Breakfast along the Bicentennial Bikeway this morning

And I almost left the camera at home...

Karawatha Forest

Karawatha Forest is lovely.  Sometimes you can't see the forest for all the trees, but we finally found a spot where you can.

Nice day for mowing the lawn

Spotted this out in the suburbs. It's the same model my father bought the year I was born apparently. And probably also a bastard to start just like ours was... Nice day for mowing the lawn, ahead of the two cyclones about to hit Queensland...

Check out this bloke's rear view mirror! It's all askew!

Interesting fact for any non-Antipodeans reading: this is a Ford Falcon BA MkII  XR6 which is a bit of an orphan in world car terms. You can pretty much only find it in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island nations and some used to go to South Africa and some Middle Eastern countries. Most taxis here are Falcons running LPG, and I've owned a few of the buggers, so I always find it strange overseas that there aren't any, and somewhat re-assuring whenever I return home that they're still here. Crazy mirror, wot?

A very dinkum sign

Spot the monorail cat!

Spot the monorail cat!! If you haven't seen the monorail lolcat meme, just one of many lolcat memes, now is the time!

Polly want a cracker? (and a slab and perhaps a small sherry?)

This is in a bottlo. According to the Urban Dictionary, bottlo is Australian slang for a business establishment that sells products of alcoholic content. 

Usage: "Oi, pick us up a case at the bottlo."

Case may be replaced with carton or slab or box depending on regional variations but means a carton of beer or cider or something.

Flood junk from shops at Oxley

Frizzle

Brisbane City Council allows six chickens per house, but no roosters. We have had three hens since December, but unfortunately now we only have two. Frizzle, pictured, passed away last night and won't be frizzling around any more. We'll miss her curiosity and seeing her frizzleness change with the weather and her soft way of saying 'peep peep.'

A frog!

Rainbow with power lines in foreground

So we've just had a quick storm and 23,000 homes lost power on top of the 20,000 which already don't have power because of the flooding. Why can't we have underground power? I've never quite understood this...

"We'll be alright as long as they can't open doors"

Ibis at Southbank during the flooding. Be afraid!

Cleaning up flood mess at boss' friend's furniture factory at Archerfield...

This morning there's a crazy wave of cleaning up happening. The council is organising clean up teams at major centres, and many people are just turning up here and there and doing what they can. Everyone I know avoided any flood damage, but I got a message from my boss who was helping clean up his friend's furniture factory, so my brother and my sister, and her husband and mother, all turned up to help. Hours later we're sore and covered in mud but you can see a difference. A lot of people who aren't in the muck are making food and organising that side of things, and delivering it all over the place for volunteers. I myself had a lovely quiche and a muffin and some bottled water. I could have also had fruit, sandwiches and soft drink. Not a bad spread!

Flooded river from the Story Bridge

This doesn't look all that dramatic, it's down about a metre and a half from the peak. You can see a ferry terminal underwater and on the city side the Riverside boardwalk still under.

South Bank 3 Ferry Terminal

Sunbathing is exactly the thing to do whilst your city floods. This photo is from yesterday. Those chairs would have been under water this morning.

Brisbane is flooding!

"You pretend to pole-dance and I'll take a photo while things flood near us" Seriously though, Brisbane is flooding. Google brisbane floods if you're interested. Apologies for the lack of posts over the last few days but power/net has been a bit intermittent.

Rain on bikeway

This is high tide at the bikeway near the city side of the Goodwill Bridge. There's a lot happening with floods and rain and dams spilling out and so on at the moment. The council cleans up all this junk twice a day after each high tide.

Still raining and cloudy...

A glimpse of the city driving north on the Pacific Motorway.

Art?

This is from the window of Woolloongabba Art Gallery and I don't know what to think about it!

City Botanic Gardens

Truck Crash!

They have since installed hanging dongle things just down the road which go 'dongle dongle' on most trucks, even if they fit perfectly well beneath the bridge... So it's gone from the occasional noise of a truck crashing, to a more regular 'dongle dongle' and a truck screeching to a halt and then either creeping beneath or doing a strange u-turn.

Clouds over UQ

Thunder clouds, seen whilst cycling through the University of Queensland, St Lucia. I can't recall the name of the tree in the foreground but I like it a lot. I like shade a lot at this time of year in Brisbane.

Magpie Territory

Just near the Kangaroo Point cliffs, and close to a few known magpie nests... Beware indeed!

Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium

This is the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. This is also the first photo post for this daily blog so stay tuned and we'll see if things last!