Change. Happy Fence Friday
I had to find a fence somewhere and finally, I did. This shot is taken at "Happy Valley" in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. This is a large beachside park between Bullcock Beach and Kings Beach and where Pumicestone Passage which divides Bribie Island and the mainland used to make its entry to Moreton Bay by a tricky bar. The day we went up, it was late morning low tide so that we could, for the first time walk across to Bribie Island, now North Bribie.
So what's this all about - well, a lot of change since I was a kid when we took our annual holidays with Mum and Dad here. In those days there was no park and in fact the whole scene in front was one of lightly vegetated sand dunes (no water in foreground) all the way out to the sea, more or less where you see it now. Except in those days, you couldn't see it.
A little out of frame to the right was Pumicestone Passage with the Caloundra bar beyond, about three quarters up the RHS of the shot. It was a reasonably deep channel and fast flowing when the tide was running in or out and deep enough so that just beyond Bullcock Beach which was actually in the passage to the right had wharves where a fleet of prawn trawlers tied up and sold their catch. By the early 90's, the sand dunes were starting to diminish and they eventually all washed away or perhaps blew away too, leaving a wide beach with lagoons and small channels as seen here. It has been that way with small changes from month to month for 25 years.
Across the other side of the Passage was the northern tip of Bribie Island, one of the three large sand islands in Moreton Bay and you could only get there by way of the bridge from Caboolture at the southern end and then drive up the beach by 4WD or via a boat across from anywhere in Caloundra. The north end of the island was quite narrow in parts.
Then along came the inclement weather that contributed to the devastating floods of 2022 and nature took over to finish a job it had started years before. The sea punched a hole through the narrow northern part of Bribie Island and created a new passage that grew wider as time went by opposite the Golden Beach area of Caloundra. Balancing this, the old channel gradually got shallower and filled with sand, some drifting, some blown I believe and at least at low tide now part of Caloundra and able to be walked to where once us kids were forbidden to play in case we fell into the deep, swift flowing water.
For the first time in my life, we achieved the impossible and walked across to what was Bribie Island. As Bluey and Co. would say "Hooray"!
Change. Happy Fence Friday
I had to find a fence somewhere and finally, I did. This shot is taken at "Happy Valley" in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane. This is a large beachside park between Bullcock Beach and Kings Beach and where Pumicestone Passage which divides Bribie Island and the mainland used to make its entry to Moreton Bay by a tricky bar. The day we went up, it was late morning low tide so that we could, for the first time walk across to Bribie Island, now North Bribie.
So what's this all about - well, a lot of change since I was a kid when we took our annual holidays with Mum and Dad here. In those days there was no park and in fact the whole scene in front was one of lightly vegetated sand dunes (no water in foreground) all the way out to the sea, more or less where you see it now. Except in those days, you couldn't see it.
A little out of frame to the right was Pumicestone Passage with the Caloundra bar beyond, about three quarters up the RHS of the shot. It was a reasonably deep channel and fast flowing when the tide was running in or out and deep enough so that just beyond Bullcock Beach which was actually in the passage to the right had wharves where a fleet of prawn trawlers tied up and sold their catch. By the early 90's, the sand dunes were starting to diminish and they eventually all washed away or perhaps blew away too, leaving a wide beach with lagoons and small channels as seen here. It has been that way with small changes from month to month for 25 years.
Across the other side of the Passage was the northern tip of Bribie Island, one of the three large sand islands in Moreton Bay and you could only get there by way of the bridge from Caboolture at the southern end and then drive up the beach by 4WD or via a boat across from anywhere in Caloundra. The north end of the island was quite narrow in parts.
Then along came the inclement weather that contributed to the devastating floods of 2022 and nature took over to finish a job it had started years before. The sea punched a hole through the narrow northern part of Bribie Island and created a new passage that grew wider as time went by opposite the Golden Beach area of Caloundra. Balancing this, the old channel gradually got shallower and filled with sand, some drifting, some blown I believe and at least at low tide now part of Caloundra and able to be walked to where once us kids were forbidden to play in case we fell into the deep, swift flowing water.
For the first time in my life, we achieved the impossible and walked across to what was Bribie Island. As Bluey and Co. would say "Hooray"!