Chris at the Maheno Wreck

This shipwreck of the Maheno occurred in around 1935 and has been rusting ever since. It is located on the western side of Fraser Island.

The Glorious Jan

We stopped at the Coloured Sands for a few minutes to look at, you guessed it, coloured sand! This was the second last stop of the tour

Lake Allom Turtle

Fraser Island, an enormous sand based island that is unique. It contains many fresh water lakes and creeks. One such creek has 4.5 million litres per hour( That's right per hour) of water flow out to sea. It is icy cold and sweet tasting.

However this little fellow lives in Lake Allom and is on of the few lakes that is not crystal clear as many trees surround it giving it a ph level of 4, making the water very soft. Again fresh water and it was just marvelous.

View from Hotel

We stayed at the Mantra, formally the Outrigger. Fantastic apartments and very well priced at $90 per night. Other tourists on our trip to Fraser were paying up to $110 for a cabin in a caravan park!

Maryborough War Memorial

This has to be part of the most beautiful WWI memorial in Australia. This shot only captures part of it. The memorial is located in Maryborough and is part of the municiple gardens which cover a large part of the city centre. The statues of which there are five, were created in Italy after the War and came to Maryborough via Sydney.

Ettamogah Pub

This was our first stop. We have seen it many time on other trips up the coast but have never been inside. There is a first time for everything. Of course we had a beer, it was 1030am after all!

Hervey Bay Holiday

What a fanatastic three days we spent at Hervey Bay and in particular Fraser Island. Such a marvelous place. It makes me want to buy a 4WD tomorrow and go exploring. Hervey Bay is about 300km from Brisbane and is an easy drive up the coast. These sequence of shots that you'll see is a snapshot of our holiday.

Jan Scheiber in her favourite Sunday spot

Australia Day 2007 Photos

Australia Day Dinner

Well there is only one thing to say about this. Jan Scheiber my beautiful wife cooks the best roast lamb IN THE WORLD. This leg was butterflied and left to marinate in lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary and garlic for two days. It was roasted on 200 degree celcius for 60 minutes then left to rest for 15 minutes. Simply the greatest meal ever.

Australia Day Long Weekend Garden Additions

We have some new additions to the garden this weekend. The climbing frangapani that I thought was dead actually wasn't. The shock of being transplanted killed off all growth but has just started sprouting. This was of course after we had purchased a full on native frangipani called Hymenosporum Flavum or Native Frangipani. For those who know our garden I've placed it in the western corner.
This tree will grow to a height of about 10 metres however I'll definitely prune it. It flowers in spring with pale flowers and they change to a yellow with age. My plan for this tree is to fill the 3 to 8 metre gap in the garden and will eventually shield the deck. What was especially pleasing was the north west breeze this afternoon that will bring the scent from the Frangipani onto the deck.
Other additions include Xanthostemon Verticillatus or Little Penda. This is a rare native shrub from North Queensland. It flowers sporadically throught the year and creates large clusters of white/yellow blooms with long stamens. This again has been planted along the the western boundry fence where it gets full sun. Finally out last additions are a Peach Allamanda and a "Alice du Pont" Mandvilla. These flowers are to grow up the palms to create a column of colour.

Flowers-New Additions

This is going to be called the "Column of Colour" once they grow. Frangapani, Mondevilla and Yellow Allamander. The Allamander is actually classified as a weed. Jan is delighted as she doesn't like them.

Winch in Collar

This is from Winchester "Elizabethan" period. He's go the collar on so he doesn't scratch his eye after the surgery. The collar does get filthy so this was taken just after Jan cleaned it.

Magpie Baby

Magpie baby in the yard (just before I mowed the grass!)

Sunday

Just your typical Sunday in the garden. Very hot this weekend and again no rain. We might be due for some towards the end of the week. Here are this weeks photos. There is a magpie family that has adopted us, here is the parent. Unfortuntely we found the other one dead in our yard. Not sure what killed it

Stoli

Winch

Bird Watching

During breakfast this morning a male King Parrot flew into the front yard. This bird is enormous and seemed almost tame as it landed very close to where we were sitting. http://www.australianfauna.com/kingparrot.php

Lily

Back Yard

Rainbow Lorikeet

Just starting out!

This is our first blog. Here we will post photos of our adventures in and around Brisbane.