Cinema

We went to our first movie here in Bulimba on Monday night. The movie was The Hobbit and we were excited to see it. So we buy our tickets (cash only $8.50au) and find our seats. Not a bad theatre....great price.

Dave decides to get our popcorn and drink before the movie starts. When he comes back he tells me that on the menu there were chips (French fries) with chicken salt! Lol. They do sell food along with the normal movie fare. But what the heck is chicken salt?! Not sure we are going to find out any time soon. Very few establishments offer ice, so when Dave said fill the cup with ice, I think they were a little surprised. And then the popcorn. As we were eating it, it got saltier and saltier until literally the inside of our lips were all puckered up...

So the ads start. Ads that you would see on TV and then a few previews thrown in for good measure. THIRTY MINUTES of ads! Dave and his puckered lips were crawling out of his skin! We were wondering what time we were going to make it home that night. But finally the movie started and we loved it

We will go back, but maybe show up a little later and miss some of the advertising!




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Cyclone

We are feeling the effects of the cyclone here in Queensland.  We had rain off and on Thursday and then again on Friday. It would rain gently, then harder, and then stop for maybe 30 minutes, then start up again. Friday night we took the ferry across to New Farm with some friends and by the time we were going back across at midnight, we were all soaked. Interestingly enough, James and Diane had just moved here from London  and they were not really using their umbrella as much as Dave and I. Used to the rain and getting wet I guess!

Saturday the rain was again heavy and light and Dave needed to get out of the apartment. He suggested a "romantic" walk to our favorite bakery. Ladies, never fall for this line!!  It was more like a hike and instead of holding hands and perhaps a kiss or two, I was holding onto my umbrella for dear life in the rain and wind gusts. I guess walking along the boardwalk on the way home was a questionable decision...

Sunday it literally poured down and was so windy no one was out. In fact the TV was announcing that people should not be out because of all the flash flooding. When I say windy, I mean that two trees in the park are down and the few people that did try to get out with their dogs were having a hard time walking.  The river is way up and they have suspended ferry and WaterCat service as of yesterday afternoon through today.

Today is Monday and a holiday, Australia Day and everyone has off work. We were supposed to be at the beach, but the beaches closed and the ocean is so churned up the sea foam is flying like big wads of cotton or wool!

They say that the Brisbane river will peak today and then again tomorrow.  The park is a mess and might get a little worse if that happens. The Internet went out last night until early this morning...horrors!  It's supposed to continue raining for the next 4 or 5 days, but hopefully gently with some breaks.

I tried to get a picture of the trees blowing in the strong wind, but you can see the standing water in the park. The river in the background is even higher than this!

January 19 and 20

Running errands on Saturday....took Dave by a place that sells dress forms, mannequins, and other store type furniture. Trying to talk him into buying a dress form...the price is causing the second thoughts on his part.  However, you all know that I have been looking for one at every flea market for years and these are sooo nice. I hope it's just a matter of time before Dave realizes the usefulness of a dress form. Lol. Apartment deco!!

So the dress form place was closed, but a few shops down we saw a sign that said sale. It means that  the "sale" items are just above USA prices, however we were out and it was only 90 degrees and we walked down. Bloody hell were we lucky!  Lol. This was a furniture place, but not just any old furniture. They get all sorts of things from India and then turn them into other things. Ox carts into beds, windows into coffee tables, etc. Most things were really unique and oh so cool, but what I found were wooden bowls.  Big, medium, small all wood bowls that were amazing. I bought a pretty big one and a medium one and paid under $100. You would pay more than that for the small one I bought in the US.  The money I would save by buying just a few more would pay for my dress form....or is that funny math?!?!

On Sunday we went to Eagle Street Market. A lot of clothes, food and produce. We bought produce, a great oj that was fresh squeezed and a blanket out of cotton saris.

Old Petrie Town

Friday night we went to Old Petrie Town with Bill, Colette and Sierra. It's north of Brisbane and about 30 minutes away. We arrived at dusk and found that it was a historical site with buildings that had been restored and some in the process of being restored. There was an old car show going on and many motorcycles also. Not sure if that was related or if the motorcycle gang was just there to see the cars! Each building had a retail store or a eating place in it. First order of business was food....we decided on pizza and ordered a supreme. Let's just say it had a lot of teeny tiny diced ham pieces in it. I have yet to eat a good pizza here, so I wasn't surprised at this. Then we started going into all the stores. One was selling cement items....very cheap! I loved a few things, but to the surprise of Colette and Dave, didn't buy anything. Lol. I'm getting a reputation as a shopper. But in my defense I had to do some power shopping when we moved into our apartment!! Not my fault other things jumped into the shopping cart! Anyway they had also set up a huge screen and played old music videos. Quite entertaining....

No pictures since it was so dark and also a little hazy with the smoke floating around from the fires. I haven't seen any fires around me, but the river brings the smoke to us and some nights it's quite strong and we have to shut the apartment up.


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End of visit...

Five days with the boys was just not enough!  We had frisbee in the park, souvenir shopping, going to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary to see dingos, hold koalas, and pet kangaroos, a birthday dinner and walk down the boardwalk from New Farm Park to Teneriffe, and last but not least....we sent them out with two of Dave's coworkers who took them to Fortitude Valley to bar hop. Many stories from that event and they must have had a good time cause we didn't see them until 3am!  The next time you see them, ask about the strawberry daiquiris they tried to chug to get out of the gay bar that they accidentally went into. Lol.

We wish you all a Happy New Year!

Cheers!  Dave, Lovey, Parker, Perry and Paxton

Noosa day two

Up and at the beach early for the second half of the surf lesson...this is Perry and Parker up and surfing.



Lunch and then a long bus, train, walk, ferry and walk home...you have to pay a price to have fun with us!  Lol.

Noosa Beach

December 26th we are up bright and early to catch a train to the beach. It's raining so we decide to take a taxi to the Fortitude Valley train station. Touch on with the Go cards and get to the platform for the train to Nambor. Two hours later and the end of the line and we touch off with our cards and catch the bus to Noosa. We dropped our stuff at the apartment we were renting and went to Roccoco for lunch. Now for the fun part of the day....surf lessons with Merricks!!  Look how great they look in their rashies!  Merrick's guarantees that they will get you up in one 1/2 day lesson and they were right. Perry was first up, Paxton was catching every tiny wave that came in and Parker was up and going in no time. It takes quite a bit of arm strength to paddle and get up and the boys were tired and ready for a break after their lesson. 

We went to our penthouse apartment that overlooked the whole city and water. The top level was a grill, huge table, lounge chairs, and a jacuzzi tub. There was nothing bad about this place!  We cracked a beer open and some chips and relaxed until dinner.

Christmas part two..

Oops!  Forgot to put in our chocolate Christmas Yule log dessert...Dave and I went to French Twist and scored the last one!  It was delicious!

Christmas 2012

Happy day....the boys landed in Brisbane this morning at 6:15am. Paxton got off the plane looking as fresh as a daisy, the other two looked pretty worn out. We jumped into a "people mover" taxi and zipped back to our apartment for showers, coffee and breakfast.

I didn't bring any Christmas decorations and Brisbane is pretty scarce with the tasteful deco, however I found a 10" silver tree and five small ornaments and put silver bags of goodies in lieu of stockings on our shelf.  After opening, or rather unpacking the bags we had a great laugh about the games I had bought. One was a yes/no game and we just couldn't figure out what was on the card...another one was charades. After Perry tried to mime the Grand Canyon in the most obscure way, we decided we should all give up and go sightseeing.

We all jumped on the Water Cat to go into the CBD as a starting point. After walking to South Bank we stopped for the mandatory chips and drinks. More walking then home for the typical Australia Christmas dinner of grilled fish, grilled lamb chops and salads.

A great first day...