Wed 10.Jun.2026
Gold Coast, QLD, AU
Imagery Mar 2026
A cheap flight takes us from Melbourne, Victoria to a stretch of Queensland
called the Gold Coast. This is beach resort country; it feels oddly like
southern California in about 1960.
Gold Coast would probably wear thin after a week or so. For five days,
I'll call it a guilty pleasure.
Not knowing one town from another, I chose
Surfers Paradise, where shopping mall meets beach.
A wall of ficus.
An oddball tree is the Screw Pine(!), with roots like a mangrove, and
leaves like a yucca. A mile or more of them, along with some tamarinds,
separate the Esplanade from the actual beach at Surfers Paradise.
Birds ...
Aussie magpies have a pleasant singing voice - unlike their European counterparts.
The things you wouldn't have guessed!
... and other shore life!
Krishna's friends.
YHWH's friends.
Nobody knows how to pronounce YHWH's name,
because in ancient
times they only spelled the consonants. Nobody knows where, what or how many vowels.
This is probably just as well, because ancient lore also says that if you say it
correctly, you die.
Popular pronunciations include Yehowah (Jehovah) and Yahweh. My personal favorite
is Yahu-Wahu.
'Nuff said!
"Just because somebody posts my picture with a cute quote, doesn't mean
I actually said it."
-- A. Einstein
I know of no evidence that Albert
actually washed his koala at this laundromat. His pictorial company was as good as
any while I did my laundry.
"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it is hard to be sure of
their authenticity."
-- A. Lincoln
Fiji Style Chinese
In Slavic countries, you quickly learn that kava means "coffee".
Not so in Fiji!
Fijian kava is a relaxing drink made from local roots, and a
friendly social ritual. I enjoyed home-made kava with my hosts in Fiji. Evidently you
can buy it pre-made in stores
-- at least in Australia.
I don't know how many actual residents the Gold Coast has, but they stack short-term
visitors like cordwood.