The Ekka

The Ekka's a big deal in Queensland, especially in the South East, where you get a day off work in order to visit the Show – the Royal Queensland Show. It's been held every August since 1876, with the exception of two years: in 1919, when there was a Spanish flu pandemic, and in 1942, because of the Second World War. The first one followed the trend for exhibitions set by that of Crystal Palace in 1851. The Ekka – from Brisbane Exhibition, its original name – was first and foremost an agricultural show, intended to show off new agricultural machinery and practices. Farm animals are still a big attraction – from new-born lambs and chicks to hefty great bullocks and carthorses – but, of course, there's so much more today, including a fairground, wine tasting, food halls, equestrian events, the Ekka's own Crufts, scary snakes and crocs, showbags and the 'iconic strawberry sundae'.

We started with Animal Boulevard. The noise of a thousand chooks is what strikes you first. They're all in extremely confining cages, of course, but I tried not to think too much about that as I marveled at their striking wattles and combs and furry feet and spectacularly beautiful plummage. (Did you know there are as many as 16 small bones in a chicken's foot?) Much to our surprise, there were Dorking cocks among the exhibits.

Fairly inevitably I suppose, there were wild birds bred and kept in captivity. Whereas this can aid and abet the survival of some species, such as the never-dull Gouldian finches...

...there can be no excuse for a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo in a cage. I moved quickly on.

Soon there were distractions such as roly-poly puppies, a cat in a bag, likkle lambs and hoity-toity llamas.

To one side of the chill-out zone where we went next for a coffee was a scary reptile corner. An anxious-looking Sand Goanna (Monitor) was rather too close for comfort to a highly venomous (9th in the world) Common Death Adder and an equally dangerous Black-headed python. The large Yellow-spotted Goanna remained calm, while the Carpet Python looked dangerous but isn't, in fact (except to unsuspecting cute little furry animals). And the difference between a goanna and a monitor lizard? The showman in charge explained that, since more than half of all these lizards are found on this continent, Australians can call them what they like.

It was nearly time for the Grand Parade of champion animals adorned with their ribbons. This was certainly not a sight to be missed and we took our seats in the Community Arena as the animals waited patiently outside with their handlers. Once they were all inside and doing a circuit, you really didn't know where to look next; all were calm and steady and there was hardly a hoof out of line. Quite impressive.

Later, after I'd eaten my first Australian pie, for lunch, the Brisbane Markets Agricultural Hall provided colour and fine design, as well as the chance to see the dreaded Red Fire Ants* (in a jar handcuffed to a Biosecurity Queensland official).

The Showdog Pavilion was strangely addictive; Lindeman's Open Garden surprisingly relaxing; the Fresh Food Pavilion a living hell; the Meat Hall rather perplexing; and the funfair, well, like funfairs the world over – raucous and hastening of a speedy exit.

But a better representation of life in Queensland you ne'er did see than at the Ekka. The intense pride in rural life and its produce was palpable in the parade of horses, carts and cattle; the bizarre attire, and not only of exhibitors, was eye boggling; and the sheer joy of Aussies on a day out, clutching their showbags and oblivious of the first seriously grey day in weeks, was never more self-evident. If you get the chance, don't pass it up; go visit the Ekka and observe.

* Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFAs) arrived in Brisbane in 2001. They are extremely invasive, forming super colonies, and eat plants as well as invertebrates and vertebrates. They can devastate ecosystems and there are stringent measures in place to prevent their spread and to eradicate infestations. The ants have a nasty bite that can cause huge irritation and pain

Stripes and the city

Brisbane high-rises

Queensland Art Gallery*

Old Museum Building

Sydney Opera House

Goodtime Surf and Sail, Woolloongabba

James Street Markets

The Ekka

Les Salles, Paddington

Lang Park**

Bunting across the bow of P&O Pacific Dawn, Port of Brisbane

Powerhouse farmers' market

And, finally, some stripes that weren't in any city. They were, in fact, in the middle of nowhere, on two umbrellas leaning on a porch step somewhere west of Mapleton in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. But I like them.

* Untitled (Marrapinti) 2008 by Doreen Reid Nakamarra. The lines depict a creek and the surrounding sandhills

** Wallabies vs All Blacks, 27 August 2011

This post was last updated 13 September 2011

Within cooee*

It must be because the novelty of living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, hasn't worn off; or maybe it's because I've now got a decent camera, and am constantly on the lookout for arresting views and angles. Whatever the reason, I can't get enough of wherever I am. Obviously, exploratory forays further afield are enormous fun, but there are numerous delights on the doorstep.

The daily or weekend routine often yields new takes on the familiar. As I cycle back from Oxford (Street), the river is always a good subject on a fine day.

Brisbane's latest sky-reacher isn't finished yet but it's already dwarfing the rest of the CBD. Cranes in the city continue to proliferate: work has now started on the new Teneriffe CityCat terminal just across from Bulimba.

I found a particularly pleasing view of the CBD the other day while house-hunting in Hawthorne. I was delighted to find when I got it home that there was a chunk of Story Bridge in there. This is a favourite photographic theme – bridge bits when you're least expecting them.

There are numerous such themes. The Botanic Gardens on Mt Coot-tha provide material for many, such as reflections...

bamboo stems...

wallpaper...

and just nice plant bits and pleasing juxtaposition.

I am long over the fact that Brisbane doesn't have idyllic tropical sandy beaches within a few minutes' drive. Manly's and Wynnum's mangrove coast rarely fails to deliver.

And, finally, a random visit one Sunday arvo to the recently opened Queensport Rocks Park on the south shore beneath the Gateway Bridge (or should I say, the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges) produced a wealth of photographic opportunities.

* 'not far from' in Australian English

This post was last updated on 26 September 2011

Second class citizens

My mother had an expression. 'They looked at me,' she would say, 'as if I'd just crawled out from underneath a stone.'

By second class citizens, I am not referring to those in Australia who might feel like them sometimes, such as Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders; or asylum seekers who try to sneak in on 'the boats'; or boguns or westies or bevans or ockers or hoons. No, I'm talking about people who rent property in Queensland (and, I assume, the rest of the country).

We cannot buy a house in Australia: we're not residents. We can only rent. My friend has a responsible job, a decent salary, and a 457 visa. We are legal, but we are low life in the eyes of estate agents. They don't return calls; they ignore emails; they promise to do things, then don't. If you're seriously searching for a new property to rent, they won't give you a heads-up if one comes on the market. You have to trawl their website frequently or collect xeroxed lists, which are often out of date before you've put your glasses on.

When you walk into a real estate shop, the moment they know you want to rent rather than buy, their eyes go dead, the smile fades, and the distinterested demeanour is effected.

We could be told at any moment to leave our house, with four weeks' notice to vacate. It was last October when a nice man called me with the bad news (we would have been quite happy to stay here for the whole of our stay in Brisbane) that our landlord was putting the house on the market. He has since been stuck in a stagnant market of falling prices; he's on his third agent. The latest one is ambitious and officious and unpleasant and doesn't give a monkey's about our predicament: we have family from the UK staying with us for a month and are largely unable to house-hunt; neither do we want strangers traipsing through our house while our guests are taking a shower or eating their lunch.

I now don't return her calls or emails.

I suspect this may not be the last you'll hear of this...

At last... a voice of reason

A week after Julian Gillard announced details of Labor proposals for carbon pricing, the 'carbon campaign' began. The government is spending millions of Aussie dollars ($25 million, allegedly) on promoting their policy – from TV advertising to leafleting. The Australian Trade and Industry Alliance, backed by the coal industry and the Minerals Council, is also forking out a lot of money ($10 million) on anti-carbon tax ads. And many politicians are hitting the 'hustings', just as if a federal election were in the offing.

On day one of the campaign, Tony Abbott, leader of the Federal Opposition, was at Melbourne fish market at 5 am, complete with wife and a pair of daughters. He gutted a fish and lobbed in a few caustic comments about the government's proposals for carbon pricing before moving on to the next photo opportunity.

Ms Gillard went to Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria where they use particularly dirty 'brown' coal to generate electricity and will supposedly be hit hard by a carbon 'tax'. ABC television crews had been here, too, talking to father-and-son power workers worried about their jobs. The prime minister was reassuring.

Then, the following week, Malcolm Turnbull stepped up to deliver the Virginia Chadwick Memorial Lecture in Sydney. Turnbull was Minister for the Environment in the Howard government. Then, in 2009, as leader of the Opposition, he encouraged his party to support Kevin Rudd's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS): he subsequently lost a leadership contest to Tony Abbott (who later famously described climate change as 'crap'). Speaking in honour of a former Liberal minister in the New South Wales government who was responsible for a significant increase in protected areas on the Great Barrier Reef, Turnbull pleaded with Australians not to lose sight of the science behind the great climate debate. No one can discuss future protection of the Reef, in fact, without considering the impact of rising sea temperatures and increased acidity.

To polite applause from his largely Liberal audience, Turnbull declared that

'The question of whether, or to what extent, human activities are causing global warming is not a matter of ideology, let alone of belief. The issue is simply one of risk management.'

He spoke in favour of increased spending on carbon capture and storage technology: after all, Australia has a vested interest in clean coal production. He likened coal-exporters who attempt to discredit climate scientists to tobacco companies decades ago who denied the link between smoking and cancer; and he disparaged those who suggest that Australia should defer action on emissions until India and China take steps to reduce their carbon footprints.

Unfortunately Turnbull stopped short of criticising the man who replaced him as Liberal leader. But his wiser words highlighted the ineptitude of carbon campaigning based on soundbite sniping by Abbott and, to a lesser extent, Gillard. Cross-party cooperation and initiative is the only way forward, and the sooner Australian pollies appreciate that, the better-equipped for climate change their descendants will be.

Carbon pricing: read all about it

It's been an extraordinary week for Queensland. Last Wednesday, the Maroons won the State of Origin for the sixth consecutive year, and on Saturday the Queensland Reds beat the Crusaders from Christchurch to win the Super 15 rugby.

Then yesterday, Julia Gillard's government finally announced details of its proposed carbon pricing scheme to be introduced in July 2012. The impact of this measure on Queensland's heavily coal-dependent economy has been debated long and hard in the run-up to the announcement and will doubtless continue.

Australia has the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world. Following years of augmenting the nation's carbon footprint willy nilly, industry and individual citizens alike must apply the brakes before rapidly reversing the trend. Enormous sacrifices have to be made: it will not, at this point in emissions history, be a painless process. Australians cannot continue to live their extravagantly energy-hungry lives; the obsession with economic growth must be exorcised and the idea of 'wealth' redefined; and the nation must act upon the advice of experts, who may not be saying what anyone wants to hear but are urging what everyone must do, even the ostriches.

The other week, I would have laughed had it not been so galling when a chap phoned in to local talkback radio and declared that he was was not going to pay a carbon tax 'because I've got no carbon in my house'. Since then, I've often had to turn off the radio because I could no longer bear to listen to the ignorance pontificated about global warming, carbon emissions and what should be done about them. A large fat nothing is what many people are prepared to do about it if it's going to hurt their pocket or their feel-good factor.

There are some industry leaders in Australia who fully realise what is required of them and are preparing for a very different future, economically and meteorologically – www.csiro.au/science/adapting-mining-climate-change.html.

And a growing number of Australian women are just quietly getting on with it in their homes, supermarkets and local communities – www.1millionwomen.com.au.

I can forgive people for not fully understanding the science, although, if they have internet, there's little excuse for not trying – www.bom.gov.au/climate/change, which includes links to other, much more detailed information sources.

If anyone is in any doubt about the poor quality of political debate in the Australian media, they should read Lindsay Tanner's book Sideshow: Dumbing Down Democracy before finding out the facts for themselves rather than depending on the largely inadequate reportage of the climate debate and the need for action.

www.climatecommission.gov.au

www.theconversation.edu.au/pages/environment

www.climatespectator.com.au

www.paulgilding.com/view/cockatoo-chronicles

To determine what the government actually proposes under its carbon pricing scheme, go towww.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au.

And get on with it. Read all about it, now.