Brisbane & The Machine

Location: Brisbane, Australia
Address:  Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Date: May 2012
Website:  www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

  We found ourselves walking around Brisbane in the evening while we were in Australia.  The first night we were looking for somewhere good to eat.  We headed south and ended up at the Queen Street Mall.  It is a pedestrian only road with many stores and restaurants.  It also has a pixel light display above one portion of the street.  We were looking for somewhere nice to sit and relax and enjoy a meal after a long day.

  One restaurant caught our eye.  It had a familiar logo.  This is Hungry Jack's and is the Australian franchise of Burger King.  Another hamburger chain was already operating as Burger King when the American company decided to expand down under so a different name was chosen.  We didn't really feel like a Whopper so we continued our search.

  We turned around and there were people enjoying dinner on a balcony.  A little rainbow lead the way upstairs.  This is Jo-Jo's and we decided to check it out.

  We were given a number card on a stand.  We were told to put it on our table and then we could go to the stations to choose what we wanted to eat.  You had to pay at the stations and then someone would bring your food to you back at your table.  This was the first time we encountered this service, but it was common in many places around Australia.  We enjoyed our dinner and then took a stroll around Brisbane.

  The next night we didn't try too hard to find a new place to eat.  It was back to Jo-Jo's.  This time we ended up on the balcony and held card number 11.  We now knew how the routine worked.  After dinner we went for a little walk again.

  We walked out of the restaurant and noticed a lot of people headed south along Albert Street. We decided to head south as well.  We were curious where everyone was going.  As we walked we noticed more and more people.  Soon we reached the gates of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

We decided to follow the crowds into the park and see where they would lead us.  It was very dark in the gardens and we could barely see the strange trees around us.  Maybe they were doing fireworks in the river? 

  We went deeper into the gardens.  Some people rushed past us.  On the edge of the garden was an old building.  This is Old Government House.  It was built in 1862 and was Queensland's first public building.  We went a little further and could hear music.  Then we were at the gates of the Riverstage.  This was the end of the line for us and we would wonder no more.  The tables selling merchandise told us that British act Florence & the Machine were playing a concert that night.  Mystery solved.  We do enjoy the band's music and would have loved to stay for a show, but we had another busy day planned tomorrow and no tickets.  Instead we fought our way back against the flow of Florence fans and past Jo-Jo's one last time

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Map of Our World
Wintergarden
Hungry Jack's (Brisbane) , Jo-Jo's
Brisbane City Botanic Gardens
Old Government House

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Post # 221

Sundial Folly

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  25 Queens Quay West
Date: July 2015

  Sundial Folly is a large concrete ball which sits on the edge of Lake Ontario. It was created by John Fung and Paul Figueiredo and was installed at Toronto's Harbourfront in 1995.  A folly in architecture is a building built for decoration so maybe it has no higher function.  It is supposed to work as a sundial, but we couldn't figure it out.  These photos were taken at 3 PM if you wish to try.  Even if you don't know how to use it as a sundial, it is an interesting piece of art and you can actually go inside of it.  That is exactly what we did.

  We approached from the Ferry Docks and could see the small waterfall that flows into the lake.  The sundial was hidden behind the trees.

  From the front you can see the ball appears to be split into two pieces.  There is rusted metal in the trees behind it.  This is where you have to go if you want to get isnide.

  We walked around the ball and on the other side you can see it is sitting in a pool of water.

  A red-winged blackbird chirped at us from the branches hanging above the water.  Red-winged blackbirds have a chirp that sounds like "Hey what are you doing here?"

  We ignored the bird (after taking its photo) and we found ourselves on the metal structure attached to the ball.

  We went along the walkway towards the sphere.

   Inside the ball there was light coming through the crack in one direction.  This light would change as the sun moved across the sky.  The crack in the ball faces south so perhaps it does work as a sundial after all?  The crack curves up towards the sky.

  We had to exit the same way we came in.  Afterwards we went  around and peered through the crack at the back of the ball.

  We then went around the front to see if there were any other creatures in the water or plants around the sundial.  Thankfully when we went inside the sundial we were all alone.

  From the Sundial Folly you can see the Toronto Islands ferries as they bring passengers back and forth.

  If you take a ferry ride over to the islands, you can get a good view of the sundial.  This photo above was taken from the ferry.

  When you look at your photos of Toronto's waterfront again you will notice the sundial.  In our photo above it is tucked down beneath the condos in the bottom right corner.  We suggest you find the time to visit Sundial Folly.  We had a ball.

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This location is near Queens Quay. Visit other Toronto TTC stations.

Map of Our World:
Sundial Folly

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Post # 220

Exploring The Athabasca Glacier

Location: Jasper, Alberta, Canada
Address:  Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre, Icefields Parkway
Date: June 2005
Website:  www.banffjaspercollection.com

   The Columbia Icefield was once part of a giant sheet of ice that helped form the Rocky Mountains.  The icefield still covers hundreds of square kilometres today.  One of its toes is the Athabasca Glacier.  This glacier can reach depths of up to 1000 feet.  We visited the Athabasca Glacier when we were in Alberta back in 2005.

   To travel out onto the glacier we went in an Ice Explorer.  These are large all-terrain, giant wheeled vehicles.  The wheels are taller than some people.

    There was an old snowmobile that looked more like a tank.  This would have been the Ice Explorer used many years ago.

    First our Ice Explorer crept down a steep incline and then we travelled along a road that had been worn into the glacial ice.

    Then we parked right on top of the glacier.  Now we could enjoy more of the mountain view around us.  Despite being June, there was a cold crispness to the air.

 

  We stepped down onto the ice between the mountains and did some exploring of our own.

   We looked up at some of the mountain peaks..  These very mountains were formed by long gone glacial ice much like what we were currently standing on.

  We went higher up and could see the glacier continue on beyond the mountain.  The Athabasca Glacier is just one small part of the Columbia Icefield that extends beyond that point.

  The glacier can be a dangerous place.  Blue pylons warned us not to venture out into unsafe territory.

  Each year the Athabasca Glacier is slowly receeding.  This marker in the photo above shows roughly where the glacial ice would have reached back at the end of the 1960s.  Today the ice has receeded even further.  The ice water that melts out of the glacier could be snow that fell almost 150 years ago.  The glacier gave us a glimpse of what this part of Canada looked like tens of thousands of years ago.  We enjoyed our walk on the ice and we also cannot stop admiring the mountains that it left behind.

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Map of Our World
Athabasca Glacier
Colombia Icefield Discovery Centre

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Post # 219