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!

Brisbane Botanic Gardens

Whenever we travel we like to check out gardens.  For whatever reason, we had never really spent any time in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.  We have really missed out on a lovely space within the city and will be sure to spend more time there.

Hibiscus Shrubs

The city botanic garden is one of the oldest in Australia.  It was the original site of the gardens used by convicts to grow vegetables but it was changed to a botanic garden in 1855.  Many of the now iconic imported trees of Australia (Jacaranda, Poinciana) and the native species (fig trees, bunya pines) were showcased here for early residents.  This is a tropical garden, without the formal areas that we saw in the Sydney and Melbourne botanic gardens.  There are lovely pathways through the park and along the river, making it easy to forget that one is actually right in the middle of the city.  There are venues for weddings, picnics and even an amphitheatre (where we saw kd lang perform in November).

Brisbane City Gardens

River Pathway

One of the more unique features is the Mangrove Riverwalk.  This is a boardwalk that stretches out into the riverbank and winds through a mangrove swamp, allowing for a closeup view of the trees, birds and wildlife that make a home here.  We were a little worried that there would be a stagnant smell, but it is constantly refreshed by flowing river water and tidal influx, so has a really fresh smell to it.  We will definitely be checking out all the gardens in Brisbane after seeing this!

Mangrove Boardwalk

Transformation

Even though we are now 16 months out from the floods that hit in January 2011, there are still some businesses that haven't opened.  There are a few that have just closed their doors forever, but some are still undergoing renovations.  All establishments need to be certified as moisture and contaminant free before being allowed to start renovations, so there have been lots of delays while waiting for buildings to dry out, get inspected and get the okay to start rebuilding.  For heritage buildings, the wait is even longer as there are a number of regulations for renovating older buildings.

The Regatta Hotel has occupied the same site on the east side of the Brisbane River since it opened in 1874, in what is now Toowong.  The lobby of the hotel (it is now only a pub but is still called a hotel) is lined with photos dating back to the first little building on this site.  The pub has grown over the years and is now a lovely Queenslander style building, with metal lacework and wide verandahs.  Even though the building has changed and evolved over time there is one constant in many of the photographs: a flood. 

The Regatta Hotel

Flood levels over the years, 2011 not yet posted.  We think it will be near the fluted tops of the columns



Photo inside the pub of the 1974 flood...note that the photo is water damaged!

The Regatta was hard hit again by the 2011 flood.  The upper level of the pub opened within just a couple of weeks of the flood, but the ground level opened only a few weeks ago.  Whenever we went to the pub for a drink we would peak through the window that had been cut in the stairway to check out the progress.  For the longest time, all we could see was a skeleton of a building, with only floor joists open to the foundation.  We really weren't too sure that anything was happening at all.  Boy, were we wrong!  The people in charge obviously know how to take advantage having to rip everything out of building and start over from scratch.  The new lounge is beautiful and modern, and always crowded.  It is great to see that the pub is back.  The boatshed restaurant is still not open, but we can't wait to see how it turns out.  If the transformation of the lounge is anything to go by, it will be well worth the wait!

During renovations

The Regatta transformed!