Festival

This weekend we went to Paniyiri, which is the largest Greek Festival in the Southern Hemisphere.  It was a weekend of food, music, dancing, fireworks and general Greek celebration.  We made a few jokes to each other about how, if it was truly Greek, the tickets would have been tax-free, but it was such a fun time that all economic grublings were put aside.  This was all about having fun and it was geared for all ages.  There were beer and wine pavillions for the adults, great food, rides for the kids and dancing for everyone in between.

Beautiful Day at Panyiri

The Panyiri Festival started in 1976 and while it is the largest Greek festival in Australia, Brisbane is not a centre of Mediterranean culture.  Melbourne is known for its streets of Greek food and is the largest Greek centre outside of Greece.  Brisbane may not have the biggest population but they certainly know how to throw a party!  We ate like kings for only $20 and sampled Greek and not so Greek wines for a very low price.  This was a great way to end the autumn and get ready for winter, but we have had what we would call in Canada an "Indian Summer", so we have now had a reverse trend in daytime temperatures.

Rides for all ages

Nothing says "fun" like a super creepy clown

Something we have really noticed is that daylight hours seem so much shorter.  Even if we had daylight savings we would now be off it, and it is amazing how cold it can feel even when it is 20ºC, but dark at 5:30pm.  It's not as bad at dark at 4pm like we get in Calgary in the winter, but it feels just as constricting.  Luckily we can forget our weather woes with the Queensland winter, and that is perfect for us!