Queensland, the Sunshine State of Australia, Home of the Banana Benders, the Kingaroy Peanut (Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson) and many many famous people.
Queensland the Sunshine State: Simply Perfect!
Did you know Sean Connery's former wife Dianne Cilento (and mother of his son), not only comes from Queensland, but still lives there? Captain Sandy Stewart also lives there? Remember him? I published his photographic story about Queensland at Magic City.
What about Peter Beattie? You know! The Premier of Queensland. Ugh! Foreigners! What would you know!
Anyway, Queensland is a tropical paradise, where it hardly ever rains, and the sun shines all day. True! Just ask anyone when it was that they last saw rain. The water reservoirs are almost completely empty at the moment.
Some Mexicans (that means people from down south - you know - those Australians who are not Queenslanders - 'southerners') complain that Queensland and it's Capital Brisbane, are very boring places where one can find nothing to do. Wrong!
For these 'other Australians', and to provide opportunity for my American readership, I have produced here some more photos of Brisbane Queensland, and other nearby places that serve as 'additional material' to the Photographic article that I will publish in a day or two at Magic City News in America. (Some of those photos are of things 'down south' across the border - 'doesn't matter!)
That story will carry the same name: Queensland, the Sunshine State.
I Hope you enjoy these shots.
Queensland Photographs.
Everyone in China says, "You must find it strange to be living in a city full of Chinese".
I say: "Really?" Chinatown is 5 minutes from where I lived.
'Southbank' on the southern side of the Brisbane River, where expo '88 was held.
Cultural Centre, Cinemas, Convention centers, a university,
a manmade beach, and some strange foreign buildings.
A poor long distance shot of the state library at Southbank
Brisbane City Hall faces King George Square, and on the other side of the road is the Wesley Methodist church, and behind that a tall building that 30 years ago was the State Government Insurance Office (where I once worked). These two shots are significant, because in one of the Mission Impossible Movies, you see this church in the background of one scene, minus the tall building. Really scary scene. I thought the building must have been demolished. Nope! Still there!
Just because we 'banana benders' are 20 years behind the rest of Australia,
doesn't mean that we don't have modern conveniences.
We have tall buildings, bridges, a nice river, a scenic backdrop of Mt.Cootha.
What else could you ask for?.
We even have a mall, that used to provide some very wet seats to sit on.
Used to be up at the Conrad's Casino end of the mall.
Yes! We do have a casino.
[Sadly no longer there 2008]
Hell, we even have a modern train service. Trains never run on time though. Roma Street Transit Centre looks after all of that, and provides a nice parkground to go play in.
If you prefer the water, you can sail on the Brisbane river.
You can take the Fast City Cat ferries,
or take a slow leisurely Lunch or Dinner Trip on the Kookaburra Queen.
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Or you can just go for a swim at Southbank - at the manmade beach.
If you like the wildlife, you could go out to Lone Pine Sanctury and take a 'gander'.
(That's Aussie speak for - take a look)
You could head north:
To Redcliffe, Bribie Island, Moreton Island, Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, or Fraser Island, and along the way stop in at the Ettamogah Pub.
If you head up the Australia Zoo way, then there is some beautiful natural scenery to look at.
and don't forget to go to Underwater World while you are up that way.
If you go to Redcliffe, don't forget to visit the free swimming pool complex near Anzac Avenue, and check out the Whale Sightseeing Cruises that leave from Redcliffe Marina. (You can see the glasshouse mountains from there).
Of course if you want to head South:
You can go down to Tamborine Mountains, Springbrook, Gold Coast hinterland, or the Gold Coast itself, with its many wildlife sanctuaries, and beautiful beaches. (Americans must close their eyes - many girls are topless), and of course, Jupiter's Casino.
(View of the ocean from Jupiters Hotel Room)
Top Frame:
Jupiter's Casino from the front view, with a view of the ocean from a hotel room.
Bottom Frame:
The monorail that takes you from the Hotel to the beach, and the Jupiters swimming pool area.
And then of course
If the beach doesn't interest you at the Gold Coast, you can double back toward Brisbane and drop in at Dreamworld, or perhaps, go across the road to Movie world, where they make all of those famous American Movies. The day I took this photo, I was lucky enough to see an explosion.
R.P.BenDedek is from Brisbane Australia and is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at http://www.kingscalendar.com His academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
He writes photographic 'Stories from China' and social editorial commentaries, both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing newspaper columnist. He currently teaches Conversational English in China and in addition to his English Lessons at KingsCalendar, he has created specific sites for Students of English.
