’s Thursday here in Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.
The traveler made his two connections but his checked luggage did not.
The connection in Auckland was trouble, because we left San Francisco 90 minutes late. I had to make a mad dash for the gate in Auckland to make the final connection to Brisbane.
Ready to depart from Seattle-Tacoma airport’s Terminal A. At the top right of the picture is the new skybridge for international arrivals.Here’s the trouble, at San Francisco airport. The check-in desk is getting swamped, because a large number of passengers with bar-coded boarding passes, had to have their documents & New Zealand visas checked one more time (my boarding pass did not have ‘TRAVEL READY’ printed on it). The computer system failed, and processing one passenger would take 5 minutes. I showed the agent my NZ visa on my phone, and the system could not pick it up. United Airlines— and New Zealand— SURELY this is not the first time you fly passengers from SFO to New Zealand. Why has this not been fixed?Sunrise over the south Pacific Ocean, from 38,000 feet up.Here’s beautiful and spectacular New Zealand, on our final approach into Auckland International airport on the North Island.Auckland international airport. I know I’m late, but I still wanted to snap this picture of the Boeing 777-200 that had flown us across the Pacific Ocean for 13 hours.The late arrival into Auckland international airport made me run all the way to the other side of the international terminal at Auckland airport: a good 1/2 mile.The final leg of the trip from Auckland to Brisbane. We are still crossing time zones in the western direction, but now gaining two hours back. So the Seattle +19 hours at Auckland became Seattle +17 hours in Brisbane.Here’s New Zealand Air’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner bird that left Auckland, at the gate at Brisbane.The Airport Line stops at Brisbane International airport’s domestic terminal and at the international terminal. I took the train to Park Road Station south of downtown Brisbane to get to the apartment that I will stay in (next to the one my brother and his family had rented).
I’m in the United Airlines lounge across from gate A10 (in Terminal A) here at Sea-Tac airport.
I have a short layover in San Francisco— if my Airbus A319 is going to pull up at the arrival gate by more than 30 mins late, I’m going to have to hurry up to board the flight to Auckland. (Looks like an on-time departure here out of Seattle, so it should be fine).
Unfortunately there is no view of tarmac from inside the United lounge here at gate A10. Check out these vintage photos mounted on the walls, though. The ‘Mainliner 300’ is the name United Airlines gave to the Douglas DC-6: a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. This picture of a United Airlines ‘Mainliner 300’ over San Francisco is probably from the late ’40s or early ’50s. ‘Streaking across the continent at an average speed of 6 miles a minute, United Airlines’ great new Mainliner 300, the Douglas DC-6, on March 29 established a new coast-to-coast record of 6 hours 47 minutes 13 seconds for commercial planes’ — from a newspaper report in 1947.
Here we are in October of 2022, and the time has finally come for my first post-Covid international trip. I have one bout of Covid (in June) and five vaccine shots under the belt. And I have my flu shot for when I come back to the United States.
Yes, I am taking my vaccine card, and I have a QR-code for it on my phone, but neither New Zealand (a transit stop) nor Australia (my final destination) require quarantine, health forms to be filled out or even proof of vaccination. Nada.
I will certainly take my mask to the airport and onto the airplane, so that I can put it on if I feel uncomfortable, or if I have to go to the confined space of the airplane lavatory.
I leave tomorrow night (Tuesday), with stops in San Francisco and in Auckland, New Zealand. Final destination Brisbane, Australia. My flights will take me west and south, across the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean and across the international date line. There’s Hawaii to the left of the flight path (top image), and then it’s on to New Zealand’s North Island for a stop at Auckland. Then on to Brisbane, in Australia’s state of Queensland. [Images of Earth generated by Google Earth]
Here are Georgia’s two senators (both Democrats), working the crowds at this weekend’s Atlanta Gay Pride Festival.
Looking sharp !
Sen. Raphael Warnock (53) on the left, and Sen. Jon Ossoff (35) on the right. Sen. Warnock is running against ex-football star Hershel Walker (60) in what should not even be a close race (Warnock leads by 4% or so in the polls). Walker has zero political experience, and is an anti-abortion rights candidate accused of paying for a former sexual partner’s abortion in 2009 (she has the receipt and a get-well card from him). Sen. Ossoff will be up for reelection in 2026. [Photo posted by Jon Ossoff @ossoff on Twitter]
Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House, Democrat) said on The Stephen Colbert Show recently that the Democrats will keep the House.
Karl Rove (political consultant) concluded in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that ‘The three most plausible scenarios are a 50-50 Senate, 51-49 Republican or 51-49 Democrat. A 52-48 Senate either way is possible but unlikely’.
It’s not just about control in the House and Senate, though.
Some gubernatorial races (for governor of a State) are neck-and-neck, and if 2020 Election Outcome Deniers (Republicans) win those, it could make for serious trouble in the 2024 general election.
In Arizona and Georgia, the Republican gubernatorial candidates say they would not have certified Biden’s win in 2020. (The incumbent Republican governors both did.)
The cover of The New Yorker magazine 4 years ago, after the 2018 mid-term elections. The artist is Barry Blitt. The description was ‘Welcome to Congress: Newly elected, diverse group of Representatives come through the door into a colorless line drawing of current white male members of congress’. We still need more women to vote, more women to become representatives and senators, and of course: we still have not had a female president in the United States.
If you’re going to fly on long-haul international flights again after Covid (and I will, soon), you’re going to need noise-canceling headphones for your phone or tablet.
I ditched my last device that still had a headphone jack, last year —a very old iPad— which left my wired Bose headphones stranded, disconnected. Apple has fancy new wireless noise-canceling AirPods out, but why spend $275* if you still have perfectly fine headphones?
*That’s including sales tax. The over-the-ear noise-canceling wireless Apple AirPods Max come to $600. I will only buy a pair of those ‘when my ship has come in’, as they say.
Here is what I went with instead:
The USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter will have to do it for now ($8 on Amazon). Eventually I might upgrade my noise-canceling headphones to wireless ones. Headphones like these last a very, very long time if you take good care of them.
Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch Imagination sets in, pretty soon I’m singin’ Doo, doo, doo, lookin’ out my back door There’s a giant doin’ cartwheels, a statue wearin’ high heels Look at all the happy creatures dancin’ on the lawn Dinosaur Victrola, listenin’ to Buck Owens Doo, doo, doo, lookin’ out my back door
– From Lookin’ Out My Back Door, song by Creedence Clearwater Revival from the album Cosmo’s Factory, released 1970.
(A dinosaur Victrola is an old record player with a horn speaker).
The last thing the contractors painted this afternoon was the porch. They cleaned up right after that and left after we did our final inspection together.
Here’s the repainted Timid White at my front porch, with the same sturdy gray porch paint that I had before. I may have to add another ‘obstacle’ in front of the steps. That one blue ribbon with WET PAINT written on it may not be enough to deter the mailman and other visitors before it’s too late!
This week’s ATP 500 tennis tournament is hosted by the city called Astana. And where in the world is Astana, would you say? It’s in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿, and called ‘the world’s weirdest capital city’ by CNN in a 2012 story.
Tennis only became a significant sport in Kazakhstan due to the crusade and a labor of love by billionaire Bulat Utemuratov, in a campaign that had started 15 years ago in 2007.
Matthew Futterman writes in the New York Times:
Using almost entirely Utemuratov’s money, the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation went on a building spree, investing roughly $200 million — nearly a tenth of his estimated fortune — to construct 38 tennis centers in all 17 regions of the country. It trained hundreds of coaches and instructors and imported some from Europe. It subsidized lessons for young children and adolescents who can train six days a week for $40-$120 per month. The best juniors receive as much as $50,000 to pay for training and travel.
Inside the Beeline Arena, the home of Kazakhstan National Tennis Center in the heart of the capital Astana. The lime green part of the court is a little unusual —maybe by design? Here is David Goffin (Belgium, 31) serving against the newly minted World No 1, Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 19) in a first round-match yesterday. Alcaraz lost 3-6, 5-7 — a disappointment for me, and certainly for the tournament organizers. Ticket sales have reportedly been brisk, though. [Still from Tennis TV streaming service]A bird’s eye-view of Astana. CNN says ‘little surrounds the city for 1,200 kilometers, save a handful of provincial towns dotted across the world’s largest steppe, a flat, empty expanse of grassland. Shooting up from this void is a mass of strangely futuristic structures’. [Picture: Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press]The Presidential Palace in the foreground was designed to resemble the White House in Washington D.C. (I’d say it’s a passing resemblance, at best). The translucent tent-like structure in the distance is the US$ 400 million Norman Foster-designed Khan Shatyra shopping mall, and said to be the world’s largest tent (but it is really a tent?). [Picture Credit: AFP/ Getty Images]
Here’s the new green paint for my house that is called rosepine by Benjamin Moore & Co. They describe is as ‘a muted moss green that verges on a dark taupe’.
I got my flu shot today, and checked the CDC website for numbers for the last few years. These are graphs I pulled together from the CDC website, just for myself. Bottom line, and just speaking rough numbers: flu can make 40 million people in the USA sick in a bad season— 1 out of 10 in the population!— and result in 40,000 deaths.
It was a hazy, sunny Sunday (81°F / 27 °C), warm for this late in the year.
Our 10-day forecast still does not show any rain.
Sometimes called the ‘little sunflower’, genus Helianthella, catches the last rays of the day at the T.T. Minor Playground off Union Street today. Helianthella is a genus of North American plants in the family Asteraceae.
Here’s my house’s front door (that used to be brown) with its new paint— a color called ‘Deep River’.
‘Reminiscent of vast jungle rivers, this saturated gray has a hint of green in its undertone’, says the Benjamin Moore brochure.
Colors are complicated. The green undertone of the door’s paint stands out strikingly in the direct sunlight. In the shadows, the eye sees more gray than green. In the dim winter light in a month or two, it might look like a dark gray, almost black.
