50 years ago we used to get American tourists in Australian cities expecting to see kangaroos hopping in the towns.  Although we don’t have kangaroos hopping down the main street or in our back yards in Australia, just about every golf course has some kangaroos hanging around to feast on the well kept grass fairways.

Mount Coolum on Australia’s Sunshine Coast has the distinction of being the second largest Monolith in the World.  The largest is also in Australia and it is Uluru or Ayre’s Rock in central Australia.  A monolith is a geological formation that is only one rock, and not made up of many rocks like most mountains.

At a school in Western Queensland where I was teaching the grounds man left the sprinkler on one night and the next morning we arrived at school to find that the sub zero temperatures had frozen the plants spectacularly.

This plant was adjacent to the previous one and it became covered in stalagmites as well. That previous night the temperature was way below freezing and at 6am in was still -6ºC, and in Farenheit that would be about 17 ºF.  Brass monkeys would definitely be looking for welders.

In the suburb of Brisbane called Stones Corner there used to live an old man who owned a remarkable dog which he had trained to do his shopping for him. The man would place a shopping list and money in the dog’s collar and a basket in his mouth and send him to the local grocery store.  There the workers of the store would fill his basket with the man’s order and send him on home with a full basket of groceries. After the old man and his dog passed on this statue was erected on the street outside the store as a memorial.

This used to be busy Brunswick St, the main street in Fortitude Valley, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia.  In the 80s and 90s Brisbane’s City Council went Street Mall crazy and turned many thoroughfares into shopping malls.  Malls seemed to be the answer to the revitalisation of all our dingy old suburban streets, and so the Trendy Lefties set about changing the face of city streets.  Now drivers would see more of the city as they had to drive around the new malls ands through 5 sets of stop lights instead of just 2. This one is the Brunswick St. Shopping Mall, note again, the popular Aboriginal Art theme with the representation of “The Rainbow Serpent” of Aboriginal Dream Time legend slithering along the centre of the mall.

Subway is a hit in Australia also and holds the pride of place in the Brunswick St Mall.  Mcwhirters used to be a large department store but now it has been turned into a multi livel market place with the penthouse floor being an Art Space area for painters.

Not to be denied, during the Mall Crazy period the chinese community of Brisbane built their own mall in Duncan Street Fortitude Valley.  Very popular at Chinese New Year, when all the fireworks go off.

This is from the opposite end at Ann St.  Vehicles can drive halfway into the mall to get to the multi storey parking lot.  There are many chinese restaurants as well as a couple of Korean and Vietnamese ones as well.

I spent many a shift parked on this very taxi rank, McWhirter's Rank, waiting for that elusive fare that would make me a fortune. Inevitably I would just get a fare to the next suburb and be back at the rank in 5 minutes, waiting again.

Today, the artist playing in the music room at the back of the pub is Kwame. D, a singer-songwriter from Ghana, now based in Leeds. Performing songs the audience can relate to, Kwame starts our musical day off well. A twenty minute walk takes us to the New Roscoe which, with the influence of legendary Leeds music promoter John Keenan, has live music every evening plus Sunday afternoons. The pub showcases local bands plus many excellent tribute bands, as well as 1960s icons such as Chris Farlowe.

This Sunday afternoon, the place rocks with Wakefield-based “The Welsh T Band”. You can see why this band took the 2005 Colne Blues Festival by storm with their high powered blues / rock renditions. Another ten minute stroll takes us to a quieter gig, at the Duck and Drake, close to the famous Leeds Kirkgate Market. The “Duck” is a throw back to the old days of a city center pub, where regulars gather. Image-wise, it is as far from the glitzy wine bars and restaurants of city center Leeds you could find, but is now becoming one of Leeds' most popular music venues.

Yorkshire's answer to James Blunt is playing in the form of Shaun T Hunter, a singer-songwriter who gives his audience a performance in a homely, friendly atmosphere that leaves the punter feeling guilty, for not having to pay an entrance fee. This is grass roots entertainment that surely deserves a wider audience.

To finish a musical Sunday, we visit the HI-FI Club. Situated towards the Corn Exchange, it is a venue easily missed due to its innocuous frontage - a simple door takes you downstairs to a club which is frequented by all races and creeds, giving a multi-cultural feel to an inspiring venue which proves that music can overcome any type of boundaries or prejudice.

The return of sax legend Snake Davis to Leeds ensures a full venue. Snakie, who has toured the world with M. People, Pet Shop Boys and Jim Diamond, to name but a few, returns on a regular basis to the city where he studied music at the Leeds College of Music. I for one can remember him busking in the Leeds city center while he was a student.

As usual, Snake Davis gives a stunning performance, including an incredible version of Elvis's “Suspicious Minds”, which brings the house down. Truly fantastic end at midnight, which concludes a ten-hour day of live music brilliance.