We have really enjoyed our week off from work between Christmas and New Year's. The weather has been quite bad and we know the stories about the floods in Queensland have made the news all over the world. We haven't seen floods in our part of Brisbane, but we have certainly seen enough rain...almost 500mm in December, including one day when we had more than 80mm of rain!
We got completely soaked on December 26 and 27, but then things started to get a bit nicer and we were able to take a day trip to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. It was a beautiful day and well worth the hour long train and bus ride. A lot of people commute from the Gold Coast to Brisbane everyday, but that seems a bit far.
On New Year's Eve day we went to the beach that is in Brisbane, in the Southbank area. This is a family beach and swimming area that was created to give Brisbane a beach right in the city. Unlike other Australian cities that are built on the coast, Brisbane does not have a city beach. There are plenty of beaches that are nearby, but nothing right in the city. This is a terrific area with the beach and pools, shopping, cafes and constant street fairs. For New Year's Eve the entire area was fenced in to create a non-alcohol, family friendly zone. Obviously we didn't stick around too long after we found that out!
Yesterday we went to the Brisbane International Tennis tournament for the opening day's matches. It was amazing to see how fast the players move and how hard they hit the ball. A really different experience from seeing a match on televison. This is considered a warmup event to the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month.
The highlight (or at least one of the highlights) of our time off was the possum that we saw when we came home on New Year's Eve. Possums are a little shy, but also curious. We were able to get a photo of this guy, with a flash, and he even hung around for a second shot. We think he eventually ran away, not because he was scared, but because we didn't feed him!
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