A Very Early Rise

Sunday 30 November

The Hungry Hikers are planning their Christmas celebration. Joc asked me to join her on an early morning walk Sunday, to check out the potential of a particular spot beside the Brisbane River. I quickly agreed and in discussing a meet time, we agreed that we should make it early enough to witness sunrise.

We both follow Instagram's, brizzpic. Mark Coleman is an amazing photographer "finding beauty from above and below", especially along the Brisbane River. It was his Saturday morning post that prompted us to make this decision.

3.30 am saw me hit the M1 to the city. Sheer bliss to drive at this hour. 100k/h all the way. At exactly 

4 am, I was parked and meeting Joc at Wilson's Point that overlooks the Story Bridge and the city to the west.

In the short time that it took us to take the lift to the lower level, the sky had already become brighter. As we walked under the bridge, colour was filling the horizon and reflecting on the river.

 We had a destination in mind for watching the sun rise behind the bridge, but kept on having to pause to enjoy the reflections glowing on the river surface.

4.23 am

Our chosen spot was in a slightly elevated position and we were happy to see clouds forming to the east.

Sunrise was at 4.43 am. This is what we enjoyed as we waited over the next 20 minutes.

Slightly more elevated.

Time to move on. We had a picnic spot to find.

This Spiral Ginger caught my eye . 

Nearing the Kangaroo Cliffs Footbridge, the sky's colour was changing from the reds to soft yellows and whites. It was quite an awesome sight with the red of the Poinciana Trees, bridge and bougainvillea.

Further on, around the bend of the river, we enjoyed this view as we crossed the Goodwill Bridge.

We then turned left to walk below the cliffs back to the Kangaroo Point Bridge.

New views

This will be our view as we sit enjoying our Christmas gathering.

The view crossing the Kangaroo Point Bridge

There is a wonderful dining precinct below the Story Bridge. At this hour it was deserted but would have been pumping, only hours earlier. Time for a cuppa, reward for our 8 kilometres walked.

Back at the car, I just couldn't leave until I had photographed this magnificent Flame Tree, and one last look back to the city skyline.

Mark Coleman's photos of the same morning. Taken of above the bridge and from the opposite side of the city.

Map of our morning's walk.

A totally rewarding morning in our beautiful city. By the time we were driving home, 8.30am, the humidity was already rising for the day. This morning I received a wealth of photos from the family on Prince Edward Island. Ben and Nora had been to a Christmas Parade, market and had chatted with Santa over the weekend. The first, light snow fell Saurday evening. More is to come. Now that really is the perfect Christmas atmosphere.

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A Taste of Brisbane's Celtic Festival

 Sunday 10 October, Moorlands Park, Brisbane.

The previous weekend, Warwick [a 2 1/2 hr drive away] held their CelticFest, celebrating the Southern Downs' rich Scottish and Irish heritage. I was extremely disappointed that I was unable to attend. I had learnt highland dancing between the ages of 7 and 9, when we lived at Afterlee. 

I then happened upon this small event in Brisbane, and although it was an extremely HOT day, I loved every minute of it. 

Arrival, 9.30 am - It had been a mad dash to reach the upriver ferry before its departure. Huffing and gasping for breath, I walked inside to sit down, to be greeted by my friend Jocelyn on the same ferry. A great start to the day.

The jacarandas are flowering, but the grass is brown from lack of rain for far too many weeks.

There were numerous stalls of tartans, family history and genealogy, celtic jewelery and food stalls. Bottled water and icecream sales had long queues all day.

These three Irish Wolfhounds and their owners were very welcoming.

Visitors were encouraged to wear their tartan, kilts and celtic attire.

Winners

I was thrilled to discover this group. 

Hopefully, next year I will find time to join them of a Friday morning.

A delight to watch the dancers in full admiration of their finesse, whilst dancing in such steamy conditions. That said, I admired all who had turned out in their tartans! Sweat was dripping from me in my light clothing, sitting in the small amounts of shade I could find. There was little breeze.

Greg Peaty - Celtic Musician

A member of the massed bands.

Whilst I had been totally enjoying the mornings program, I was becoming disappointed that I had seen few bagpipers. Then, with little warning, my heart was beating rapidly to the deep pulse of the drums and the ancient wail of the bagpipes as the massed bands marched across the small arena. They then played for a good 20 minutes. Whether from my Irish /Scottish heritage or not, I was incredibly moved by their performance.

Moreton Bay Fiddlers

Australian Celtic Women and Q.I.A Dancers

The program, discovered at the end of the afternoon.

The heat was too  much for Joc and as the initial performers weren't as thrilling as later in the day, she left at 11am. I decided to see how I would manage for another hour. Greg Peaty took the stage sooner after and I was hooked for the rest of the day. By 4pm the heat had exhausted most of the attendees, but the modern Limmerick Band kept on singing. Just after 4pm I made the move towards the ferry terminal, their music following me.

My diary is bookmarked for a similar event next year.

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Supermoon

 Wednesday 5 November - Lota

The first time I can recall looking for, or having any knowledge of a supermoon, was January 2018. Such a big fuss was being made in the media, that the both the Hungry Hikers and the Gaiter Girls, took themselves to Lota on the bayside to hike and then watch it rise.

Because of the time of sunset, its arrival was almost missed by the Hungry Hikers. It was a lovely moon but not spectacular. The following evening the Gaiter Girls hiked and waited and waited. Alas, it was a cloudy evening and we saw some of it for just a minute!

We were well prepared, but disappointed. 

Having visited Lota the week prior, and watched the sailing boats from our moon watching spot, the seed was sown to return for November's supermoon.

Unusually, Leanne and I were the only Hungry Hikers available to walk. We quickly covered our 10 km along the lovely bayside shoreline. 

Spot our hats reserving our table, on our return..We didn't want to lose the prime position in the time it took to return to our cars and collect the evenings provisions.

We had timed our walk well and once set up, relaxed with a glass of wine to wait the 20 minutes for the moon's arrival.

A lovely passing walker offered to take this shot for us.

Within minutes of turning around after the above photo, and 10 minutes earlier than expected, my eyes suddenly focused on a blurry moon, rising above the horizon. I grabbed my camera.

17.59 pm

Not being a 'photographer', [using only a point and shoot and iPhone] I find it fascinationg how the light effects the quality of the image. The iPhone couldn't see the above, but later it had better clarity than the camera.

Leanne's Iphone 15 pro, 18.04 pm

My Iphone 8, 18.06 pm.

Camera

iPhone 8

The pastel shades of sunset were becoming stronger and spreading across the horizon.

Camera

As the moon rose higher, a few wispy clouds wafted across its face.

iPhone15

The next 2 images were taken at the same time - 18.40 pm.

iPhone 8  

iPhone 15.

As we continued to sit and enjoy the extremely pleasant ambiance of the evening, we became aware that the tide had been rising. In fact quite quickly. Within minutes the mudflat was covered and we were treated to the lovely sound of water lapping against the seawall.

Ha, ha! That was in between 50 runners jogging past 3 or 4 times!

It was 7.30 pm when, with great reluctance, we packed up and bade the moon farewell. The joggers were still jogging.

Last views.

Camera

iPhone

Meanwhile I have a dear friend who lives on the Gold Coast. We always share moon photos. These special images arrived as I was getting into the car. They were taken across the Broadwater.

An absolutely perfect evening.

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