Long weekend

One of the many wonderful things about living in Australia is that we get four days off at Easter!  And since autumn in Brisbane is a lot like summer in Brisbane, it means we get four days to enjoy the sun and be outside.

As we have gone away for the past two years, we decided to spend the Easter weekend at home.  We used to spend most long weekends in the city when we lived in Calgary, as it was usually uncrowded and relaxed.  It was pretty much the same here.  Most people headed for the coast, leaving those of us who stayed with plenty of open spaces and lots of choice seats in restaurants!

Beautiful River View

Quiet Day on the Brisbane River

We spent part of Good Friday in the Southbank suburb, not in the pools but at a restaurant nearby with a nice view of the river.  It was pretty hot so we really needed a sit-down after the long walk.  We have been taking the train so much lately that we have forgotten how hot it can really feel in the sun at 30+C with humidity in the 85% range.  In other words, it was melting!  We had good walks on Saturday and Monday too, but, this being the subtropics, it was bucketing on Sunday and there were weather warnings going on all day.  We didn't get hit too badly, but the warnings made us pretty wary about going out on Sunday evening.

We watched this guy try to waterski for about 5 minutes and he never did stand up...still not a bad way to spend the day

A lovely bridge in West End

We probably wouldn't stick around every long weekend, but it was really nice not to worry about fighting traffic or rushing home late Monday to get to work on Tuesday.  The nicest part is that we are having a four day weekend in Sydney in just a couple of weeks, so we are getting away on our own terms!