Zero to One-Eighty » brisbane

Suburban lightning

Adrian Cooke — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:45:16 +0000

Electricity over Moggill (Image: Lockie Cooke)

My brother Lockie recently got himself a serious person’s camera and a tripod. (Lyds has been urging me for ages to get a good camera. I hem and haw, evaluate, etc. and finally, thanks to Elena, I now have a great little point and shoot. My little bro, on the other hand is a doer.) Anyhoo… after much nagging on the part of Yours Truly, with assists from other players, he now has his very own Flickr account and I urge you to check it out to get a taste of southeast Queensland in the summertime.

Golden cane (Image: Lockie Cooke)

Lockie and Elena have the following trait very much in common: they both focus intently, obsessively even, on a particular interest for a period of time, sometimes returning to it, sometime not. E with her garden, her drawing and painting, and of course the baking. Lockie with boats and fishing, cars, his own garden and now his photography. I am hoping (and intend to back this up with practical action such as nagging) that this particular pursuit will stick as a kind of meta-interest that can be applied to all subsequent obsessions. Otherwise I will be hitting him up for his camera if he should ever lose the bug…

Magpie (Image: Lockie Cooke)

These images mean a lot to me, especially today, as gusts of wind through up snow around the house and street, coating everything like sand. My last few trips to Australia have been in the cooler months (“winter,” such as it is in Brisbane), but right now it is wet and stormy and very hot there. I will confess to you that I have never liked the heat, but I suppose I can appreciate it. The photos of Kondalilla Falls, Maleny and the Glasshouse Mountains, the storms over Moggill, the birds, the hibiscus flower—Elena says, “you have those there?”—are not only signs of home, they are memories.

Thanks Lockie.

Lockie’s birthday

Adrian Cooke — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:57:10 +0000

Beautiful photos of my little brother’s birthday party a few weeks ago by the talented Neal Edgeworth. Wish I could have been there. Happy birthday Locks.

Sayōnara

Adrian Cooke — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:47:47 +0000

I read a long time ago that “sayōnara” means “if it must be so.”

Great George St., Paddington, Queensland

Until next time, then.

The China Project at GoMA

Adrian Cooke — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:03:22 +0000

GoMA—Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art—took my breath away:

Guo Jian’s The day before I went away (2008), from The China Project photo set

Brisbanites and visitors, if you haven’t yet been to GoMA, I urge you to pay a visit. It truly is a world-class museum, and The China Project will knock your socks off. ’Tis also free. While I’m at it, not only is the new building amazing, but the renovations to the State Library and the Queensland Museum and Art Gallery have redefined the space into something at once very special and highly approachable. Awesome bookshops, too. Props to the Queensland Art Gallery for the remarkable transformation they’ve wrought at the cultural centre.

A beautiful day in the River City

Adrian Cooke — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:54:25 +0000

Elena on the Citycat, en route to the Queensland Art Gallery:

View the Brisbane Citycat set on Flickr

Jolly’s Lookout

Adrian Cooke — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:32:43 +0000

Jolly’s Lookout is one of my favourite places in Brisbane:

D’Aguilar Range, overlooking Samford Valley (view the set)

Jolly’s is in the D’Aguilar Range on the western side of the greater-Brisbane area, and about 30 minutes drive from where I grew up.

A Google map of the area

The lookout was built in the 1930s and is named after William Alfred Jolly, first Lord Mayor of the modern City of Brisbane. (Jolly was a conservative, but he turned down a knighthood, so he can’t have been entirely bad.)

The Cookes spent a lot of time at Jolly’s Lookout back in the day, especially for those early Sunday morning breakfasts of which Pete was so fond, and when I was still biologically capable of rising before 7 a.m. A few Gilberts were lost to the surrounding scrub as I recall, being a less than completely accurate kicker and not enough of a hero to fetch them back from the sharp slopes of Mount Nebo.

I made a Flickr set for old time’s sake.

Roo the day

Adrian Cooke — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Elena finally gets to meet some Aussie animals:

Flickr photo set from our trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Eucalyptus flowers

Adrian Cooke — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:39:22 +0000

Or, gumnuts. Photo by Mum.