Ronda, Spain, Spanish, Themes, and Everything Else

I'm looking at the stats for the Rugby World Cup, and with only six teams left, Fiji are looking like they might actually have a chance. With the shock exit of Australia and New Zealand, I must say I'm sorely tempted to place a fresh round of bets in time for the remaining quarter final games later today.

South Africa are a strong team, and I think they'll get the win against Fiji, who I think just lack the discipline needed to get past the South African backs. But on the other hand, South Africa have a habit of going into meltdown just when the pressure starts. Read More

I don't have time to writeup a longer entry about the last few days in Brisbane, but for those who are interested check out my Brisbane set

This week in Brisbane has been interesting, the city has changed so much in the last couple of years, the biggest change has been in the people. Apparently several thousand new residents are moving in every month from Sydney, Melbourne and Asia. In fact the old Brisbane which seemed like a big country town has been replaced by a cosmopolitan city where almost every language or skin color seems to be represented.

The number of tourists has jumped substantially, we went upto Mt Coot-tha the other day and the carpark must have had about 10 coaches of tourists. And big groups as well, at least five of the coaches were Korean tourists. The interesting thing about all the changes that are happening is that we love it and hate it.

We hate the fact that the city is becoming a big city where people are less tolerant of each other, where traffic is worse, where there are more apartment blocks etc. But we love the new cultures that are calling Brisbane home. New restaurants, interesting people to look at, new fashions, and because we are effectively tourists in our own town, we also get great conversations with people we would never usually get the opportunity to talk to.

Mt Coot-tha, which is a hill overlooking the city on the northern side of the river hasn't changed. The day was overcast and smog filled the air around the city so our photographs were a bit disappointing. We borrowed a car to get there so we aren't able to go back while we're here, but Ceejay has been able to get some nice shots of the city, she even had her first night shoot.

The photos I've uploaded today were taken in South Bank, which is parkland across the river from the city. It used to be one of our favorite spots to meet friends for lunch. The southern end has a small maritime museum, while the northern end is where the cultural centre is. The cultural centre is where I've been coming to get my net access.

The small maritime museum used to be the old dry-docks at South Bank but I don't think they needed it for that anymore so it was sitting around looking like an eyesore and somebody came up the the idea of turning it into this museum. A couple of years ago a pedestrian bridge between the university and the museum was built, that's where I got some of my best shots from, looking down onto the museum courtyard.

The arbour at South Bank is also well worth seeing, they built a steel skeleton laced with wires and planted Bougainvillea's all along the trellis. It really does look beautiful.

I've also added some photos of suburban streets to show you guys what the inner suburbs of Brisbane look like. Enjoy!

Yesterday we caught up with a friend for a BBQ on the Boardwalk in Brisbane. Quite a few of the parks around Brisbane have free gas BBQ's, simply press a button, wait a few seconds for the plate to warm up then start cooking. What a day, we found a covered table with benches right next to a BBQ, and it was right on the river bank, the wash from the ferries was rippling against the rocks below us. The sky had a few puffs of white clouds, and the cliffs behind us were reflecting the sun with the most amazing colors.

I've uploaded some photos to my flickr account, check out the panorama of the river taken from the Cliff's Boardwalk, which looks out over South Brisbane, then pans across to the city Botanic Gardens, and finishes over the city skyline.

I've also posted a picture of the citycat, which is one of the two types of ferry that run the length of the river from the University of Queensland down to Brett's Wharf. Ceejay had never been on the citycat, even though she's Brisbane born and bred, I guess that's the danger of relying on a car too much.

The weather is still playing havoc with our bodies, we were OK yesterday, but by late afternoon we were exhausted. The temperature was only 30℃ but we were pretty much out in the sun all day with very little protection apart from sunscreen. I think I need to buy a hat.

We saw some kayakers, they were a bunch of Japanese students, the person in the red kayak was an instructor, I waved hello when they came close enough, seemed like a friendly bunch, they all wanted their pictures taken. Apparently the water was a bit salty yesterday, a few of the kayakers weren't very balanced and went for a swim, and none of them seemed to like the taste of the river, and every one of them seemed eager to get back into their kayak. We thought they were a bit nervous about the sharks, but they're harmless, they only eat the fish.

Its been a little quiet on this blog for a week or so, we finally got the house sold and have made our way back to Brisbane in Australia. The plan is to get organised from here, catch up with friends and family who we haven't seen for a couple of years, and then get ourselves over to Europe.

I won't bore you all with the details of the horrible flight, or long queues at passport control, but I will tell you about Brisbane. The city has changed a bit since we were last here, several new buildings in the CBD have changed the skyline, and a lot more apartment blocks in places where there used to be houses.

The weather shocked us getting off the plane, we had been used to about 17-18℃ with low humidity, but Brisbane is warmer, above 30℃ degrees every day with humidity up around 98%. We are not coping with the change.

We got ourselves into a short stay apartment in the city with air conditioning which lets us sleep at night, and after we've done all the paperwork like sorting out bank accounts, renewing passports etc then we'll be ready to book flights to Europe. Still not sure when we'll arrive, although my horoscope says late March to mid April is when I'll be meeting a whole bunch of 'new and exciting friends'. At least that's what Ceejay read in her latest woman's magazine so it must be true :grin:

Next week we plan to be tourists in our home town, taking snapshots around the river and CBD, I want to shoot some video on one of the citycats (catamaran ferries that run the length of the Brisbane river. Might even upload it to YouTube - which I can do now, we each bought Powerbook Pro's, so as long as I can get a wifi connection - beauty, the State library in Brisbane has several hotzones, so I'm online, yay!

If any of my readers want to see any specific photos of things around Brisbane, now would be a good time to make a comment. Can't promise anything, but I'll make an effort if we're able to.

We'll be staying with friends about 50km south of Brisbane the week after next, so should have some time to relax although I promised them I'd help with some renovations around the house so maybe not. We won't have broadband there, but they do have a dialup connection on their own PC so should be able to update the blog a bit more. Where they live is surrounded by native bush, which is very different from anything in Europe so I'll post some images for you guys. We've been told we might even get some photos of the native birds if we're patient.