Winter Walk

As it is often too hot to walk in summer, we enjoy walking in winter. The Brisbane River has many walks along its banks. Last Sunday we just did a short part of the walk from South Bank to New Farm. One day we will start earlier so that we can do the whole 5km walk.

Today we started near the Story Bridge.

We walked under the bridge and onto The River Walk, which floats on the water.

When the River Cats go swooshing past the walkway goes up and down. It must be fun for the cyclists.

This is why the walk way has to float on the water.

There are houses and apartments on one side of the river and...

...marinas and apartments on the other side.

It was getting late so we turned around and headed back to the city of Brisbane.

Rocklea Weekend Markets

Last weekend we visited the Rocklea Weekend Markets for the first time. It was huge. It is held in the car park opposite the City Markets which operate during the week for retailers.

There were aisles and aisles of fruit and vegetables. There were many many stalls selling cut flowers.

There were rows and rows of plants for sale. Then there were many stalls selling all kinds of food. Breads, cakes, sweets, cheese and .... German sausages.........Bill's eyes lit up and he started salivating....so we bought a sausage each.....

......but we didn't eat it here we took it home and had it there.

The prices of everything was mch cheaper than in the shops and as it got later in the morning the prices fell again. Some stall owners were selling everything for $1:00 a kilogram. Rocklea is a suburb of Brisbane.

Twice in one Week

We had two visits to Ipswich in one week and we hadn't been there once in the last 20 years or so. Its funny how things often happen like that. We were invited to lunch with other friends that we made years ago in Papua/New Guinea. We all belonged to the same Judo and Scooter clubs in P/NG. Today two of our friends were passing through Brisbane after a trip to the northern tip of Australia. We picked them up at their hotel and took them to Ipswich where they had left their car with another friend from P/NG days. We were impressed with the views of Brisbane from their hotel room on the 24th floor.

North bank and CBD

There is a new foot bridge being built to link the CBD with South Bank, the cultural centre of Brisbane. There you will find: The Gallery of Modern Art, the State Library, the Museum, the Art Gallery, the Opera House, Theatres, Cinemas, restaurants, the Conservatorium, the Convention Centre and the Parklands.

Two other bridges upstream. The Old William Jolly Bridge sometimes called the Grey St Bridge and the rail bridge in the background. So after oohing and aahing over the view we took Diana and Graham to Ipswich where we met Del and Merle and went to the local Tavern for lunch.
Tomorrow Diana and Graham head home to Tamworth in NSW. We will all get together again in April next year for some more talk about the good old days.

A Winter Picnic

On Sunday Bill says, "Let's go to a computer market at Ipswich." I think, "Boring, boring." So I rang an old friend who lives on the other side of Ipswich, a city 30 mins west of Brisbane. I suggested we meet in Ipswich and have a picnic after the computer market. So Joan and Norm met us at the computer market. The boys went shopping, and we had a chat. BB bought some Ram but it didn't go baa baa it goes into one of his computers.

Then Joan and Norm took us to the new big Riverlink shopping centre and then across the river to..........

....the River Heart Parklands, where we had a simple winter picnic. Soup, bread roll, cheese and apple.

It was warm in the sun. After lunch we walked through the parklands along the bank of the Bremer River. It is hard to believe we are in the middle of a city and just across the river is a huge shopping centre.There were many native plants. 

There is a board walk along the river edge.

Old friends Joan and Norm. We met them in Papua/ New Guinea 45 years ago.

Australian rivers flow a lot slower than European rivers but when we have tropical rain for days they flood and surge to the sea causing havoc on the way.

Above you can see how the trees have been bent over with the torrent during the last floods.

We returned via a higher path and came upon this.......

...lovely little stream with the most gorgeous sculptures of children playing.

Then we came to an unusual fountain which was hard to capture. It was like a huge stairway of concrete blocks with water running down the steps.

Taken from the top.

Then it was farewell friends and Ipswich.

Another Day, Another Park, Same River.

In the last post we walked along the Brisbane River in New Farm. On Thursday we walked along the same river but in the city at South Bank Parklands. We had to go to the city for a seminar promoted by our superannuation company. The speaker, Michael Pascoe, was interesting and entertaining. He basically was telling us how lucky we are as Australia's economy hasn't been hit as hard as other western countries and I guess we were supposed to feel happy even though we've lost thousands from our superannuation but then everyone is in the same boat and we just have to manage as best we can.

After the seminar, where we got a free lunch, we went for a walk along the river in the parklands.

Looking across the river to the CBD

Looking up river......
 and down river.

We walked through the arbor........

and the mini rain forest......

past the swimming pool. Then we turned back .......

past the tourist wheel and the.....

Performing Arts Centre (street side)

Performing Arts Centre (park side) At the back of the park is Little Stanley St. which is an eatery street under the shady trees, which is nice in summer but not today as it is very cold. (Brisbane cold 17C). The interior of the long apartment building was designed with the help of Carol when she worked for Mirvac.