A couple More

Here is a couple more statues I snapped at Waverly Cemetery in Bronte, Sydney NSW where we looked for some relatives. None found, the real estate was too expensive for working class Irish catholics :-)

What about this for an inscription:

Since it falls unto my lot, that you should rise and I should not,
fill to me the parting glass, gently rise and softly call,
Goodbye and joy be to you all.

Crook as Rookwood

I was looking for a grave of Annie Elizabeth Tollis (Nee Wright) with my mum, its her grandmother and she was supposed to be buried at Rookwood Cemetery.

Rookwood Cemetery has been putting people in the ground since 1867, over 600,000 are down there, and it's one of the largest cemeteries in Australia.

Rookwood Cemetery is located in Sydney’s West, and covers more than 300 hectares, it contains a war memorial and memorial gardens.

We went to the visitors centre in the Anglican / church of England section (can't help it if my mums side is not proud Irish catholics like my dads) anyway they were extremely helpful.

In less than five minutes based on the name only the very helpful staff looked up the database and found the plot, and plots owned by the deceased and quickly researched any obvious linked burials.

We had a headstone, map to its location and details of all those buried in the plots before we knew it. We found it in the old Anglican section in a grave with two plots and a headstone marked Fredrick William Tollis.

In most cultures people expect to be remembered through headstones that include their names, dates of birth and death, special designs, and other relevant information.

Usually smaller grave headstones are most commonly used to mark individual graves these days, but to mark a group of graves or an entire family can take the form of elaborately designed statues that celebrate a specific theme, this is one of the oldest forms of funerary art.

Originally, a tombstone was the stone lid of a stone coffin, or the coffin itself, and a gravestone was the stone slab that was laid over a grave. Now all three terms are also used for markers placed at the head of the grave. Originally graves in the 1700's also contained footstones to demarcate the foot end of the grave.

Since gravestones and a plot in a cemetery can cost significant amounts of money, they are also a symbol of wealth or prominence in a community. (source: Wikipedia)

A spooky inscription:

Remember me as you pass by,

As you are now, so once was I,

As I am now, so you will be,

Prepare for death and follow me.

Creepy huh?

August on Mount Tamborine, Queensland

About one and a half kilometres from my house on Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Queensland is the Tamborine Mountain Gallery Walk it is the Art and Craft centre of the region.

The galleries and craft shops sell paintings, sculpture, ceramics, porcelain, glass, jewellery, woodwork, fabrics etc. Crafty crap in other words.

But there are lots of good cafe's for good coffee and lots of fudge and ice cream shops for the sugar hit.

My favourite spot however, is located at the southern end of Gallery Walk and it is the new Tamborine Mountain micro Brewery.

This impressive open plan complex is perfectly designed for the sub tropical SE Queensland climate.

It is located in a shared premise with the Witches Chase Cheese Company.

The cheese is made by hand on the premises in the cheese factory, and you can view production through large viewing windows.

Right opposite the Liquid Amber Bistro & Grill restaurant in the same complex. Perfect for a gourmet lunch after a few beer tasting trays.

Another must visit place requires a little bit more travel and as you criss-cross the plateau you pass many of these roadside stalls, all operated on an honesty system.

Also there are walks to the many waterfalls in the national parks that entirely ring the mountain. This helps prevent the leggo land estates from the Gold Coast ever being able to reach the plateau.

The place you need to get to is the Tamborine Mountain Distillery.

This is Australia's smallest operating Pot Still Distillery, but of world renown, and has won many awards at contests all over the world.

With the combination of rich red volcanic soils and fresh spring water and the abundant fruit and produce of the Mountain is fermented and distilled here.

Lemon Murtle, Cherry ripe, Chocolate Chilli, Wattle Toffee, Turkish Delight and all manner of exotic flavours in a base of Liqueur, Schnapps or Vodka, all distilled and made right there.

Tastings are a real challenge if you are driving . . .

Cape Daisy

Cape Daisy - Osteospermum ecklonis (Asteroideae)

From the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

It has been given several common names: African Daisy, South African Daisy, Cape Daisy and Blue-eyed Daisy and the plants prefer a warm and sunny position and rich soil and does not tolerate winter conditions. Perfect for higher altitude Queensland where I found this one.

Nikon D300, 105mm Macro lens ISO 200, f3.0 1/2500 sec

The Ekka

It's the Ekka and it's South East Queensland's largest annual event. The Ekka's official name is the Royal Queensland Show, but it's known by Queenslaners as 'The Exhibition' and the term ekka is short for exhibition.

It's held in August in Brisbane and along with the shows of Sydney and Melbourne, the Ekka is one of the top three agricultural shows in Australia and draws more than 600,000 visitors each year. Much like the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the New South Wales equivalent, the Ekka is both a festive, carnival style event with sideshows, showbags, thrill rides and food stalls along with a wide range of agricultural exhibitions including arts, crafts, farm animals.

These are some amazing arrangements of preserved fruit and vegetables.

The produce hall was a great splash of colour and a lot of work must always go into these displays.

Real banana benders . . .

Prize Queensland pineapples

Then of course its always fun down sideshow alley

Some interesting mobiles . .

mmm honey energy drink

Hello from QLD

Its August and typical 22 - 25 degree days, sunny and still. Mount Tamborine is very busy as all states school holidays have finished and everyone else can now venture out without being over run by screaming kids. The Tamborine plateau is about 8 kilometers long and about 5 kilometers across at its widest part and is about 600 metres above sea level. From the escarpment you look directly down on the Gold Coast.

Geologically it is very old formed by the volcano directly to the south the remains of which is a huge crater that can be clearly seen from the air.

Mount Warning is the volcanic plug near the centre of the crater. While taking a look at the sunset a short distance from our house we noticed a new addition to the mountains scenery.

Antone Bruinsma created "Visiting Earth Angel" at the Beaudesert International Sculpture Symposium in 2008. Sculpturs have now been placed at locations throughout the Scenic Rim area. The Sculpture, is located at the Hang Gliding Lookout at the top of the Mountain along Main Western Road with the valley of the Scenic Rim as a stunning backdrop. Meanwhile back at home I snapped this picture in the back yard while watching the creek being remodeled by a backhoe. This is a Mulberry tree and is just starting to shoot leaves after being bare all winter (6 weeks is a long time)