Blog Archives: September, 2009
Brisbane Riverfire
Fireworks
Earlier this month I attended Brisbane Riverfire, the fireworks that are part of the Brisbane Festival going on here in Brisbane.
The fireworks take place along the stretch of the Brisbane River that winds around downtown Brisbane (which is basically where I live). We went down to the riverfront in the afternoon to grab a spot along the river, and to see the air show. The Royal Australian Air Force “Roulettes” put on a precision flying show while it was still light, with some very impressive flying. (These and all the pictures in this blog entry either come from my friend Sui-Guan at QUT or from Creative Commons-licensed material on Flickr.)
RAAF Roulettes in formation 
RAAF Roulettes 
Crowds on South Bank waiting for the fireworks
Being from Windsor, the home of the International Freedom Festival Fireworks, I have very high standards for fireworks shows. It’s not a real fireworks show unless it goes on for a good half an hour, has multiple launch sites, and — most importantly — you can really feel the boom.
You must understand, then, how significant it is when I say that these were the best fireworks I have ever seen.
The show started with a countdown to a pair of F-111 fighter jets flying overhead signalling the launch of the first fireworks. The trail of the jets can be seen in the image below.
First, there were the fireworks on and above the river. They had 6 barges along the winding stretch of the river; from the area in which we were standing, 4 barges were visible (the most possible due to the curve of the river).
Since that wasn’t enough, the decided to launch fireworks from the tops of buildings in downtown Brisbane.
Fireworks across the river 
Fireworks over the river and above the CBD
Again, that wasn’t still enough, so they decided to launch fireworks from three of the bridges across the Brisbane river. The curtains of fireworks falling from the bridges were especially beautiful.
Fireworks over Story Bridge 
Curtain of fireworks on the Story Bridge
But still, setting the river, buildings, and bridges on fire was apparently not enough. The F-111 jets that started the show came back and did what’s called a “dump and burn“, in which fuel is released behind the jet and set alight using the plane’s afterburner. The F-111 jet is the only aircraft the routinely performs this procedure. The RAAF is the last air force in the world operating F-111 jets, and they are set to retire this year. This was the last dump and burn ever to be seen in Brisbane and it was incredible! If you look closely in the bottom left of the last picture, you can see the outline of the jet.
F-111 dump and burn over Brisbane 
F-111 dump and burn over Story Bridge 
F-111 dump and burn
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Dust storm video
Following up on yesterday’s post about dust storms: I just came across this video of a dust storm in New South Wales a couple of years ago.
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Dust storm in Brisbane
George St in the dust storm Yesterday Brisbane was hit with a dust storm. Strong westerly winds (that is, winds blowing from the west) from the outback kicked up lots of sand and dust since the last few months have been very dry. They hit Brisbane in mid-afternoon, turning the sky reddish-brown as if in a medium fog. Here’s a news story about the dust, and some (Creative Commons-licensed) pictures that I found on Flickr. The pictures have not had their colours altered in any way, this is how it really looked.
When I got home in the evening the air had mostly cleared, but my throat still tickled a little. By this morning, when I went for a 10km run, the skies were clear and there was no sign of dust anywhere, except of course all over every flat surface in my apartment since I had left the glass patio doors open all day.
City Hall in the dust storm 
Captain Cook Bridge in the dust storm 
Ann St in the dust storm 
Downtown Brisbane in the dust storm 
Dust storm over the Brisbane River
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Marathon training: Month 1
One month down, one month to go! It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a month since my half marathon in August, and it’s even more surprising that there’s just a month left until the marathon in October!
It seems like the marathon training is a bit of a rush, although I think that’s more imagined than real. If I had started a longer training program — say a 12 or 16 week program — from scratch in preparation for the marathon, I would probably be at roughly the same point, except I’ve had a half marathon along the way. I’ll admit that the first week or two after the half marathon I did not feel like training, as it felt like I had accomplished my goal. But I now have my head all sorted out for the marathon!
The first couple of weeks of running went well. I started adding on the distance, getting to 23km in the second week (which was a new distance record for me). During the third week, the sole of my left foot started to hurt. I cut back on the running, and have got a new pair of shoes (the previous pair had about 675km on them when they were replaced), and this week’s long run, 26km, came and went without any foot pain. That’s not to say it was an unmitigated joy, however: the heat has started to return to Brisbane. Even though I got out just after 6:30am on Sunday morning, it was already 20°C, and by the time I got home at 9:30, it was up to 26°C. That made it pretty tough. I guess I will have to start getting up even earlier. This long run also helped me reach a couple of milestones: longest run ever (26km) and 700km of running since the start of the year (continuing to blow away last year’s record of 526km).
I’ll be running in the marathon with my friends Cecilia and Dan. Take a look at Cecilia’s biggest week ever as part of her marathon training.
| Aug 24 Mon | Rest day | |
| Aug 25 Tue | Rest day | |
| Aug 26 Wed | Rest day | |
| Aug 27 Thu | 8.1km | Tempo run |
| Aug 28 Fri | Rest day | |
| Aug 29 Sat | Rest day | |
| Aug 30 Sun | 20.0km | Long run |
| Weekly Total | 28.1km | Year to date: 615.0km |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 31 Mon | Rest day | |
| Sep 1 Tue | 3.7km | Easy run |
| Sep 2 Wed | Rest day | |
| Sep 3 Thu | 10.8km | Speedwork |
| Sep 4 Fri | Rest day | |
| Sep 5 Sat | Rest day | |
| Sep 6 Sun | 23.0km | Long run |
| Weekly Total | 37.5km | Year to date: 652.6km |
| Sep 7 Mon | Rest day | |
| Sep 8 Tue | 3.7km | Easy run |
| Sep 9 Wed | Rest day | |
| Sep 10 Thu | 8.0km | Tempo run |
| Sep 11 Fri | Rest day | |
| Sep 12 Sat | Rest day | |
| Sep 13 Sun | 9.1km | Easy run |
| Weekly Total | 20.8km | Year to date: 673.4km |
| Sep 14 Mon | Rest day | |
| Sep 15 Tue | Rest (sore foot) | |
| Sep 16 Wed | Rest day | |
| Sep 17 Thu | 3.7km | Easy run |
| Sep 18 Fri | Rest day | |
| Sep 19 Sat | Rest day | |
| Sep 20 Sun | 26.0km | Long run |
| Weekly Total | 29.7km | Year to date: 703.1km |
