Much of Saturday was relatively quiet and mundane, with all
of us pottering about at various tasks.
At one point I went with Pam to a nearby mall for a couple of things
followed by, in the same mall, a significant grocery shop to lay in supplies
for the next few days. However, the
primary activity of the daytime was planning, researching and booking our other
two major trips (Barrier Reef was booked long before I got here), one to Sydney
for straight tourism and the other to Melbourne for a combination of tourism
& a visit to friends of P & N (the female half of which was my late
sister Fliss’s best friend when we were all young & by extension a friend
of mine). Since all three trips include flights & two need
accommodation the credit cards are taking some serious hits! However, it has allowed us to more nearly
balance our expenses without person-to-person transfers which are proving to be
surprisingly difficult between currencies and incompatible banking systems.
The main event of the day was Brisbane’s annual fireworks
show. Faye had tickets, good for all of
us plus parking for one vehicle, from Rebecca’s school (a PTA fundraiser). Most of the hilltops and strategic high cliff
tops in and around Brisbane were appropriated in the very early days by the
Catholic hierarchy for churches, monasteries, convents and so on. This had once been a convent and is now All
Hallows school, one of Brisbane’s better ones and the reason for Faye’s
“conversion” to Catholicism. Its large
grassy quadrangle had a great view of fully half of the show & a bit of a
view of the other half, one half being from the bridge and the other from a
barge in the river hidden from us by one of Brisbane’s many high-rise
buildings.
While we waited there were a couple or three low-level
flyovers by the RAAF and rather more by assorted military helicopters, to the
delight of the children. The Storey
Bridge is always outlined by many lights, all of which are capable of many
colors and can be changed virtually instantaneously. They were an integral part of the show. The fireworks were, well, fireworks, bright
and noisy and very intense. Several of
the pictures I took actually came out fairly well and I have posted them on
Flickr.
Much of Sunday was consumed in general relaxation and the
consumption of a large English breakfast, a light lunch and a roast lamb dinner
all beautifully prepared by Pam. In the
morning Pam & I drove down to the coast road, walked a little to the local
farmer’s market and back to the car after a nice browse. At this time of year it is almost as large a
Columbus’ market but with less actual farm produce and more crafty stuff, as
well as second hand, especially books. I
bought nothing but Pam got a few veggies as well as some young plants to be
planted in her yard/garden.
In the afternoon we went over to the Brisbane River, near the
mouth, to an old military fort, originally built in the mid-1800’s as a defense
against potential Russian expansionism and actually kept in active use, with
some updates until well after WW II before being abandoned & allowed to rot
for a while. It is now being restored
(slowly) by the Fort Lytton Historical Association. On a quiet afternoon we were welcomed by a
very enthusiastic and talkative docent/guide, ex-military, and both saw and
learned a great deal more than we had planned.
They have a largely restored “disappearing gun”, oddly enough designed
by the same guy who designed Tower Bridge.
The guns could be aimed according to a spotter, pop up, fire, and pop
down again to disappear behind not just concrete but huge, disguising
earthworks. There is little record of
much, if any, firing in anger. We were
all glad to get back home for a cuppa tea!
As an observation, this area reminds me of my growing up
years insofar as little or nothing commercial operates 24 hours, and very
little indeed is open on Sundays. Very
strong labor unions, plus a just-finished governing run by the Labor Party
means no work is done either. It was
eerie to see a large docklands area absolutely and totally still.
Monday was a low-key family visit day of ordinary household
activities. We did slip out in the
afternoon for a bit of a shopping expedition, but Pam was a little frustrated
by “retired husband syndrome” or go-find-pay-return with general browsing not
allowed! Two “differences” struck
me. One was that instead of escalators
they tend to use angled “people movers”, no steps but just having your feet
tilted up or down, which are a bit unnerving when one is unused to them. The other was that because of a climate that
only varies from very warm to very hot standard clothing tends to be a very
much higher usage of shorts for men under working/shopping/whatever
circumstances, and all but older women favor short skirts or very abbreviated
short-shorts – nice if one enjoys looking at legs!
Another difference discussed as we headed home is the
popularity of “utes” (presumably derived from utility). They are particularly popular with “tradies”
(skilled tradesmen). At the larger end
these are like the US “Avalanche” - a
4-wheel drive vehicle with a large 4-door cab and an absurdly small pick-up
type bed, suitable only for maybe a couple of sheep or a large tool-box. The smaller versions resemble an unsuccessful
chevvy vehicle of the 70’s, a front half like a luxurious car and the back
(with no apparent separation) like a low, covered, pick-up bed. Sometimes the car part ends with a back and a
flatbed is substituted for the fancy covered usual back half.
Tuesday was “Zoo Day”.
We made a respectably early start and headed over to the far side of
Brisbane to what is officially called the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, a cross
between a small regular zoo and a petting zoo.
Since the day was warm and getting steadily hotter we were quite glad it
was not any larger, and in fact we made our escape at about the same time as
was going from warm to hot as well as crowded to very crowded since it is still
Spring break here.
I will be posting some pictures on Flickr but most are
rather disappointing. All the splendid
colorful birds were behind fine but heavy-gauge wire netting (to prevent the
stupid from partial loss of fingers!), the platypus habitat was very dark as
platypuses are nocturnal and must be tricked into thinking day is night and
vice versa, the heat and sun had sent a number of animals into dens, but it was
still very interesting for me. On the
other hand, despite their tendency towards somnolence, the koalas were very
accessible (if a bit smelly), and a large grassy area was effectively a petting
zoo for Grey (and female Red) Kangaroos with tame (but not pettable) Emus. It was great to see these birds and animals
in person even if my pictures are very so-so.
Since for various reasons none
of us had had adequate sleep in the previous 24 hours the post-lunch period saw
a lot of human somnolence for a while.
Later Pam went out for yet another grocery shop while Nick & I
pottered about separately.
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