Fancy Town

Even though there is continual talk of the recession here, Brisbane shows very few signs of an economic downturn.  The interest rates have just been lowered and consumer activity is increasing nicely just ahead of the gift-buying season.  There are high end stores here such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and, as of last week, a Chanel store!  They have a hand bag exclusive to the Brisbane store that retails for ~$3,500 and one very special hand bag that retails for $34,000!  We stopped for a look around (looking, not touching and definitely NOT buying!) and saw all the pretty things up for grabs.  Sadly even the thongs are out of our price range, but it was nice to go in.

Brand new Chanel store on Queen St Mall

There have also been a couple of new restaurants opened recently, both with a nice aspect overlooking the river.  They were under construction when we first moved here in September 2010 and probably would have opened in February or March but, as they are right on the river, they were completely decimated by the flooding in January.   It is now ten months later and we have nice new places to sit on a Saturday afternoon and watch the world on the water go by.  It's really great to see all the effort going in to retail and services in city.  No accepting the GFC here!

The Kookaburra Queen, as seen from the deck at The Cove wine bar

We can't believe how quickly the end of the year is approaching.  It is Christmas party season so we are busy with socializing and work functions, plus we are going to a town just south of Byron Bay next week, followed by Noosa two weeks later.  Then we have Christmas Day here and leave for a trip to Sydney over the Christmas/New Year's break.  It might almost feel good to get back to work in January just so we can get some rest!