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Every city in Australia seems to have some wank-wank slogan. Although you can't see it here this sign has been hit by a car and sits very wonky on the side of the road hehe. |
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Brookside Mall. Last time I was here was a Sunday back in May, and the following Monday I heard on the radio everyone was being hastily evacuated due to a bomb threat. |
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For about 5kms from Brookside Mall there were some interesting things that had been stuck into the path. Miniature haikus... |
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Bugs... |
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Bats... |
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Frogs... |
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and more nonsensical haikus. |
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Even a bit of graffiti permanently wishing Zoe a happy birthday. |
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You're in your mid-teens, it's a Saturday night, you're bored out of your tree, what do you do? Go down to the hardware store and buy some spray paint of course! Down on the bottom right it says "Dedicated to a better Brisbane" hehe. |
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I'm buggered if I know what this used to be? |
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Red Riding Hood you cheeky girl. |
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This XR6 was sitting in front of Red Riding Hood's advertising billboard (it was an ad for flavoured milk by the way; better try me some of that ;) The driver (who I think was checking Red Riding Hood out) reckons he'd broken down and was waiting for the RACQ (Australia's equivalent of New Zealand's AA). Ford's, pffft! ;) |
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Toombul Mall, 10kms east of Keperra and 8kms north east of the city. Every good mall needs a big Maccas sign! |
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Adjacent to Toombul Mall in a (mostly empty) car park is a learn-to-ride-a-motorbike outfit. This guy didn't have a clue, and the lady in white was trying to offer some advice. |
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At About this point the wind was really starting to pick up some gusto, and as the fates would have it, it was a head-wind - big easterly straight off the sea. I'd done 25kms and as I was nearing the coast (and Brisbane Airport which is mostly surrounded by wetlands) I was becoming more and more exposed so it became a hard slog. After 8kms of head-wind from Toombul the path turns north, and eventually enters forest. In here I came across two snakes within a 10-minute period, both having a siesta in the middle of the path, and I ran over them both. The first was about a foot long, skinny, and completely black. It looked like a line of tar-seal on the path. It wasn't until the last instant I realised it wasn't tar-seal. I think I may have just nicked his tail, not too sure. Either way, when I looked back he was slithering off into the undergrowth. The second snake was about two feet long, also skinny, and was more like the traditional green colour you tend to associate with snakes. Being really sheltered in a forest the wind became minimal, and I was making the most of it sitting on about 40km/h. By the time I noticed the second snake he was only metres in front of me. I let out an "Ohhhhh fuuuuuck" to myself and slammed on the anchors (it was too late to swerve). I tried to bunny-hop over him, but I buggered it up completely and landed right on the middle of him with my rear wheel. When I came to a halt and looked back he too was outta there. Hopefully I didn't hurt either of them too bad. I sat on about 20km/h after that in case I came across anymore hehe, but I didn't. |
In the end she got told to piss off. |
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Shorncliffe Pier. Not quite as impressive as New Brighton Pier back home but never mind. Shorncliffe was kind of the point of no return. This was the final point from which I could get a train back to the city. If it started pissing with rain or I got a puncture etc. between here and Deception Bay, I was as good as buggered. The clouds were bloody dark, and the wind was really strong and would be gruelling to Deception Bay. I'd done 49kms, and Deception Bay was 25kms away. 25kms into the head wind from hell. On I went! |
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10kms out of Shorncliffe I came across this prick on a jet ski. He kept screaming towards the guy on the left at a million miles an hour, swerving at the last second and completely showering him in water hahaha! Meanwhile the guy was trying desperately to get back to shore. It was great to watch ;) |
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Closer to Deception Bay several tandem skydivers were landing. A couple ended up face-first in the sand, one pair hit the drink, but most landed pretty well. |
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Apparently my family has made a name for themselves in Deception Bay. Maybe I have an uncle I'm not aware of. |
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Well, after four hours and 73kms from Keperra, including around 90 minutes and 25kms of a bloody horrible head-wind from Shorncliffe, I eventually made it to the end of the cycle path in Deception Bay and yup, I was absolutely knackered! |
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Incidentally this is your average Deception Bay street - lined with palm trees, big houses, and expensive vehicles! Really nice area. |
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Well, despite the weather, and my quadriceps screaming at me to stop, I'd done it. When I sat down on the train I noticed I was shaking a little - that wind man, that bloody wind, really took it outta me. After biking home from the train station I'd done a total of 101.28kms for the day spread over 4 hours and 40 minutes of cycling (average speed a humble 21.7km/h). After having the bike for just ten months my odometer is now 2,740kms - and today's 100kms was the worst of the lot hehe. Needless I say I slept bloody well that night, and was walking a little funny the following day! |
The 25km trip back to Shorncliffe was awesome thanks to the massive wind now behind me for the first time. I sat on 40+ km/h most of the way and it only took a little more than half an hour to make it back. Compare that to the 90 minutes it took the other way and you get some idea of how bad the wind was. My speedo clocked the big one-zero-zero as I stepped foot on the train. It was now 6:45pm, six hours since I left Keperra. |
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Last night I discovered my bike had mysteriously snapped a spoke on the front wheel. I took it in this morning to get fixed. After I'd left the bike and walked out of the shop I could hear what sounded like a lawn mower (but 50-times louder) coming up the road. This late-80s Ford pulled over, and wasn't firing on all four by the sound of it. I walked over to the driver. "G'day mate, can I give you a hand at all?" "Nah just don't even talk to me bro!" hahaha - friendly Australians, so I took pictures and put him on the Internet ;) When I came back to collect the bike half an hour later he was still sitting here. I was very tempted to go over and say, "Are you sure you don't want a hand, bro?", but I didn't. This is the second Ford I've come across this week that has crapped out on the side of the road! Fords - pffft! ;) |
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I found this massive thing (can somebody tell me what he is?) in the kitchen two nights ago. 48 hours later he's still there so he must like his little spot, just next to the fridge. |
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My flatmate, Akiko (Aki). I've never met anyone so absolutely terrified of insects. Seeing as how she hadn't said anything about our new kitchen pet, I assumed she hadn't noticed it yet. She'd just gotten home very tired from work. I said "Hey check out my new camera, go stand in front of the fridge and I'll take a shot of ya!" While she was standing and posing ready for a photo I said, "Oh by the way look over there..." (pointing towards that insect). This was the result hahaha! As you can see, she was genuinely distraught. "Ahhh it's so yuck!" Oh by the way I have a new camera. My cell phone just wasn't cutting the mustard. |
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While putting today's pictures up I heard several sirens (which is not uncommon as I live on a freeway), but these sirens stopped up the road, so I grabbed my scanner and my camera and went walkies. Eventually, I heard on the scanner that the cause of all the action was just a faulty fire alarm that had gone off. What a let down! I think Adam (my flatmate) really wanted be a fireman as a kid. Instead he became an idiot ;) |
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Central train station, directly opposite my work. It was 4:35 and several cops along with Queensland Rail officials were getting ready to hold back a disgruntled peak-hour mob. |
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Several choppers were circling the skies... |
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The 'filth' was out in full force... |
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And so too were several ambulances. |
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Every news crew in the city descended upon the city centre. I was seen on at least one news bulletin by my flatmate's friend. That's twice I've been on the TV over here now hehe. |
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All of the streets were lined with evacuated buses, and the underground Queen Street bus exchange was cordoned off. The scene of the entire CBD could be summed up as a lot of cops, a lot of news crews, a lot of helicopters above, and a hell of a lot of pedestrians all wandering around aimlessly enjoying the show (like me ;) The church bells in King George Square bellowed their hourly cacophony right on 5:00pm, but (as expected) there were no big bangs. At the end of the day, terrorists don't phone in their intentions to the police; they just do it. Nonetheless, it still provides plenty of entertainment :) |
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Back at Central Station, now 5:10pm, and the crowd was getting pretty restless. |
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After the typical pack of yobbos and dickheads swarmed back into Central Station, the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, fed his 10 cents into the microphones. |
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The fuzz hung about at Central Station for a while, all standing around congratulating each other on being awesome. |
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Even Santa Claus flew in for the action! I later found out a 46-year-old male fuckwit was arrested and charged on four counts of making bomb threats; his fingerprints having been found in three of the four payphone booths used to call in the threats. He faces 10 years in prison. What a loser. |
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Anybody want to pay for half of Damien's fuel? My Mum taught me never to get into cars with strangers. |
