Long live the Queen!

This week Queen Elizabeth II made her 16th visit to Australia as reigning monarch.  Australia has a rather strong republican movement but they were no where in sight this week, as thousands of people gathered for a view of her where ever the Queen went.

The Queen was in Brisbane on Monday for a 4 hour visit.  She met with flood victims and unveiled a new rainforest garden.  People lined up for hours just to catch a glimpse of her and we were able to see the crowds from our office.  Like a good colonial, JB went down to the nearest bridge with some co-workers to watch the Queen's ship dock at Southbank. 

Security Sea-doos ahead of her arrival

The Queen's ship docking

JB was a little too far back to really be able to see her, but there was no doubt when the Queen stepped onto the dock as the crowd went completely wild!  The cheers could be heard well on the other side of the river, so there is no doubting the support she has here.   Later in the week there was a "mooning" incident, so maybe not quite everyone was celebrating her arrival the same way.

There were numerous headlines and stories about this being her farewell visit and how this is the last opportunity to see her.  She is a rather spry 85 and Phillip is an extremely well kept 90.  Her mother lived to be 101, so the Queen could well have another 20 years on the throne.  We hope the next time she's here she reads the articles from this year out loud and proudly declares herself to be still alive.  And then Phillip can clock the guy who mooned them. 

Spring

Bougainvillea walkway

Spring is the air in Brisbane, but we still aren't quite accustomed to all of the signs of the season.  In Canada we have melting snow, trees that seem to turn green overnight and all kinds of flowers and perennials that poke their heads out of the soil once it starts to thaw.  Here, since it doesn't freeze and the native trees don't drop their leaves, we need to work a little harder to see the signs of the season.

All along the Southbank suburb is a walkway borderd by a wire trellis.  Bougainvillea line the trellis and they are in bloom the entire year.  We noticed yesterday, though, that the blooms definitely have more punch than they did a month ago.  The entire walkway is slowly turning magenta and it will be completely flowered in by the end of summer.

Oooohhhhh...pretty

The one sign that seems the most "Canadian" (well, from a temperate zone) to us is seeing the Jacaranda trees go into bloom.  Jacarandas are not native to Australia and they drop their leaves for the winter.  Beginning in early spring they bloom beautiful purple flowers.  These are quite large trees, up to 30m, and they line the river as well as feature as a prominent tree in yards and parks.  Looking out over the city they appear as great purple clouds.  They really are a wonderful sign of spring and a fantastic import from South America and the Carribean.  We can only imagine how much the squirrels would love leaping around in these!

Jacarandas along the Brisbane River

Jacaranda "clouds"

Nature's Fury

We have been inundated by nature these past couple of weeks.  We have had crazy winds that have made it hard to walk, sharks in golf course water hazards (giving hazards a whole new and meaningful definition) and almost 50mm of rain in the past 3 days.   For all of this, nothing compares to the spider that we found in our bedroom the other night.
We had a spate of cool nights recently and have been sleeping with the window open.  Like most Australian homes we don't have screens in the windows, so we only had the window open a crack, but obviously it was enough.  We went upstairs to get ready for bed and there it was, a gigantic golden orb weaver.  It was easily the size of an adult's hand (legs span) and it did not go down without a fight!  We had a can of bug killer that can drop a cockroach in it's tracks, but a 10 second shot barely stopped this monster.  All it did was knock the spider off the wall...and directly onto our bed!  Finally after 10 horrifying minutes of spraying and a well aimed vacuum nozzle, the spider was gone.  It was bad enough to find it in the bedroom but we couldn't help but ask ourselves: how long was it there and it is the only one?  The bug spray now resides on our bedside table.

Adelaide

Adelaide

After spending a week in Cairns and Port Douglas, JB had one day at home before heading off to Adelaide for a three day work conference.  It was a whirl-wind tour, but well worth the trip.

Adelaide is a very pretty city, with wide streets and low buildings.  The office tower on the left hand side of the picture (above) is one of the taller buildings in the city.  It seems like a very small town compared to Brisbane, although it has about 1.2 million people, making it about the size of Calgary.  Unfortunately there was no chance to visit the Barossa or any other wine regions, as the entire three days were taken up with work.  It will be worth paying another visit for a holiday, or at least getting in a weekend before or after a work trip.

River park, outside of the convention centre

Adelaide is unique in Australia as it is the only city that was created as the centre of a "free" state, meaning this is not a city that was founded to be settled by convicts or victims of transport.  It is very well planned and laid out.  The city centre is nicely laid out and everything is within a square mile plan.  There are numerous fine restaurants and it has a great reputation for all things food and wine related.

We spent some of the weekend watching sports, as it was almost impossible to completely avoid.  The Australian Rules Football League and the Rubgy League both have their grand finals this weekend.  This is also the final weekend of regular play in the World Cup of Rugby.  (This is the league in which Mike Tindall, recently wed to Zara Phillips aka grand-daughter of the Queen, plays.)  We joined many other Canadians to watch Team Canada take on the New Zealand All Blacks, arguably the best team in the world.  We may not have won the game, but by far our team has the best beards!

Read all about it here:  http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/09/16/adam-kleebergers-beard-gets-plenty-of-attention-at-the-rugby-world-cup/