SPORTING CHANCES AND SUNBURN

Yesterday I experienced a glorious Brisbane spring day, being spectator at one of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated dates on the girls' schools sporting calendar - the QGSSSA Athletics at the stadium in Brisbane's south west, still known to most people as the QEII stadium, but now officially called QSAC (Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre). It's where Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games track and field events back in 1982.

The day was hot and sunny and shade is at a premium out there, so needless to say, after watching the stellar high jumpers in the sun for an hour and a half, I ended the day with a blazing case of sunburn - scarlet neckline and arms, and pink forehead and nose. Today I just feel rather stupid.

10 senior schools represented - all girls in the competition. It was a very tough gig to place out there yesterday, let me tell you. The talent we have in south east Queensland with sprinters, long distance runners, high jumpers whose names most certainly will be known at national levels in the years to come, hurdlers, the list goes on. It was a joy to be watching the talent, the determination and the standard that they brought to the track. I love these events - it makes you feel physical and virtuous just watching the activity. It actually gives me hope that all is not lost against the battle with obesity and our evergrowing fatness problem due to the sedentary lives we lead.

My own daughters excelled and I couldn't be any prouder of them. The big one is a jumper and took out the long jump and slotted into 2nd in the high jump, only on a count back. She cleared 154cm and only missed 157 by the tiniest smidge.  The high jump event is just amazing to watch, it's such a great show, with a big beginning, lots of eager competitors front up, and as they go, you feel their disappointment if they knock the bar and their exhilaration when they realise it's still in position as they hit the mat. I just want them all to get over that bar. It's such a specific event, you have to have a certain shape, a special run, enough speed, plenty of bounce and such faith in your own abilities, otherwise you'd just run straight past the bar and run away to hide under the stands. The show ends with only 2 competitors, and when it's done I always wish there was more - it's my favourite event.

The little daughter, at her first big one of these comps, was super nervous and was given the unenviable task of running the 800m. Smallest girl in the school team and smallest girl at the start line. Small but mighty! After 700m slogging along, she accelerated to fly down the last 100m, overtaking 2 girls before the line. Wow! She was totally spent from that and the emotions and tears flowed for a full twenty minutes after, but today (after a good sleep) she knows she could've given absolutely nothing more, she left it all out there on the track, and she is so so very proud of herself.

Worth the sunburn? Yes, absolutely to be there for these special events is priceless. Just someone remind me next time - HAT, UMBRELLA, SUNSCREEN.

PERCENTAGE CUP WINNERS

GO ST AIDAN'S!

HAVING WHAT IT TAKES?

Over breakfast every morning for the past few weeks I have been reading a travel story and I mean a different one every day. It's been a journey of the senses with each and every bowl of muesli, and an exercise in containing my feelings of jealousy. Even though I'm loving the concept of me doing this kind of writing too, I've been getting more and more certain that other people are far better at travel writing than I will ever be. I have to try hard to believe I could actually do it anywhere near as well as the writer of this particular collection of stories. Her name is Lee Mylne and she's probably going to be coming in to our TAFE course to talk to us next month.

A life of journalism has lead her to where she now is with her writing. She's contributed to a bunch of books and travel guides, and she relates many of her travel stories in her blog 'A Glass Half Full', and that's also the name of her book that I've been reading over my brekky. So it comes without saying, she can write with eloquence. For me, the stories uncover her experiences so very well. It's not just the details - the what of the world she is seeing, the colours etc. But it's also the insight into how a place might make you feel, the people who touched her thoughts and heart while she's been out and about on her travels. To read her work feels like a little snapshot of her life on the road or on the journey, not always just the glossy bits, not only a 'travel brochure picture', but the less glorious parts of a journey, and even some bits that make you feel distinctly uncomfortable. I could almost feel the thicker air and unspoken feelings of sadness when a fellow passenger on her cruising trip in the Kimberley region of Western Australia passed away during the cruise. Her way of drawing the reader in to the journey is so much more than just an account of what happened or a facts list. You almost feel like you've been riding on the shoulder straps of her day pack. I really do appreciate that it's a skill honed over the years, but I also believe some of this ability is just a natural thing she's been blessed to have been born with.

I am left wondering again, was I born with enough natural ability to string the words together, and just how much do I need to practise in order to come close to the 'real thing'?

BRISBANE BOXES OF ART

Many visitors to Brisbane will have noticed and no doubt, will have been impressed by the cool and unique urban art project that's been alive in our city for quite a number of years now. Brisbane residents are allowed to apply to paint traffic signal boxes as part of the Urban Smart Projects initiative. So all around the city, instead of plain and often graffittied blue-grey signal boxes, the sunny sub-tropical city of Brisbane sports brightly painted and original works of art.

Each box is hand-painted by a Brissie local and often reflects or is inspired by the local environment or community around it. This fabulous idea, funded by the Brisbane City Council, is based on the idea that painted boxes, showcasing cool, funky and real artwork, are way less likely to be tagged.

While it's clearly an 'in demand' opportunity, and there are well over 900 of them in Brisbane, it's funny, because there's still an element of mystery about how it all happens and where the art comes from. People love these boxes and I've heard of a few people who keep photos of all the ones they really love when they drive by them. The idea is spreading around now, and Ipswich has taken it on, and at least a few municipalities in Melbourne and also in Sydney have tried it out. But, I see it as a Brisbane thing, and I think Brissie should lay claim because I've been keeping an eye on the art since around 2007, when my clever husband decided to do his first box. Brisbane has stuck with this project, making it their own, the boxes are kept in good shape, but any old weathered ones get routinely replaced with new artworks, and everything stays fresh. You could say it's like a gallery that changes its works and has exhibitions. The idea hasn't got stale, which is great. 

The multi-talented husband has now completed 4 boxes with the most recent, just done this past weekend. He's timed his work amazingly well because there are bus shelters all over the city, sporting movie release posters for The Martian as well, so it kind of looks like he's super in touch and on topic. Actually, just coincidence, albeit a rather cool one.

Immerse, enjoy and savour art and originality, in all its forms.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

The New York sojourn over, daughter returned to the nest, safely but definitely more worldly, I must now shift my writing to the other item which must be put to bed, and that is the closure of events for World Skills 2015. Perhaps you may recall, I did mention the World Skills competition event that we, as TAFE tourism students, were leading and staging. Well, it has indeed happened, successfully, and is done and dusted for this year. Today we debriefed in class, how well we did on the day, what was great and what not so fancy about our organisation. On balance, with some minor tweaks here and there, the day went as well as was possible. It seems the powers to be at TAFE thought we had achieved success, and my view of the competitors happiness levels is that they were all extremely proud of their efforts and had fun. After their nerves settled and their presentations were a thing of the past, there were smiles all around, proud mums and dads, and lots of pats on the back and hugs. 

How people go home after something says a lot to me. If there's a sense of pride and a smile and they walk tall from the room, then I'm sure they'd get involved again and recommend it to someone else. These 16 year old school kids all walked a few cm's taller when they left that auditorium. Well done guys!

In that same vein then, there sure has been boundless happiness and enjoyment from newly returned New York traveller daughter, because she has not stopped smiling when you mention her trip. 'It was so, like totally amazingly awesome' (with a New York twang) may be what she's been saying!

And so life returns to a fuller household, and the prospect of only 3 more weeks of classes for the semester. 

Well of course not, but we will return.

THE LONG WAY HOME

My intrepid teenage adventurer is on her way home now, her stellar trip and tasty intro to world travel 'sans family' drawing to a close. Of course the trip back to Australia from New York doesn't draw to a close very quickly at all. She left this morning Brisbane time, but we won't see her tired but happy face at arrivals until tomorrow morning 6.30am! It's a long long journey around the globe.

I do hope she didn't have a final fluttery stomach moment like we did last December, when we came so close to arriving beautifully on time at the wrong New York airport. We had flown into JFK, coming from South America, but we were leaving from La Guardia, heading north to colder snowier climes, and the magnificence of Niagara Falls as well as some very gloomy grey weather in Toronto. Where we were headed was clearly communicated, we were fully versed to ask for the right airport and we even pre-booked our taxi cab the night before with the concierge at our hotel. So, it wasn't really part of the conversation when we got picked up (actually we weren't really involved in the conversation because the cab driver had his own pet subject he was going to talk about no matter what, come hell or high water this man was keen to tell us about exactly how many calories his body needed from carbs versus other foods). New York traffic is crazy, and so we spent an eternity, it seemed, just weaving through central downtown Manhattan, making our way to the right arterials to get to La Guardia airport in Queens. Right at the most opportune moment, thankfully, I asked (having seen a sign to say we were entering a tunnel) if we were about to go under the river? Yes, he says, Newark Airport is in New Jersey. With micro-seconds to change lanes after me uttering a panicked, no we are flying from La Guardia not Newark, this man was able to hold his tongue about carbs and calories for long enough to get us facing a different direction and heading now towards Queens. We did make it in time, but my advice for anyone flying from NYC is to leave at least 4 hours before your flight. And check what airport details have come up on the taxi booking as well.

La Guardia handles most of the domestic traffic as well as flights to and from Canada, and it is incredibly busy. Once locked and loaded and sitting on the tarmac, the pilot broadcast that we were waiting in line to take off, and would be off the ground as soon as the planes before us took to the air. We pressed our eager faces to the window and counted 12 planes all in line in front of ours. It's like some kind of precision dancing like the Rockettes we'd seen just days before, the way that air traffic control functions. It looks like no time between take-offs and landings, and to watch just how close these giants of the sky come for that 25 minutes or so that we waited, was kind of scary, but also impressive and reassuring at the same time.

I won't ever forget that flight because whilst waiting to board in New York, we heard and watched the first news of the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege as breaking news on the TVs in the departure lounge. By the time we reached Toronto, the news was reporting 2 Australians had been killed. We were travelling in North America, where all eyes are open to detect any terrorism, yet it was at home in Australia that terrorism had reared its ugly head.

Pretty much opposite directions!

GREENBACK?

The US currency, well the notes anyway, are always referred to as the greenback, and as daughter #1 has predictably just run out (the good old line, I don't know what happened because I've been writing all my withdrawals down), I've been pondering the ol' greenback and why all those notes look exactly the same in your wallet. Our pretty plastic notes here in Australia are so easy to differentiate - the lobster (20), the blue swimmer (10), and according to wikipedia, the 50 is a pineapple. Can't say I've ever heard that said aloud, but when all's said and done, you are never likely to confuse the denominations of our currency.

The greenback on the other hand - they are all small, all the same size, all green, all with the same layout, style, everything. So confusing! But they are green not black - now why is that?

Back in 1857 a chemist named Thomas Sterry Hunt invented the colour green that's used on the US bills. He used natural pigments and lab chemicals to come up with new colours and for this new green, he used chromium trioxide. Very cool idea, because back in the mid 19th century counterfeiters were really good at erasing the black numerals on paper money and then reprinting them with higher denomination numerals. What stood Hunt's new ink apart from the rest, back then, was that his ink was extremely difficult to erase, and because it wasn't black, but green, it wasn't able to be photographed. Now that is a clever invention huh? But that's not all... His ink is also practically indestructible; acid won't affect it and neither will most other chemical agents. Super ink!! Mr Hunt sold his ink invention to the US government and that green ink has been used since 1862 to print US bills. And that, my friends, is how US paper money became known all over the globe as the greenback.

Now, how much extra do I transfer for the 15 year old to finish her last couple of days in the Big Apple?

 I know she's bringing me some of these, so I'll transfer the cash!

WASTELAND TO POSTER CHILD


New York's High Line is a 1.6 kilometre linear park built on a disused section of rail line – the elevated West Side Line – running through the lower west side of Manhattan. It was abandoned around the turn of the century and was under threat of being demolished for almost 30 years. But back in 1999 a movement began to save it and get it redeveloped as parkland. The original founders of the Friends of the High Line had walked the abandoned line many times but they really needed a way to harness supporters by showing the raw beauty of the place and the amazing wildscape that it had become over time. So they reached out to Joel Sternfeld, an acclaimed photographer, who set about documenting the high line throughout an entire year. He captured the changing seasons, and his photos became the tools for getting people excited about what the place could be.

Fast forward to now, the power of his photography and the success of community activism have resulted in what is the most successful example of urban renewal anywhere in the world - in 2013 the High Line was named one of the top ten Instagrammed places in the world and it attracts over 4 million visitors per year.

It is a fabulous place, it will cost you nothing, and I rate it as a must see for anyone interested in landscape, architecture or recycling. The views and vistas are beautiful, and with the added advantage of being up high, you can escape the trapped big city feel. It's an urban oasis up there. And something I really love is what it represents - its transformation is an example of the power of the people - ordinary citizens being dedicated to revitalizing an area that almost certainly would have fallen into total urban decay.

Walk it, lie down up there, check out the art, marvel at the design features, appreciate the horticultural and plantings side of things, spot the remnant railway tracks, watch the sunset, catch some summer sun, or just use it to cover the city blocks up higher. You'll cover 20 city blocks in what will feel like only a few minutes. The High Line is a joy for all, and congratulations must go to the people who resurrected the abandoned space and have made it into the spectacular attraction that it is now. Poster child for urban planners the world over!

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