Winter

Winter arrived in Australia on the first of June and once again we were reminded of just how lucky we are to be living here.  Other cities have some fairly miserable winter weather (not miserable by Canadian standards, but certainly not pleasant) but it is one of the nicest times of the year in Brisbane.  The weather is dry (humidity less than 85%, so plenty of good hair days!) and the highs are still in the 20s.  Depending on how tough you are, this can still be shorts weather.  It will get cooler as we hit mid-July, but it is still perfect for sitting in one of the many open-air lounges near our house and enjoying a glass or two of wine.

Bright blue sky for the first day of winter

View from our neighbourhood outdoor lounge

We have realized that we have one long weekend in June, then one in mid August and nothing in between.  We have decided to go to Melbourne in August for a weekend that is both sporty and artsy.  We will go to an AFL game at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the mecca of AFL in Australia) and then see a Monet exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria...something from each end of the spectrum!

The nice thing about winter this year is that it means we only have another 3 months left in the Federal Election campaign, which was announced in January.  Nine months is a very long time to listen to campaign speeches but someone has introduced the "Truth-o-meter", which is a dial display that is shown after a political speech.  So far almost every reading has been "Liar"!  As much as all of us have had it with campaign speeches, we are sure the politicians are getting pretty tired of it too...how many babies can one person kiss?