See 2016 Blog

See 2016 blog here

Last day in Brisbane and the flight home - Tuesday 20 October

After a last night at Sheila's very kind hospitality, we took a last ferry into the CBD.

We went to the Queensland Uni which has a modern art gallery. Our favourite exhibit was a dark square with legend "The content of this painting is invisible ..."

The River Brisbane runs directly outside the converted wool warehouse where Sheila's flat is.  A wander along the river walkway takes you to the below statue, apparently representing the riches earned by wool merchants.

So farewell Brisbane and very many thanks to Sheila for putting us up.  
It was a nice flight home over chilly Russia

Birthday treat : weekend trip to New Zealand - Thursday 15 to Monday 19 October

Our dear friends, Morag and Pete, and their twins Lexie and Bella, have now finished renovation works on their magnificent homestead in Hanmer Springs,.

Duncan and Pete did the rounds of the estate

which was evidently of interest to the sheep
 

while I focussed on cuddles and story-telling

and, pirates being the game du jour, occasionally walking the plank

The house has ponds in the grounds

on which there were a few turns, Pete doing the hard yards

and I wish I could show you 15 seconds after this shot...

when Duncan nearly did a double backflip off the back of the boat as Pete got out, but I was laughing so hard that I cut straight to this...

As well as mirth on the water, there was lots at mealtimes

On Saturday, M&P treated us to a birthday outing - wine tastings and a magnificent lunch

and, while we were away, the girls were hard at work with Danielle, their nanny, making a chocolate cake with hand-decorated icing which was unveiled on Sunday

to much excitement 

And, in the evening, a slap-up dinner in the library - with party hats, naturally

Morag and Pete kindly returned us to Christchurch airport on Monday lunchtime for the flight back to Brisbane, over the coast, the Southern Alps...

and back over the river Brisbane

Brisbane - Wednesday 14 October

A final day this week in Brisbane and a river trip to the Power House, a renovated power station dating from 1928 when it powered the trams. It was decommissioned in 1971 and reopened as an arts and cultural centre in 2000.

It has a funky vibe, selling local students' art (I don't think the graffiti was for sale)

and we walked back through the park where the jacaranda was in full bloom

and moved on to the Old Government House, which dates from the birth of the new state of Queensland in 1859 when it was separated out of New South Wales; Queensland’s first Governor, Sir George Bowen, took up residence in May 1862 and apparently called it “handsome” and “beautifully situated”. He was the first of eleven governors to live here over its 48 years of service as a vice-regal residence.

It's very fine inside, although most rooms are empty.

After lunch, we took a further ferry past the Brisbane wheel

to the Science museum where live some very fine green pythons

 

Maritime Museum - Tuesday 13 October

Continuing the Brisbane logo theme... here we are on the Hopper ferry seats...

en route to the Maritime Museum

where the star for us was tiny little "Happy II"

one of the smallest boats to sail across the Pacific Ocean.  At 13ft long, she was the second attempt by owner, Howard Wayne Smith, to circumnavigate the world. He left the East US coast on Happy I, went through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific until he was wrecked on a reef off New Caledonia. Undeterred, Smith picked up the pieces of Happy I to build Happy II and continued on his circumnavigation; eventually he made landfall in Queensland but he wasn't greeted with open arms as he didn't have a visa and Australian Customs even imposed a $2k bond on the boat to cover import duties! Smith was given a short tourist visa but had no money to pay the bond, and eventually was deported, forfeiting Happy II, which he donated to the Museum.

A day of museums in Brisbane - Monday 12 October

As you'd expect, the observation platform (at 76 metres) to the City Hall clocktower gives decent views

 

and inside is the excellent Museum of Brisbane, with an exhibition by William Bustard whose stained glass window is behind.

After which, we walked across the William Jolly bridge and picnicked

and then went into the State Library, and then the Queensland Museum... whew.

Brisbane Open House (Part 2) - Sunday 11 October

Being Sunday, the day started more slowly and with a fry-up... Once we'd digested a little, it was into town again for Day 2 of the Open House.

We'd luckily inherited some timed tickets for the Old Windmill, oldest building in Queensland, built by convicts in 1828.  Apparently the windmill sails turned out to be completely useless so it was just as well that they'd rigged up a treadmill - bad news for the convicts who spent 16-hour shifts on it...

It's more recently been the first home of the Museum of Queensland, was then a signal tower, weather observatory, and, during the 1930s and 1940s, was the venue for pioneer television broadcasting (the first public TV transmission in Australia was made from there in 1934).