Aaron Around The World

Fire! On the 5th of October, major fires broke out in the hills 9kms northwest of the city (for those who know Brisbane, The Gap and Keperra area and in Enoggera Military Camp). They burned for the best part of a week, largely uncontrolled, and threatened numerous houses in the area (although it apparently didn't reach any). I knew nothing about it until the blaze was over a day old when I noticed masses of thick smoke billowing from the area while walking home from work. So, Aaron being Aaron got on the bike and screamed out there! Long story short, it was a hell of a show and, as can be seen in this photo, cell phone cameras unfortunately don't work too well in the dark. What you're looking at is flames on the edge of the road on a hillside, and they were fast getting bigger (traffic was swerving to avoid them). Apparently a fire just as major broke out in exactly the same area on the exact same day last year (October 5th, 2004). Bit suspicious - the anniversary of some girl breaking up with her boyfriend? ;) Too bad I probably won't be here to see the show next year hehe.


The Gold Coast Hinterland is a 30-minute drive inland from the coast and is made up of around 30 national parks and nature reserves, so it's very pretty :) The shot on the left is looking back towards the coast, and poking up on the horizon is the Q1 Tower in Surfer's Paradise. It's still under construction but will be the tallest residential tower in the world at 323 metres.


		We hired this little Hyundai Getz for the weekend. Not exactly my Skyline back home but it did the trick :)


Purling Brook Falls - one of the many in Springbrook National Park.		View from behind it. Wet.


Morag posing at the bottom of the falls.		I can't remember where this was taken. Good view though, of mist.


Still in Springbrook National Park, in an area called Natural Bridge.		Mo likes food ;)


Cave Creek Waterfall in Natural Bridge. This panoramic is often featured in touristy books about the Gold Coast, so I took my own :) I think there was meant to be glow worms in here too but I don't recall seeing any. We could've taken some home and put them on the fridge.


Public holiday in Brisbane today so Mo and I ventured out to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast for the day (9kms south of Surfer's Paradise, in the distance on the right).		Me, posing :)


Tallebudgera Creek where it meets the sea just south of Burleigh.


Big reptiles, and more coast line. Not a bad way to spend a day :)


Back in June, Mo decided Brisbane wasn't for her, and the depressing weather of Edinburgh, Scotland was more her scene. At the airport we put on a brave face...		...but we were sad - the bitch was leaving me!


She thought about giving me a kiss goodbye...		...then changed her mind ;)


Riverfire is a yearly week-long festival in Brisbane with various things happening all over the show. It kicks off with a massive 20-minute fireworks display that costs the tax payers a lot of money ;)


Even numerous buildings throughout the city are rigged.		But by far the highlight of the night is a 'dump and burn' by an Australian Air Force F-111 jet. This thing was fucking spectacular! It flew full-tit right past us along the river and then straight up into the sky. Bloody loud and bloody amazing!


Since that (cell phone) picture above is so crap, this just gives a better idea of what a dump and burn actually looks like. Impressive!


Now that is a cool Mini! It even had a decent-sounding audio setup in there.		Then I found this 'street organ' in King George Square. It apparently took three years to build and has 442 pipes of all notes and sounds, a 24-note glockenspiel, snare drum, cymbal, wood block, and bass drum. It's housed in a trailer and goes all round the country playing its stuff while the owner sells CD's. Very cool! It really drew a crowd of oldies.


Round the back it 'reads' music off these cardboard books with specially placed lines of holes that indicate how and when each instrument is to play. Technology these days huh ;)		Still round the back, the wheel on the right is driven by an electric motor and keeps the whole thing in time, as well as drives the bellows for the pipes. The cardboard book reader thing is in the middle with a toy monkey hanging off it which rubs himself up and down the wood there as the bellows inhale and exhale.


Even the pigeon man was enjoying it!		But while he was distracted, the pigeons attacked and devoured him ;)


Just another Friday night. Someone thought it would be hilarious to steal this plastic chair from the backpackers 50 metres up the street and hoist it over a street sign on a main road. I'd have to agree ;) It stayed up there for about a week, and every day it never failed to amuse me.


This guy comes to King George Square every so often with several loaves of bread and a ton of bird seed, and every pigeon within half a kilometre swarms in! They must recognise him too because even before he sat down they were all flying over and landing on him. Lunch time!		He was giving the tourists some bread to have a go at getting attacked too.I hope to have a beard just like his some day ;)


I didn't want to miss out on the fun so he threw me some bread too, and I was immediately surrounded by manic, flea-ridden pigeons!


I went biking around a few suburbs east of the city today and found this while on a cycle path winding along a creek towards the Brisbane River. Those white spots are ibis (fucking ugly, pesky birds). There were hundreds, if not thousands of them here, and the place absolutely stunk!		An ibis, and as you can see, they aren't small, so to see (and smell) so many in one place was unreal (and disgusting - there was shit everywhere).		Same spot but further along the creek. That's Gateway Bridge in the background over the Brisbane River - much bigger and higher than it looks.


Westpac thought they'd get into the spirit of Halloween by erecting this thing in King George Square and enticing potential home-owners looking for mortgages to come in for a trick or treat.		Brisbane's City Hall, if anyone is interested.


Just down the road from King George Square, at the top floor of this flash building, is where I work :)


There was some anti-Bush display in Queen Street Mall today. These two had put together a few pictures of President Bush and were trying to convert passersby to their school of thought. I didn't have time to stick around and be converted however; the Melbourne Cup was starting!


I found a few pictures of my own. These two chicks sum it up pretty nicely hehe.



This guy comes to Queen Street Mall a few days a week and throws together these awesome pieces of work with just spray paint! He starts each one from scratch in front of a crowd of about 20 or 30 curious onlookers. Each one takes around 20 minutes to complete and is all freehand - really good to watch. He sells them for between $30 and $50. The cell phone picture quality (or lack thereof) ruins how good they really look. Might be time to think about a proper camera.


The pigeon man was back today, this time wearing a much cooler t-shirt! And on the menu today: rice. This guy reminds me of the Christchurch Wizard, except the Wizard doesn't sit in Cathedral Square feeding rice to the birds hehe.		Rice, because a billion Asians and a flock of 200 pigeons can't be wrong! ;)


They start off calm enough...		...then they just get manic and start flapping all over the place.


Seems to take them a while to understand why there's none left hehe. If you feel like pigeon for dinner, this is the point when you grab one.		Then, as I escaped the pigeons, I bumped into none other than Michael Holding!!! For those who don't follow cricket, Michael was an absolute West Indian legend during the late 1970s and 1980s. This man could bowl a fucking mean cricket ball. He now commentates the game all over the world. I was stoked to meet him! The first test match of a three-test series between Australia and the West Indies starts at The Gabba tomorrow.