039

Ben



Just when I thought another day would pass without seeing a stranger, Ben turned up at our door selling Karate lessons!

He was heavily tattoed on the arms as well. "Daisha" is his 16 month old daughter, the name of his son is emblazoned among the biomechanicals on his left arm, and he suggested that he may not do the same on his right arm if he were to do it again.

I told him it wouldn't be a problem, all he has to do is have another child and name it "Outlaw".

He'd been a farmer and a rifleman in the army before setting out to establish his karate business. He canvasses door to door for customers seven days a week, and runs non contact Karate classes at night.

038

Angela



Angela has been taking blood for a good few years, and she seemed completely bemused when I asked if I could take a photo or two as she jabbed me.

It was a dead-set conversation killer I have to say, and she was of no-nonsense stock, which isn't a bad thing when it's one's own arm being jabbed.

037

Tomo

036

Murray



Murray was quite happy for me to click around all sides, but quite frankly I liked his shirt and his pony tail and well, the way his skin actually actually appeared to be sun ripened, just like the tomatoes he was buying from the "everything $2.00 per kilo" man.

Around his neck hangs a big silver guitar pendant.

No, he hadn't been to Woodstock even though the (new) tee shirt said he had, and no, despite having a name like Murray, he isn't a Kiwi!

035

No



No runs the ancient Hamburger Trailer at the Fisherman's Road Markets. I don't think that's her real name, but it's what she says every time I ask her if she's going to tell me who she is and whether I can take her photo, so I just have to go with that.

She says it's not OK to take her photo if she knows about it, and reckons I'd never get one if she didn't. She has spent forever running around looking for people "with character" for me to photograph, (Yes that's her with Liam and Dodger yesterday, and it was she who pointed out old Victor a few weeks ago!) so I had to stake out her truck and wait till she was otherwise occupied to abide by her rules.

Over the past few weeks, I've got to know how long her carpet's been down in her bedroom, where each of her children live and what they paid for their houses, and pretty much everything else but her name! When I first approached her a few weeks ago, she had an apron that was ummm...well it had as much patina as the outside of her van. I really wanted that shot!

I had to take the picture this week, because if our relationship gets any closer, she'll end up being my mother.

034

Liam and Dodger



Liam didn't know if Dodger was an Australian Terrier or not (I think he is), but he told me he'd had him since he was "this big" (holding his hands a few inches apart).

033

Liz



Liz was paying for her train ticket to go to Gympie and then back home to Mackay after a short holiday with friends on the coast. She'd been working in Ireland for a few years, and after quite a bit of world girdling, was having a bit of trouble coming to terms with settling down at home.

032

Jim



Jim sells tickets for the Tilt Train and all the interstate services at Nambour Station. His little spot is like a travel agency, carpeted and separate from the rest of the station in a glass enclosure.

Nambour isn't a large station, but it was fifteen minutes before the train was due and he had a small queue, which he dealt with in a completely unhurried but efficient way.

031

Arthur



"Arthur" was from Balmain, and "up" at Sawtell for four days on an annual fishing trip with his boys. They hadn't caught a thing, but had seen a flock of "millions" of mutton birds swimming at sea that morning so he wasn't at all disappointed.

One of his other favourite pastimes while away, is swimming against the tide. Literally.

030

Len



Len is from Port Douglas in North Queensland. He flew in to Port Macquarie and caught the bus down to Sawtell to sit on this rock for a week. He says he never catches anything, but it's just a great spot to sit.

029

Lonnie



Lonnie is a Real Estate Salesperson in the Sunshine Coast town of Beerwah and I think its fair to say she talks with her hands!

I had to do a lot of selling myself to get her permission to take her photo, and it took quite a while after that for her conversation to "re-animate".

028

Ross



Ross was very busy. The demand for Siamese fighting fish on a Sunday morning has to be seen to be believed!

027

Rick



Rick does sell Bric-a-Brac. He reckoned it would be alright if I took his photo, because he had a receipt for everything on his stall. He'd sold a block of land recently so didn't have to work, but likes to sell bargains to people so the world is a nicer place to live in.

While we were there a customer purchased a record clearly marked $3.00. He kindly told her that that was the original price, not today's value ($5.00) but since it was Sunday he'd give her a 40% discount.

See, there are still people who are happy to give genuine customer service!

026

Graham



Graham is a retired farmer and just loves to fish. Playing with palm trees a few half days a week, keeps his hands dirty he reckons, although he says you wouldn't want to be doing it to feed a family.

025

Victor



Victor had "escaped" from the Buderim Gardens Retirement village for a hobble round the markets. I was goaded into approaching him by the lady running the hot dog stand who didn't want to be photographed. He was a patient old codger, all very dapper, with his ID tags round his neck and a silver snuff box that held a couple of raffle tickets and his shopping note.

024

Tom



It was Tom's first day as a market entrepreneur selling sunglasses at his table between the plant guy and the home baked cookies lady. He'd sold two pairs in a couple of hours, and didn't know whether to be discouraged or not.

023

Dave



Dave had been at work for a couple of hours and the sun was just starting to make it's presence felt. Clearly, the combination of Sunday Paper and the warmth from the new day was giving him a challenge just to stay awake until the customers arrived.

He flogs junk (I almost called it bric-a -brac, but it's junk) to the Sunday punters, and was happy for me to take my time while he went about his business.

022

Michael



Michael looked as though he was born to surf, but the reality is he's a drilling rig operator just arrived from the south, and had been at work all day in the sun.