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!

Wintry blast

Even though we are still one month away from the official start of winter, we have had a very cool and unwelcome bit of weather.  Although it won't garner us too much sympathy, last week we had a low of 12C overnight and the daytime high has been only around 25C.  From Friday evening to Sunday morning it rained constantly, resulting in 115mm in two days, more rain than the 50ish mm we had cumulative all month!

Late fall/early winter in Brisbane...it seems pleasant, but we can't take a picture of the humidity!

It's not just cold for us.  The tropical creatures are obviously finding it a little hard to take, too.  On Thursday night JB was arranging her pillows before getting into bed, when something jumped off the pillows and onto the bed...it was a gecko!  After a reasonable amount of shrieking, JB was able to tell JT what the problem was.  Caretaker that he is, he promptly went for the weapon of choice, the vacuum cleaner!  It was tricky work and we felt pretty bad about it, but we sucked that cheeky devil up.  Friday night when we got home from work, JT checked to see if the little guy was actually alive and he was!  We took the vacuum cannister outside, opened it up, and the gecko shot out of there like a dusty bolt of lightning.  Hopefully he tells his friends: stay out of our bed!

Day at the Races

Horse racing is huge in Australia.  The season starts in early autumn and runs through to the end of spring.  The biggest race is the Melbourne Cup at the beginning of November, but there are races at every track all through the season.  The races are spaced out at about 40 minutes and there is only one race nationwide at any time and televised, so it is possible to see every race that is run.  Even at the race track the races from all over the country are shown on big screen tvs.

We went to the Eagle Farms racetrack in Brisbane to catch a day of racing in support of a local hospital.  Clearly this was a much bigger deal than both the dog races that we watched last year and the piglet races we saw on Australia Day!  Although it is still early season, there were plenty of people there dressed up in proper race attire, including hats for the ladies and ties for the men.  We wore casual clothes and so we couldn't get into the member's area, which has a fairly strict dress code.

Parade of horses

The entire day is all about horse racing.  Before each race the horses are lead around a small track so that all punters can have a look before placing their bets.  We bet on every race and JT managed to win one bet through careful reading of the program and the background of each horse, while JB managed to lose both of her bets by basing the pick on the horse's name (General Purple and Geological...both irresistable!)

This was a really great way to spend a Saturday.  The crowds were manageable and the day is really well organized.  In addition to all of the electronic betting they also have betting houses with vertical boards listing the horse's name and odds.  If the odds change, the person at the board turns a little crank until the correct numbers come up.  It is very old-fashioned and charming.

An exciting finish

We keep expecting the cooler fall weather to hit any day now, but so far we have been really lucky.  We are in another beautiful weekend here, while Sydney is recovering from more wind, rain and floods.  We're planning another trip there soon, so we hope things settle down!

Mid-April

April 15 has been significant for us over the past two years.  In 2010 we left on a two month trip to Europe, fulfilling a long held dream for both of us.  It was truly the trip of a lifetime and we saw the initial phases of the Euro zone crisis, with massive protests in Greece, the global flight crisis from the eruption of the Icelandic volcano (Eyjafallajokuls...or something like that) and we made the decision to move to Australia.  On April 15 2011 we closed the deal to sell our house in Calgary, closing out a pressure filled 9 stressful months with realtors, house showings and all the maintenance that had to be done while we were so far away.  Looking back and comparing our experience to the Canadian expats that we know here who have held onto their houses and rented them out, we don't regret selling our house in Calgary.  As bad are realtors are to deal with, renters are far worse!  (We are the best tenants ever, of course, but we're the exception.)

This year we are trying to get back to normal after our harrowing trip back to Canada for a funeral, then coming back to Brisbane and flying to Melbourne only 5 days later.  This week and weekend we have really tried to just relax and enjoy some down time.  We are in the midst of a nice run of public holidays.  We have a four day weekend for Easter last week, then we get April 25 off for Anzac Day, then May 7 for Labour Day.  The multiple breaks so close together will really help us get some much needed rest.

University of Queensland campus, St. Lucia

Now that it is getting a bit cooler, we have been able to get out for some nice walks that take us a bit further out of our neighbourhood.  Recently we went to the University of Queensland campus in St Lucia, a suburb that is about an hour's walk south-ish of our suburb (Milton).  The campus is very nicely laid out and has a beautiful quadrangle, called the Great Court, surrounded by a passageway leading to the different schools (or colleges) that are part of the university.  

Passageway around the Great Court

Carved column

The passageway is supported by intricately carved sandstone columns and we easily could have spent most of the day examining the carvings.  We will definitely go back for a second look and to take the pathway along the river.  It is probably a nice winter walk for us...it is amazing that we now consider anything below 22ºC to be a brisk winter day!

Easter Weekend

Here in Australia we have both Good Friday and Easter Monday off, giving us a four day weekend.  Even though we just returned from a last minute trip to Canada, we had already booked and paid for a three day weekend in Melbourne.  This was a trip that was organized by some work friends based in Adelaide, so that we could see some "real" footy (Aussie Rules Football) in the place where it all got started.

We arrived on Thursday to a beautiful afternoon, 30C and no wind.  As we had just been in Melbourne for a week at the beginning of February, we didn't have any tourist needs to fill so we found a nice wine bar by the river and just people-watched.  It was a great way to spend a lazy afternoon and we followed it up with a fantastic little restaurant down one of Melbourne's many laneways.

A beautiful day in Southbank, Melbourne

Most things were closed on Good Friday, but we managed to find a river cruise that took us almost to the mouth of the harbour and it was a really great day to walk around the city and look at all the fantastic architecture.  Most people head for the beach on long weekends, so it is a fantastic time to stay in the city, or go to a new one, for those who like the urban experience.

The Bumblebee Building?...We really have no idea, we just like how it looks.

Saturday we went to the footy match and it really was the best footy game we have seen.  Our local team isn't playing that well right now and the crowds are no where near as boisterous as what we experienced at Etihad Stadium.  The game was really exciting and the crowd was in on every play.  Even without knowing all the rules we got completely swept up in cheering.  Our only complaint is that are now unable to tolerate any temperature below 25C.  It was 17C inside the stadium and we were absolutely freezing!  We thought we were bundled up enough, but we were cowering behind cover at half time and really needed a good pep talk to go back to our seats for the second half of the game. 

Part of the crowd heading to Etihad

We finished off the weekend with a trip to a great Italian restaurant and headed back to Brisbane on Sunday morning.  This was our second trip to Melbourne and we still haven't even scratched the surface for all the great restaurants that are there.  It would be pretty easy to fly there once a month just for dinner...if only we didn't have to work for a living!


It is great to have a weekend away but, given how much we have travelled in the last three weeks, we are pretty happy to spend the next few weekends at home.

Quick Trip

We have just returned from an emergency trip to Canada.  We had a phone call early morning on March 19 and flew out two days later, returning on Friday March 30.  We certainly noticed the difficulty of the time difference and distance between Australia and Canada when we were in a hurry to get to Calgary.  It was a 29 hour trip door to door from Brisbane to Calgary, a longer trip than normal because we had a couple of long layovers once we go to the US.  We were lucky to get seats on the same flights however, so we really can't complain.  On the way back we moved a couple of flights and spent one night and a day in San Franciso, rather than having a 9 hour layover.  It was a much better trip back.
This was our first trip time back in Calgary since moving to Australia.  We were assured by everyone that they were having the nicest winter in years, and what did we get?  Six days of snow and freezing weather, and not a hint of blue sky the entire time!   It was good to have the comfort of familiarity at such a tough time and it was nice to see that the Bow Building is now done, although we missed the opening of the Peace Bridge.  We'll check it out on our next trip back.

Finish Bow Building (and grey sky) in Calgary

Our stop in San Francisco was our fourth visit to the city.  We always like San Franciso and this trip reinforced that, although we actually had a hobo throw rocks at us and another couple!   We have never seen anything like that on our previous trips and hopefully we never see it again.

Coit Tower (and lightly less grey sky) in San Francisco

Tomorrow is back to work and normal routine.  JB's radio interview with the CBC aired while we were in Calgary, so she basked in the short-lived celebrity status (not even 15 minutes of fame for her!) for as long as possible.

The Manly Harbour (with a pretty blue sky) east of Brisbane