Tag Archives for Brisbane

Glass House Mountains Road Trip: Day 1 – 11 August 2013


Due to what was seemingly constant illness since November, I cancelled my planned trip to Uluru (Northern Territory, Australia) and brought forward my holidays in order to spend time getting well. From the moment I cancelled the trip I was healthy, until the very last day of work when I again fell ill and had to stay at home for the first week recovering. I then decided I should at least go on a road trip for a few days during the second week and do something useful with my annual leave.

So a very hastily planned road trip to the Glass House Mountains and Australia Zoo (Queensland) was thrown together in a matter of hours and when I couldn’t sleep I decided I might as well be up and off on it – that happened at 3am on the Sunday morning and I was away by 4am. At the end of the first day I was completely exhausted – however I had arrived in Beerburrum, with both Australia Zoo and the Glasshouse Mountains just down the road, which allowed a sleep in the next day with plenty of time for exploring as well.

Without getting too far ahead of myself though, I should cover the first day of the road trip, which did involve a lot of driving – which I think is an essential ingredient of any journey termed a ‘road trip.’ My road trip took me up the Pacific Highway, with a number of quick stops along the way (including Coffs Harbour, Macksville, Maclean, etc). The featured photo is of an old sugar cane barge in the Ferry Park, at Maclean in New South Wales. I took that shot while taking a pit stop at the Visitor Centre located in the Ferry Park. The journey north also included a drive through Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast, as well as Queensland’s capital – Brisbane.

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ELECTRIC CARS COMING SOONER RATHER THAN LATER


In great news for the environment and consumers it seems that ‘green cars’ will be arriving in Australia sooner rather than later, with infrastructure for electric cars to be set up in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne within four years. The project is a joint venture between AGL, Macquarie Capital and Better Place.

The project aims to set up recharge stations for electric cars at workplaces, homes and shopping centres. It is thought that some 250 000 recharge stations will be built in the project. Such projects have already been set up in Israel and Denmark.

Macquarie Capital is to raise $1 billion to build the recharging network, with AGL to supply renewable energy for the project. Better Place will actually build the network.

Should the project go ahead and the infrastructure be built, motorists will be able to dump petrol and diesel vehicles and move to electric ones. This will of course be a great relief from rising fuel costs and help protect the environment from further greenhouse gas emissions.

CROCODILE ATTACK NEAR COOKTOWN IN QUEENSLAND


A terrible tragedy is unfolding near Cooktown in Queensland, Australia. An Australian fisherman has probably been taken by a 6 metre crocodile on the Endeavour River while checking crab traps on foot. Arthur Booker, 62, from the town of Logan, south of Brisbane has not been seen since about 8.30am Tuesday morning.

The man and his wife were on a two-day holiday at the Endeavour River Escape campsite near Cooktown, north of Cairns in Queensland. Mr Booker had already packed his boat on the top of his 4WD vehicle in preparation to leave.

A local crocodile known as Charlie is the alleged culprit of Arthur Booker’s disappearance according to local Terry Rayner. However, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service regional manager James Newman has said that there are other large crocodiles in the area.

Police are searching for the man but all that has been found is the man’s watch and footwear. The search will continue tomorrow.

BELOW: Footage of the Endeavour River, scene of the attack and the search for the victim.