The first day of Spring

Our realtor told us that September 1 is considered the first day of spring in Australia (rather than the 21st, the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere).  It was a balmy 26C and we took a ride on the "Brisbane Wheel", which is like the "London Eye", but half the size and, obviously, it is in Brisbane rather than London.
Even though there are sharks in the river, people still want to be able to go for a swim.  In the photo above, taken during our ride on the Wheel, there is a turquoise pool surrounded by palm trees in the lower third of the picture.  All along the river side in this area of Brisbane (South Bank) there are man-made beaches with beautiful white sand and lots of pools, some of them up to 2m deep.  They are mostly for kids, but the water is nice and warm and there were lots of people around and in the water.  Just offsetting the water there are tons of shops and restaurants, so South Bank is almost like a little resort town, right in the city.  This is also at the edge of the campus for Gritffith University, probably a much nicer setting than the middle of Calgary or Regina or just about anywhere that any of us went to school!