THE (NOT SO) SUNSHINY COAST

This past weekend we went to he Sunshine Coast - North of us but still in South East Queensland on the Pacific Ocean coastline. We rented a car - a little Hyundai Micra - and it was standard. So picture driving down the wrong side of the road while working a manual transmission. Pretty cognitively taxing for a 'bear of very little brain.'

Anyway, the Glass House Mountains, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore are places we will need to go back to visit most certainly. We also went to see Dora the Explorer.

OOTB

Michelle and Ella spend that last week at the OOTB festival in Brisbane. It was an amazing Children's festival situated in the Cultural Center of South Bank. Although it was winter, the days were bright and sunny ~ top of 21. Pretty good time had by all. Here are a few simple photos of what we - or more so Ella-  got up to.

Ella can now say

Didgeridoo

WINTER

Winter has arrived and we being first time folks in Brisbane did not really pack all that well for the cool nights and ample rain. However, we are managing with the help of a few select purchases of rain boots from K-Mart, umbrellas that are left in my maths lab and layering. Amazing how it can go from being damp and chilly to t-shirt and sweating weather in the space of a few minutes. Here are some pictures of the shipment that arrived from Canada - Ella only has many things due to the kindness of others. Something we are working to help her recognize.

Next week is the OUT of THE BOX (OOTB) children's festival that should be pretty enjoyable.

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.