Like A Bridge Over Dappled Water

(Apologies to Messrs Simon and Garfunkel)

Photo copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This was taken at The Spit, on our way back from Sea World on the Gold Coast. I had actually stopped to take some other pictures, when I walked back to the car and noticed the scene in front of me.

The clouds had rolled in, the light had started to fade dramatically. The water was rippling gently and the reflection of the lights on the bridge were casting shadows of liquid gold below, as the pelicans swam past in a serene squadron. Just a nice meld of colours and a picture that simply had to be taken.

And my learned friend and colleague Andrew Rennie, a former Queensland resident, had this nugget of information to add:

``Your picture of the Southport Bridge reminded me of a story I heard when I was visiting the area. One February in the late 1960s, during a particularly torrid storm season and a king-tide period, the Southport Bridge actually went under.

``It was particularly traumatic for the canal-front residents, many of whom had not long finished building their homes. Many houses also went under and insurance companies would not cover the loss.

``If you've ever been around the canals, you will see now that most of the homes are at least two-storey. Regulations dictate that they must be. The only single-level dwellings are those that survived the weather.

``The way property prices are rising on the Coast, it won't be long before these little bastions of a bygone era go the way of the Southport Bridge and get swallowed up too.

``The pelican pictures also brought to mind a story that had Gold Coasters at odds for some weeks back in 2004. A popular Labrador seafood store's ritual of feeding flocks of pelicans was popular with both tourists and locals, but some residents complained the birds' pooing was contaminating the Broadwater and wanted the practise banned.

``The saga dominated the `Gold Coast Bulletin' for days, until finally the Environment Minister Dean Wells, bowing to public pressure, declared the case closed. Normality returned, and the pelicans continue to have a daily feed, much to the delight of the thousands of tourists who flock there each week.''