Thursday, April 26, 2012

 

Concrete Critters

Up in Hervey Bay, where Unka Ray lives, there is a big marina. We sailed out of this marina for our great whale cruise back in 2006. Because lots of whale-watch boats use this marina there is a life-sized statue of a humpback whale just outside the information centre. These whales certainly are big. Just to give you some idea, I am sitting at the base of the flipper of this one, just where it joins the body. I am 18cm high when I am sitting down, so you can see how big a whale is. They certainly look huge when you are seeing them from the deck of a small catamaran and they are scratching their chins on the rudder. I love whales. I can't say the same for the critter in the bottom picture though. It was on the end of a wharf near a big catamaran, just near where we were having morning tea. A big saltwater crocodile. I didn't like the way it was staring at me. I was awful glad when they told me it was concrete, not a real one. Mum doesn't have to tell me to keep out of the water when I am in croc country.

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Brisbane's Big Wheel

I just love Ferris wheels and I ride them at every opportunity. I have been on lots of little ones, the biggest so far is the one at Perf (see my postings from Perth (Dad says that's how you spell it)). This one at Brisbane is just a little bit bigger than the one at Perf and it is also on the bank of a river. You will find it at South Bank in Brisbane. It gives you great views of the city and the river. It even has a ledge in the gondolas that is just the right size for small bears to sit on. And guess what? In just six weeks time I will be riding the biggest wheel in the world! The Oldies are going overseas again, and this time I am going with them.

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Thursday, April 19, 2012

 

Burnett Heads Lighthouses

Yay! Our lighthouse image collection has now recorded over 80 Australian lighthouses and a dozen or so overseas ones. We stayed with Unka Ray and Aunty Libby for a few days after the conference, and on one of the days they drove us up to Bundaberg to see these two lighthouses at Burnett Heads. The old wooden one was built in 1873 and operated until 1971. It was saved from demolition and moved about a kilometer away to a park in the main street. I would have liked to climb up and see the light, but the door was locked and the wood too slippery, so I gave up. The new lighthouse is out near the river mouth where the old one was originally. It is completely automatic. The light is in that tiny glass cylinder on the left at the top of the tower. The white dome is a receiver for data from the Cospas Sarsat satellites. These satellites give quick distress alerts and location data to help rescue people in trouble at sea. Once again, I couldn't climb the tower. It is surrounded by a high wire fence to keep vandals at bay. At least the fence made it easy for me to read the sign.

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The Sheik, the Pharaoh and the Princesses

In earlier posts you met the alter-egos of the Oldies, Sheik Rattlenroll and Princess Neferonnasunday (that's them on the right of the picture, just in case you are confused). Well, at the barbecue evening of the astronomy conference in Brisbane they were joined by two more representatives of Egyptian astronomy. Unka Ray and Aunty Libby have been to Egypt too and they decided to join the Oldies as their alter-egos. Unka Ray is Pharaoh Potolomey the Last and Aunty Libby is Princess Neferataloss. They caused quite a stir at the barbie and, surprisingly, some of the attendees couldn't work out what Egypt had to do with astronomy. Just in case you are wondering as well, Alexandria in Egypt was the main centre of all sciences in classical times. One of the most important astronomical books of all time was written there, Ptolomey's Almagest. You should also remember that the Arabic scientists were the ones who kept the sciences alive during the European Dark Ages. Indeed, most of the brighter stars have Arabic names. The presence of the Pharaoh, the Sheik and the Princesses at the barbie was a tribute to these important ancient astronomers.

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Saturday, April 14, 2012

 

New Friends

Meet my new friends, Unka Ray and Aunty Libby. Unka Ray is an astronomer, like the Oldies, and they meet up at conferences. They all get on together very well, and are actually more mischievous that this small bear is supposed to be. Our stay with them after the Brisbane conference was an occasion of many coffee shops, cafes, ressertorunts (I still can't spell restaurant) and much wine. Where am I in the group photo? Well, who do you think took it? Now, one of the new friend's I met was Unka Ray's small droid, R2D2. This little guy talks so fast that his words come out as whistles and beeps. He actually talks faster than Mum. Evidently he comes from somewhere out in space. I had to spend ages teaching him about Earth, with the help of Unka Ray's spinning globe. There are more like him out there and I have asked Mum to track them down and invite one to live with us. Here's hoping.

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Bart's Been To Brisbane

Yes, I am just back from a week in Brisbane. The Oldies went up there for an astronomy conference, and then we went up with friends to stay at their place at Hervey Bay for a few days. The bags are unpacked now and the Oldies are busy catching up with the work that has piled up while we were away (I had to sneak time on the computer while they are out shopping). On the trip I traveled in planes, boats, trains and cars; not bad for an 8-day trip. When our plane landed in Brisbane we caught the train in to the city. You can see me waiting on top of the luggage for the train to pull in. If I look a bit anxious it is because Dad is always in a tiz until we get to where we are going and some of it rubs off onto small bears. Anyhow, we had a good ride in, found our motel, and headed out to explore Brisbane. The nicest way to see lots of the city is to take a ride on one of the City Cat ferries. Brisbane is built along a very bendy river, so you see lots of it if you ride a complete loop on the ferry. Of course I was not allowed to run loose on the ferry. Mum still has this theory that I would fall overboard at the first opportunity, so she held onto me while the boat was moving. I think that I could get to like Brisbane. It is not as busy and pushy as Sydney and Melbourne, and it is much warmer than home.

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Tuesday, April 03, 2012

 

My Easter Egg Stash

Next weekend is Easter, the time that the Easter Bunny brings lots of chocolate eggs to children and small bears. I was a bit worried because this year we will be away in Brisbane for an astronomy conference, leaving tomorrow, and the bunny might not know where I am. So I thought about this for a while and realized that the bunny couldn't cover the whole world in one night, so probably had help from Oldies. That meant that there was a fair chance that the goodies had already been delivered and were hidden around the house somewhere. So I started looking and there were lots of choccie things in the back of cupboards. I collected them all in my Bart-sized shopping trolley, and you can see that I have a stash that will keep me in chocolate for ages, maybe even a couple of days.
Happy Easter to you all, wherever you are and whatever the holiday means to you.

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Toyshop Titans

Last weekend we went out to a new shopping centre near the airport. Lots of new shops had just opened and there were lots of things being sold at special prices. One shop called "Toys'r'Us" had been on the site for a few years, but the new shops joined up to it. Now I really love looking around toyshops. It's where I get my ideas about what to ask Santa for. Well, outside this shop there were two very large, very strange critters. Mum knew what they were straight away because she had some toys like them when she was a lot younger. They are Potatoheads, and they liked me. They showed me around the store, and I think Mr Potatohead tried to sell me at least once, but I am not leaving my Oldies to go and live with strangers. Evidently you can pull the eyes, ears, mouths and things off potatoheads and put different ones on them. I tried to do that but all I achieved was to make them say rude words and hand me back to Mum.

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