Relaxed Weekend in Brisbane

The big plan for this weekend was the Greek Festival - 37 years and still going strong. We even got a preview on the Queen Street Mall Friday night where Ella and Michelle partook in a little Greek dancing.

Ella and Michelle with ?Zorba

This actually might have been the highlight of the festival as when the real things started it turned out to be mostly Greek food (cooked meat) and mostly rides - kind of a PNE type experience without the benefit of Squire Barnes or Tamara Taggart. There was to be some Greek Cultural experiences but they did not quite meet our schedule.

However we did spend some time in the West End of Brisbane exploring many of the shops and street vendors. This is certainly a place that we will return to many times over our stay here.

Here are a few photos of our West End afternoon.

Gold Coast (or as Ella calls it the "Train Beach")

We took the train and then the train and then the bus to Surfers Paradise last weekend (seven hours in total travel door to door). Could have flown to Singapore in the same time period - that will come later. We selected a fabulous day - clear, sunny, warm but not too hot and we had lost of fun. Discovered that Ella enjoys the water and actually trying to extricate her from the place was a challenge. 

Michelle relived old times as she ponder the last time she was there traveling around Auz before grad school.

Todd just enjoyed the fact that Michelle and Ella were with him in Australia.

Ella with her Japanese fans in the background - she is now all over facebook.

On the train to the beach

563 BC

Gautama Buddha, Date of birth

8th day of the 4th month in the Chinese lunar calendar

So maybe we could do some maths to determine just how old Gautama is (2012 + 563 = 2575). Wow! I did not see that information being offered at the celebration but we had lots of fun nonetheless.  The South Bank of the Brisbane River is wonderful for walking and exploring. There were some fireworks and then the cleansing of the Buddha - in all a pretty positive and productive evening.  

Friends

I have met many wonderful people in Brisbane since arriving. A couple of then - names withheld due to privacy issues - offered a welcome gift for Michell end Ella. The iconic food stuffs of Australia. The experience would not be complete without sampling ~ or so I am lead to believe. So far the Weet-Bix have been consumed - mmmmm good (a bit dry). Will keep you posted on the stimulation of my palate.