This article was first published in 2005 and re-edited and republished in 2011. Mr. Beattie, whom I knew personally before he became Premier, is no longer the Premier. R.P. BenDedek

Queensland, The Sunshine State, is my home State in Australia. I come from it's capital city, Brisbane. I grew up in the Suburbs of Mitchelton and Alderley.

Mr. Peter Beattie our Premier, prefers to call it 'Queensland, The Smart State', but in fact, 'Sunshine State' is more appropriate. Queensland is a tropical paradise, where it hardly ever rains, and the sun shines all day. True! Just ask anyone when it was that they last saw rain. The water reservoirs are almost completely empty at the moment.

• (There was no rain in South East Queensland from 2001 to 2008 and in keeping with nature's normal pattern the drought was followed by floods in 2010 and 2011)

A Special view of Brisbane taken from St. Margaret's Anglican Convent at Albion

Queensland, the Sunshine State of Australia, is often called the home of the Banana Benders, (that's us Queenslanders), or the home of the Kingaroy Peanut, which can be taken to refer either to the literal Kingaroy Peanut, or a former Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson. Many famous people come from Queensland.

Did you know Sean Connery's former wife Dianne Cilento, (Mother of his son) comes from Queensland, and still lives there? Brisbane City's Captain Sandy Stewart also lives there? Remember him? I published his photographic story about Queensland, at Magic City in February (Republished in 2011).

Lone Pine Sanctuary Kangaroos

Here are a few facts about Queensland from The Royal Historical Society of Queensland Website. www.queenslandhistory.org.au/Tour.html

• 1859 Queensland proclaimed a self governing colony (Dec, 10th)
• 1860 Queensland Parliament established
• 1870 Queensland introduces free education
• 1893 Queensland's Great flood (again in 1974)
• 1901 Australian Federation

Just as southerners like to call us names, 'banana benders' for instance, we have some names for them as well, such as "Mexicans", or my favourite, 'Australians'. 'Mexican' to us, of course, means someone from south of the border - you know - those Australians who are not Queenslanders - 'southerners'.

These people (I mean the snobs of Sydney and Melbourne of course), often complain that Queensland and it's Capital City Brisbane, are very boring places where one can find nothing to do. Today, I want to tell you that they are wrong!

View of Brisbane from Mr. Cootha where the Television Towers are

Tangalooma tourist resort Moreton Island

Today, for both the benefit of readers at Magic City, and for these 'other Australians', I want to share some photographs I took while showing a Belgian friend around the place. (Some of these photos are of things 'down south' across the border - 'doesn't matter!)

Brisbane lies on the East Coast of Australia, about Halfway between North and South, and is protected from the ocean by Moreton Bay.

Off the coast there are a number of Islands including, Moreton Island, (the former Whaling Station), North and South Stradbroke Islands, little tiny islands, and of course Bribie Island which can be accessed by a short road bridge.

Moreton Island's former Whaling Station is now a tourist resort called Tangalooma, and there are regular ferries to take you there.

If you are lucky, on the way you might even see a whale or two. If not, you can take the Whale sightseeing tour, which takes you out past the Island.

The waters off the coast are full of whales, dolphins, fish, people, and sharks! Many ferries and tour boat operators depart from Redcliffe, a little coastal town immediately north of Brisbane.

Moreton Island itself is an interesting place, that has it's own 'desert', a huge expanse of sand in the middle of the Island, where trekkers can pretend that they are in the Sahara, or else go sand boarding. It is an interesting experience. There is a photo of it at the end of this article.

The views from Moreton of course are spectacular.

Hard to see it in the photo but there is land over that ocean. It's called Australia. Taken from Moreton Island

A whale going under our boat and dolphins at play in the wild

Travelling north or west from Brisbane will take you to many places of interest. For Instance there is the now famous Steve and Kerri Irwin's Australia Zoo. Catch the "Crocodile Train" from Brisbane, and contact Australia Zoo on 07 5436 2000 for your free pick up from the Beerwah train station. CLICK HERE for the web site.

• Poor Steve is no longer with us. As for the 'Crocodile Train' mentioned above, you'll have to check the Australia Zoo Website.

Whether you head first to Redcliffe or up the highway, you can't help but notice the Glasshouse Mountains.

Glasshouse mountains north of Brisbane and not that far from Steve Irwin's (crocodile hunter) Australia Zoo

North or Northwest there are sites to see along the way from the Etamoogah Pub to the Montville Winery

The Australia Zoo is located at Beerwah as are also the Glasshouse mountains.

The mountains all have different names depending upon their features, and get the name 'glasshouse mountains' because to the ancient mariners, the sun reflecting off the mountains, gave them the appearance of glass.

Not far away is Mooloolaba with it's underwater world.

There are many other wonderful little towns and beaches off the northern highway, and as you travel along, you won't be able to miss spotting some rather interesting landmarks along the way, one of which is the Ettamogah Pub.

The 'Ettamogah Pub' was a originally a comic strip, from which a number of venues eventually were created.

The one in this photograph is north of Brisbane and is listed on the Aussie World website HERE.

If you walk out of the pub and the building looks 'straight', then you know you've had too much too drink.

Another place you might want to head if travelling north, would be the Sunshine Coast hinterland area, around Montville, which offers some spectacular countryside views. CLICK HERE for more.

(In 2010 I did in fact post some photographs of this area in the Photo of the Day Section at Magic City. See: Montville and Country Living)

Kondalilla falls north of Brisbane

Travelling West of Brisbane toward Ipswich (which has a reputation for being deader than Brisbane) you can find the Esk Dam, or continue on through the Mountain Pass into the Darling Downs Agricultural and Pastoral Area.

The Dam at Esk , west of Brisbane

Within the City of Brisbane itself, there are numerous attractions, many of them accessible by the very fast City Cat Ferries that run up and down the river. If you prefer a slower pace you can dine on the Kookaburra Queen Paddle Steamer riverqueens@clubcroc.com.au which leave from the Riverside Centre in Eagle Street Brisbane.

An Australian Icon - the Kookaburra

From one end of the City Cat run to the Other, you can see or call in at a variety of places. There is Brett's Wharf at Hamilton (a nice seafood restaurant if it is still operating - I couldn't access it's website).

Further up river there is New Farm Park and the rock cliffs at Kangaroo Point,(for absailing). Further along one finds South Bank, with its Maritime Museum, the man made beach, the cultural centre, the State Library.

Keep going far enough up river and you'll find Lone Pine Sanctuary. Lone Pine Sanctuary, has been around for 'donkey's years', and is a place where you can see many native Australian animals, including this Emu.

The Emu - along with the Kangaroo, is our national symbol. We love to shoot them.

The Kangaroo and Emu of course, are our National Symbols, and are very useful for eating, feeding dogs, and making rugs and feather dusters etc.

As someone once remarked, 'We must be the only country in the world that kills and eats it's national symbols'.

Kangaroos in the wild of course, eat up much of the domestic stock grazing lands, and far from being the tame pets one encounters in the sanctuary, are quite capable of killing a fully grown man, if the occasion warranted it.

Cuddly piddly Koala Bears - totally unaustralian cause they don't drink.

South and Southwest of Brisbane, one can travel to the Gold Coast (and down across the border in to Mexico), or the Gold Coast hinterland. The Gold Coast hinterland includes such places as the Tamborine Mountains and Springbrook. Springbrook has many beautiful natural features such as rainforests and the Glow worm caves at Natural Arch. The Gold Coast proper, in addition to its beaches and the famous Jupiter's Casino, plays host to a number of Wildlife Sanctuaries, including the famous Carrumbin Bird Sanctuary.

Coolongatta is a township (part of the Gold Coast) that sits on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. It's southern counterpart is 'Tweed Heads'. These two cities have grown into each other, and so apart from a sign on the roadway, you would not know you were in a different city or state.

While Queensland does not use Summertime Daylight Saving time, New South Wales does, and so in this particular combined City, there are in fact two timezones, which makes for great New Year Celebrations.

The magnificent beaches one finds along the coastline here, extend for hundreds of kilometres north and south of Brisbane, and so it is not unusual to find many Queenslanders travelling over the southern border to visit places such as Byron Bay. For more information, CLICK HERE.

Dawn at Byron Bay New South Wales

Point Danger over the border in New South Wales

All along the coastline one can, at various times and places, see dolphins and whales.

In this picture, what you see is a dolphin riding the waves.

To give you an idea of how close to shore this Dolphin is, when it dropped out of the wave in the top photo, it surfaced between two surf board riders standing knee deep in water.

I had been watching the Dolphin for some time, and was delighted by the shock the two boys received.

They had been walking out into the ocean and had not seen the dolphin.

When it surfaced between them, they panicked. They thought it was a shark. Surf Board riders frequently encounter sharks along this coastline.

In the bottom photo, (taken at Point Danger Snapper rocks at the end of Rainbow Bay in New South Wales), the wave the dolphin is riding, is the very last wave before it crashes onto the sand. The Dolphin is literally just a few inches away from clean air and damp sand.

(There are some more photographs of dolphins in the 2010 Photo of the Day entitled: Ospreys and Dolphins - Bribie Island.)

Point Danger where the Dolphins frollick

Point Danger is the most eastern point in Australia, and many a ship came to grief there in times gone by.

It is only a few hours drive from Brisbane, along the southern freeway.

It is quite common for people north and south of the border to travel back and forth along the coast, and so it can be said that we all appreciate what the Eastern Coast has to offer over these several hundred kilometres.

The 'elites' of the south can keep their big metropolitan lifestyles. The people from my part of Australia love the peace and serenity to which we have grown accustomed.

And if the heart of Brisbane does not offer enough to see within walking, biking or river ferry distance, we only have to jump in the car and drive for an hour in any direction, to visit some of the best scenery in the world, in Queensland, The Sunshine State.

Next time you are in Australia, come and check it out for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this article.

R.P.Bendedek
Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

Note: Because of a Server change, some links in this article may not work. The file was amended September 2007 and re-edited in 2011.

More and Larger Photographs

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS:

Wales in Morton Bay opposite Brisbane.

Moreton Island has it's own desert. Good for climbing and sandboarding

A view of Brisbane taken from Southbank

Two views along the Queensland / New South Wales border at Point Danger

Ballina over the border in New South Wales

Coff's Harbour in New South Wales

Colourful birds in Queensland in abundance. Cookatoos, cockatiels. This one is called a 'Reddie'.

A view of Moreton Island from Redcliffe. Behind the camera is a beautiful public (free) swimming complex.

R.P. BenDedek is the pseudonym of an Australian who has been teaching in China since 2003. In addition to contributing to Magic City Morning Star News as a columnist, he is also currently assisting the Editor of this Newspaper.

Writers Journal KingsCalendar

Additionally, BenDedek is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com