Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane

This park was opened in 2001 and so it has the advantage of being designed in a modern way, from scratch. The architecture of bridges and water features is inspired. It brings together building structures and plants in such a harmonious way - I really loved it. The plants are arranged into natural regions  - but I liked the fact that mostly, the plants were planted according to the gardeners' taste and not because they all came from one part of the world.

A wall of water - very noisy. In front of this there was a lush green lawn and in the evening, a big group of young men gathered to play football; bare feet, shirts vs. skins.

The frangipani tree has bullet-like tips to its twigs. it's popular in Australia.

Note the water coming down the steps.

The pink concrete wall is planted but a space for a window is left.

"Dragons" are a feature of the garden - they waddle along comically.

A dragon on a sculptured stone.

Weird trees

Boys from the Grammar School in Brisbane wearing their stylish hats. They walk home through the park, lucky!

Plants of the Wet Tropics - North Queensland - Kauri Pine and Hoop Pine

These tall (up to 50m), straight trunked, high altitude rainforest trees are the largest conifers in Australia. What is really strange is that they have leaves - thick elongated, oval; glossy green above and paler underneath. These trees bear both male and female cones. The smaller male cones appear in November and the larger, rough green globular cones develop in December and January. The female cones contains several winged seeds. The fruit is eaten by Sulphur-crested cockatoos.

This is supposed to be a Hoop Pine -the bark is often impregnated with resin. But it doesn;t look like the picture in the field guide. this is the problem with labels and field guides.

Plants of the wet tropics - North Queensland - ferns and cycads

Here you can see a number of epiphytic ferns growing on a tree in the rainforest

Ferns growing on a palm tree, North Queensland

The plants of Queensland: Bill Bryson explains:

The Daintree forest is a remnant of a time when the world was a single land mass, the whole covered in steamy growth. [The single land mass is called Pangea.] As time passed, continuents split up and drifted off to the far corners of the globe, but the Daintree [and the rest of N.Queensland], through some tectonic fluke, escaped the more dramatic transformations of climate and orientations that spurred ecological change elsewhere. In consequence, there are plants out there - whole families of plants - that survived as nowhere else. In 1972, scientists began to appreciate just how ancient and exceptional Australia's northern rainforest is when some cattle mysteriously sickened and died after grazing in the jungle's lower slopes. The cows, it turned out, had been poisoned by the seeds of a tree called Idiospermum australianse. What was unexpected about this was that Idiospermum was thought to have vanished from the earth 100 million years ago. In fact, it was doing very well in the Daintree, as were eleven other members of its family, a primitive outpost of botany called the angiosperms, from which all flowering plants are descended.

Campsite, Cairns. I think this is an Elkhorn Fern. These grow in rainforests and other moist forests on trees and rocks from a rhizome which is protected by nest leaves that enclose the base of the plant. The shield fronds are deeply lobed, whilst the fertile fronds stand semi-erect or nodding, and become pendulous with age.

This could be a Bird's nest fern or it could be the same as the above. It shows how they get started. 

I think this one at the bottom is a scaly tree fern. These fast-growing ferns grow up to 15m and have very slender woody trunks thickened at the base with distinctive oval leaf scars. The leaves can be up to four metres long.

What kind of cycad is this? Not sure but these have separate male and female plants with the reproductive structures arising from the centre of the plant. This, I think, is a male cone.

These pictures are from Rockhampton Botanicals which are gorgeous and very informative and entirely free to visit. I am copying information from a field guild by Martin Cohen and Julia Cooper. Sadly only one picture per plant which isn't ideal.

This is the information board in the botanicals in Mackay - very helpful, hope you can read it.

Another cycad (on the left)

The Man Who Loved Dogs - Leonardo Padura (about the assassination of Lev Davidovitch Trotsky)

This book is a brilliant novelisation of history, and it is also a history book, as it tells the true facts about Trotsky in exile and all that went on in the Soviet Union to allow Stalin complete mastery of the country. It tells how Stalin used Trotsky while it was useful for him to keep him alive, as a political bogey-man, and when Trotsky was no longer useful to Stalin in this way, and he had seen most of his family killed or suffering, how his murder was contrived.

There are three strands to the story; the modern one is set in Cuba, and concerns the writer of the novel and the information he received that enables him to write about the man who killed Trotsky. It explains how his own life in Cuba was constrained and controlled because of the way communism works when it is based on the Stalinist model, and how this affected him as a man and as a writer.

A second chunk of the action takes place around the Spanish Civil War. This great upheaval with popular support for modernisation and equality could have resulted in a new socialist republic. The fact that it did not was in part due to the "help" of Soviet Russia, sending in agents and arms and splitting the revolutionaries into factions as they fought amongst themselves over how far they must be loyal to Stalin (a point originally irrelevant to their situation) and eventually, their terrible loss and fear of reprisals at the hands of Franco. The war affected those who took part in it in a terrible way because they fought for a better day and ended up with nothing but loss, poverty and disappointment.

The third strand is the story of Trotsky in exile. Through this book I learned to think of him as Lev Davidovitch and appreciate his extraordinary bravery through all his sufferings, (and that of his wife who loved him so much) and his state of mind as he must have realised that the actions that Lenin had decided upon and he himself had helped to carry out (such as the repression of the Kronstadt rebellion) had set Stalin on his path. Did he regret what they had done? Stalin was a monster; was there no other way than terror to enforce the socialist society that they had dreamed of ? Lev Davidovitch comes to life with all his strengths and some failings, and I marvelled at his abilities. Here was a man.

I know very little about life in Cuba, apart from the music and the old cars, and it was news to me that life there was so very imprisoning; that writers lives were controlled by punishments such as making them write lies for a living; and that it was difficult for them to find information such as a factual history of Trotsky's life or the books of George Orwell, and fundamentally, that there was fear. And eventually, there was also hunger. Again, the problem was that Cuba became a kind of Soviet client state which poisoned it internally and in its external relations.

This book was given to me by a student and the size of it was intimidating. It's a huge book; but it deals with 20th century history in different continents and the attempt to convey the experience of being active in that huge dimension demands space. Of the reader, it demands effort, because I think the Spanish style doesn't translate very readily to English, and sometimes a sentence is so long and so full of facts that it is really quite difficult to take in. It's a packed stack of facts for those who like their facts packed. I read most of it twice in an effort to get it all clear. I wondered if the translator could have made a better job of it, but by the end I was just grateful for the job that she had done - it must have been a real struggle.

The annoying thing is I had nearly finished it when I accidentally left it in the airport at Hong Kong. I decided I was too tired to go on with it and started a silly little romantic story instead - much easier to read - but somehow I left the Padura, with all the underlinings I had made, in the stupid terminal somewhere. I have asked the airport to look for it.

As for the title, they all love dogs! Trotsky, the killer, and the writer; through their dogs the lives of the latter two are changed because they make a connection, but particularly that of the writer, who works as a writer at a veterinarian magazine and learns the trade through his connection with veterinarians.

By co-incidence I see (in The Week) that Robert Conquest has died. In 1968 his work "The Great Terror" was published, in which he "laid out in devastating detail the appalling costs of the so-called Soviet experiment - not only the millions who died of famine as a result of Stalin's agricultural reforms, but also those who were shot for "the crime of not being true Stalinist believers" . He had joined the communist party whilst at Oxford University, but he renounced his belief after "witnessing the brutality of the Soviet army in Bulgaria, where he served as an intelligence officer during WW2."
Communists in the West simply disbelieved him. Later their attitude changed to "Stalin was a bad guy, but the Americans were bad guys too, and so was the British Empire." Conquest said that this position was "absolute balls".

I have a history book here for A Level students, which points out that Russia, in the end, swapped one autocrat for another, and Stalin was far worse a master than any of the Tsars. It was amazing luck for the Soviets that they took control of the country, something that was only possible because their civil war involved foreign elements of whom most of the country was deeply suspicious. It was the worst possible luck that one of the leaders was Stalin.

The Great Barrier Reef - "Ocean Spirit" from Cairns

"Ocean Spirit" turned out to be a gorgeous catamaran with 3 large sails. We got on, time for tea, coffee, and cakes, and when we put to sea it was time for the safety talk - by a French dive master - he had some natural authority - I was really impressed by his presentation in English - he gave us all the information about the snorkels and masks and fins and what to do with them, wet suit hire (which we didn't go for, but there was an option to go diving) and the UV protection suits (would have been a good idea but we were a bit blase). I had to stay on the deck for the sea-journey because it was a bit rough - I need to keep my eye on the sea to prevent being sick - but it was great; I have never seen such a blue sea and I kept taking pics of all the different blues.

Can't access my pics from here so here's a Winslow Homer!

In the lounge an attractive marine biologist gave a talk on types of fish and the island - Michaelmas Cay. This turned out to be a reserve for seabirds - there are tens of thousands of them - and tourists are not allowed near them; we were to stay in a small area of the white sandy beach. It also turned out that the wind there is very strong, and with the smelly birds and the sandblasting nobody would want to spend much time on the beach. I took a book with me and the pages became separated and the spine swollen with sand forced in.

It turns out that I am fine with snorkelling kit (no probs with mask which had nose covered: it was really good) but almost immediately we got in the sea and started to see the fish we went in different directions because were so distracted. Not wanting to hit the coral with my fins I hardly used them but F went off like a rocket as she is very fast with fins on. The most prolific coral just there was the one that looks like living spaghetti - a very active coral that lives close to the surface. There were prettier ones; like a branching one with purple tips and green sparkly bits, and the clam with outrageous lips. there was a strange clam with frilly white openings - two different shapes. There were no schools or shoals of large fish at that place but there were some beautifully coloured "loners"; I can't describe them exactly but they have "art deco" colours in striking patterns; they look very modern and you just want to stay still and study them but you can't.

We went and lay on the beach for a while and discussed what we had seen and how hard it was not to touch the coral and discussed the skill required to go slowly and watch more. After about twenty mins we went back in the sea, intending to stay together, and F and I managed to do this for a while, until she started to dive down in the deep parts (very fit our girlie). I stayed in the sea as long as poss but we had a deadline for lunch and had to catch the ferry back to the boat. We got dry enough to go into the saloon and had hot food (vegetarian curry - lovely) and a chilled buffet of salads.

Another activity on offer was a trip in a semi-submersible; a launch tightly-packed below like a row of bus-seats, where we could navigate between the banks of coral and get a good view of it all through the glass walls.  That was excellent for people who weren't up to snorkelling (or even getting wet).

Back on the boat there were cakes and coffee, and we had a stiff wind and a rough-ish sea back to the land, and the catamaran went up and down far more than it progressed towards the shore. About 20 people were properly sick, but the smartly-dressed crew went about distributing, collecting, and disposing of sick bags in a very professional way. I sat still and kept my eyes on the horizen as much as poss for the three hours it took to get back to the harbour. It made me very sunburnt and tired. I especially got burnt whilst I was snorkelling around my bum and the backs of my legs which have not see much sun for many years. I am being a brave soldier because actually it was all fantastic. When we came into harbour we even got a glass of bubbly.

Before we go home we want to go for another reef trip. The reef is the greatest living thing in the world and we are so lucky to have visited - what a fantastic trip.

John Steinbeck, George Orwell and Russell Brand

On the plane I read an old book I've had on my shelf for a long time: "The Moon Is Down" by John Steinbeck. This book has the simplest grammar and vocabulary of any book I have read that wasn't a graded reader for learners of English, or children learning to read. I admire John Steinbeck because he compromised between his talent and his desire to be read by the people - the people who were the ordinary Joes who fought in the war, and the marginalised people he gave a voice to in "Cannery Row".Previous entry on Cannery Row . well, perhaps he didn't compromise, perhaps he just adapted his talent, so that anyone could read his books, and when Pan sucked the readers in by giving the cheap paperbacks sexy covers, he probably didn't mind.

anyway,this short novel is on the theme of the bravery of citizens when their land is invaded by the Germans - not the   French but the Norwegians - how each individual makes up his/her mind about collusion and how the   invaders feel about their position as unwelcome strangers - Steinbeck treats them quite sympathetically : he knew folks are just folks.

Another writer who adapted his style to write for a mass readership was George Orwell. "Animal Farm" and "1984" are books designed to teach you something, without the writer giving you a sermon. He gives you a parable or analogy instead, something you can understand. In his journalism Orwell disciplined himself to write in words that anyone could understand. If you are reading this and you have not read any books by George Orwell I urge you to read "Animal Farm" as an example. His vocation was to communicate with people who did not have the benefit of a good education - Orwell went to Eton and that is generally recognised as a "good" education- (the teaching is excellent but there are no girls - is that a problem?)

Orwell came into my mind because I was reading "Revolution" by Russell Brand, and he quotes from "Homage to Catalonia" which is Orwell's account of his involvement in the Spanish Civil War. He quotes several passages so you get the flavour of Orwell's absolutely plain prose.

In outward appearance it was a town in which the wealthy classes had ceased to exist. Except for a small number of women and foreigners there were no "well-dressed" people at all. Practically everyone wore rough working-class clothes or some variant of militia uniform. All this was queer and moving.

Russell Brand cannot do this. He cannot let go of his desire to show off all that he knows, all the polysyllabic code that allows him to move amongst the intellectuals, but neither can he let slip all the buffoonery and the obscenity that marks his status as a top streetwise guy. The mixture should be fun and interesting, and to a certain extent it is, but there were many jarring notes in this work, the sort of discordant lack of taste that makes something abhorrent to me. Of course this is my opinion only. For readers of English as a foreign language this book is completely incomprehensible as it is written in a mixture of codes which are all sophisticated ones.

Brisbane

The air is clean in Brisbane. In a City that bears comparison to London, the most noticeable thing to me was the freshness of the air.  The temperature is comfortable - about 20C. The buildings have stylish modern architecture and are garnished generously with trees and plants - the streets are very clean.

There's a wide river through the Brisbane called the river Brisbane. I feel embarrassed that I'd never heard of it. A timetable of free ferries takes the tourists and locals to various points along the banks. The river seemed wider than the Thames in London, but the tide doesn't go up and down as much. In 2011 there was a serious flood and I'm not surprised because the city is quite flat to the river. The riverside walk on the south side was destroyed, so we walked along the replacement. It's fantastic! there was a rainforest section with lush plantings providing shade, and a water play park, with many pop-up fountains, splashers, paddling places, relief maps, a free swimming pool and a sandy beach. If you're going to create a man-made environment, this is how to do it. there were children playing but no adults swimming, though it was warm enough - apparently this weather is not considered warm.

Went to the Gallery of modern art. such a beautiful building; such beautiful spaces. they are rich in space but poor in good paintings; there are about ten good ones.  Two Australian artists I remembered I loved were Arthur Boyd, who painted the scenery, and Grace Cossington-Smith who painted interiors. There was an exhibition of Japanese contemporary art which was interesting.

There was a noodle festival in the public gardens - lots of different kinds of Asian food sold from stalls, and live music from various traditions - the people were mainly young, with groups of friends or young families, some Chinese grandmas. there are as many East Asian young people as there are Australian. Brisbane seems to have a very bright future ahead of it, with an Institute of Technology to set the tone of cutting edge utility, and tall new apartment buildings- the sort that Koreans are used to.