Disgusting Red Juice!

Aseroe rubra, Ancient Greek Asē/αση 'disgust' and roē/ροη 'juice', with Latin ruber 'red' (according to Wikipedia).  Spotted this 'Anenome Stinkhorn' on an Easter Monday walk at Mount Glorious today in D'Aguilar National Park, beautiful sunny weather after rather a wet weekend.  We walked from the Maiala picnic spot, which translates to 'quiet place' (Kamilroi people's word) - not so quiet today with many daytrippers at this great picnic and walking spot!  Also according to Wikipedia this was the first native Australian fungus to be formally described, which makes it quite an exciting find - the first one found was in Tasmania, so this has rather a large range; I believe its pretty common up here in south east Queensland, around 2,500 km to the north of Tasmania.

Above is the view from the Wivenhoe Lookout looking towards Lake Wivenhoe and the Enogerra dam- supplying Brisbane's water and protecting us from floods.

A grand day out at the Ekka

The event of the year in Brisbane - the Ekka!  The Brisbane Royal Show, or as its better and more fondly known, the 'Ekka', is such a big event here that people are even granted a day off to attend - and its so big that the day of the week you get to take off depends on whereabouts you live in the region!  We went along on the holiday Wednesday 'Peoples Day', along with the majority of the city folks, but the crowds were far more exciting than annoying with a wonderful family vibe.  In total 400,000 people attended the week long event.  This lovely set of instagram photos 'Ekkagrams' taken at the Ekka 2012 give an impression of the colour and ambience of the place.  Here are also a few of the many photos I took on the day, I've made them into a slideshow as it was just too hard to pick out just a couple!  You might spot 'can-do Campbell' Newman, the Queensland Premier, singing the national anthem before the final of the Australian Tree Felling Championship!  Click the image below to start the show.



The Ekka is city meets country, fairground rides, sheepdog trials, horse parades, strawberry sundaes, dagwood dogs, showbags, exhibitions, farmers market, chariot races, wood chop and so much more... one day was really not enough to see it all and it was totally kitsch, charming and very Australian.  Loved it!  I hope it keeps its soul when it is 'revitalised' over the coming year.  The video below shows both how it is now, and how the developers envision it will become.