Brisbane 1

Great excitement.  George and I actually went away for a weekend - three days, eve, - ALONE.  The only other time we have done this in eighteen years was when my father died last year, which was hardly fun.  (Not because I mourned my father - he was a horrible man - but because it involved a lot of untangling of things and was very emotional anyway).

We went up for a 50th birthday party and, although George has been there on business lots of times, he has never taken the time to sightsee, so we were tourists!!

(There, by the way, is Brisbane, capital of Queensland for non-Australians)

These photos are in no particular order, but I don't have the energy to rearrange them!

Ella's Pink Lady, as sailed around the world by Jessica Watson.  I wasn't a big fan of hers, to tell the truth, though I promised to revise my views if she made it all the way without having to be rescued.  She did, so I grudgingly agreed that maybe she had achieved something worthwhile after all!  This was at the Maritime Museum.  It was quite interesting to look at, actually, after seeing it on the TV so much at the time.  And, although clean and tidy, it wasn't over-spruced - you could see that it had genuinely sailed around the world.

A pretty Brisbane building.  This is probably typical of older Brisbane architecture.  A lot of Brisbane is rather new and shiny and modern but I really liked this style.

These are examples of some amazing street architecture.  There is a big square in the CBD near the river and it is full of these spheres.  They are metal balls in these two sizes (I didn't count how many but there must be at least 20 or so) scattered around, and the sticking-out bits are vegetable strainers.  Some people my age might remember that you could get them in threes and they fitted in a saucepan - maybe just in Australia, who knows?  G's mum had some.  So they have small holes in them, and they look all mysterious and alien.  And at night, the lights come on.  Every sphere has lights in it, either plain or coloured, and they REALLY look like aliens then.  I tried to get a good picture of that but failed :(

This is an attractive flame red tree.  Possibly it is even called a flame tree.  Lots of pretty trees in Brisbane, which is semi-tropical, or sub-tropical, or something.

More interesting street architecture. And trees.

OK, several views of Brisbane from a ferry.

And this is a model of either a crocodile or an alligator at the Maritime Museum.  It amused me.

The birthday party was amazingly good fun.  On a boat.  With much bubbly.  And not quite enough food.  And a core group of middle aged people drinking and dancing to the songs of their youth, much like they had done 30 years previously, only with more expensive drinks and a slightly earlier bedtime.

There are more photos, so there will be further installments.