Winter roses 

The roses still think it's summer time here in Queensland. The rosebushes are pushing out new buds and I'm fighting the pesky sap sucking aphids....don't they know it's winter time! 

Loving all the tropical foliage, the mango tree flowers above smell divine!

The possums here are very small and much 'cuter' than the New Zealand opossum, unfortunately the poor critter below touched one wire too many and met a shocking end :(

Another jaunt into the city and exploring the riverside environs. You can jump on the free  little City Hopper river boats and visit a range of locations along the riverside.  From the South Bank public gardens and entertainment  options  to the Felons Brewery, where you can sit alongside the river tasting a range of locally brewed ales as you watch the river water traffic - the options are endless.  You can walk the extensive river paths, kayak, paddle board, hire jet skies or take a lunch/dinner river cruise -  lots of options for the energetic or for those wanting to take it more leisurely. 

We are loving the Australian names, Felon's Brewery is named after four felons who in 1823, on their way to Illawarra from Sydney, were blown off course and found themselves lost at sea. Legend goes after the being at the mercy to wild conditions the felons ended up shipwrecked on Moreton Island and made their way to Brisbane with a thirst..... for ale. The rest is history, or so they say.

The Story Bridge pictured above  is a heritage-listed steel cantilever bridge and it's a gorgeous structure that is lit up at night.  Fun fact is that it is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia and it only takes 2 hours to climb the bridge - we admired the structure from the City Hopper. Another fun fact is the Sydney Harbour bridge is made from British steel while the fabulous Story Bridge is made almost entirely from local material -  Aussie made!  Brisbane City has some spectacular old buildings that are being restored and sit cheek by jowl with the new city skyscrapers and they hold their own with dignity. 

Brisbane is a melting pot of cultures and there is any number of restaurants to tempt you. We opted for a well known city dumpling institution and we weren't disappointed. You can watch the dimsum and dumplings being hand rolled front of house.

  

Every city we visit we always make a beeline for the local botanical gardens and the Brisbane Botanical Gardens are right on the edge of the CBD so they are super accessible. On Sunday's they have a local market in the gardens with music and chilled vibes to be enjoyed by old and young alike, deffo worth a visit.

Have I banged on enough about the winter weather here? Another stunning weekend and we hit the northern beaches of Woody Point, via Humpybong, Margate and Scarborough. They were all beautiful and you can walk [approx. 10k's] from Woodypoint along the beach path to Scarborough with plenty of café and refreshments stops available on the promenade.

The Scarborough Sunday market is a local institution with music, crafts, fresh veg and homemade potions and lotions to tempt you. All along the beach promenade there are picnic areas, shaded tables and a lovely pier to wander along.

For those not brave enough to swim in the sea there is a fantastic free public sea salt pool right alongside the shore with the security of life guards. Lovely!

 We have been walking the local neighbourhood and getting to know the property market and we found this beauty - what a view! 

 Winter walks in sunny Queensland

Another super week getting to know the Redlands Coast and loving the winter weather here. Temps haven't dropped below 22degrees during the day, brilliant sunshine during the day, cool nights - perfect.  

We explored the Tingalpa Creek Reserve, about 5 minutes from where we are staying. Again the facilities for the community are so good with covered fishing platforms and clearly marked paths. We watched a young girl fishing with her dad. It was great to see her  squealing with delight as she landed a tiny fish - gotta start somewhere :)   

The area we were walking in was clearly marked as having had a recent fire burn-off to prevent future wild fires. The air was thick with the smell of smoke. The further we walked, the stronger the smoke smell became. We were mindful to stay on the path to avoid any falling branches. 

As we walked the smoke became stronger and next thing we saw actual flames where some of the burned off material had been flamed alight again.  We stamped out the flames and retraced out steps lickety-split. 

Our little neighbourhood has a range of  walking paths, nature reserves and food forests for the wildlife - koala if you are lucky and an amazing array of bird life. As we quietly walked along one track that  looked like it hadn't seen much foot traffic, we startled a young Whistling Kite who took off with a great rustling of its amazing turkey-like tail feathers - alas not quick enough with the camera.

The flora and fauna is very different to what we are used to and we love the texture of the paperbark trees. I read there is an essential oil in the paper bark that is good for treating skin infections..... I should get distilling as the little biting midges and bugs are feasting off my blood and leaving me with awful biting souveniers...no amount of extra strength insect repellent deters these Australian blood suckers. 

Whilst saying unprintable things about the great Aussie biting machines I enjoy the gorgeous flowers in the parks and gardens...Queensland the sunshine state lives up to is name. 

We were advised that Sunnybank is the best place for Asian food. It's overtaken Chinatown as home to Brisbane's biggest Asian community and is now the in-spot for authentic Asian eats and shops. There are Chinese, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Japanese, Korean, Singaporean and Vietnamese eateries  and some very 1970's style shopping plaza that have been made over by the Asian community. You can take guided food tours here to  ensure you don't miss out on any of the gems. We followed our nose and  chose That Viet Place which is like Vietnamese street food - cheap and cheerful and so delicious. It will be hard to switch our early allegiance to try other places, although numerous dumpling houses look tempting. 

Winter and people are still swimming as the sea temps are around 22 degrees.   We hit Wellington Point beach on Friday night to catch the sunset after a stunning day. The sunset didn't disappoint - check out the pics below - remember click on the pic to enlarge. 

And just like that, we're back in Brisbane

We left New Zealand for the sunny shores of Brisbane in early May.  Nothing like a few winter months in Queensland weather.      We arrived to glorious sunny days of around 23 or 24 degrees and if this is winter weather, we like it!

We  initially stayed with my brother on the Redlands Coast, about 45 mins south of Brisbane city. It's a fantastic coast line with so many bays and tracks to explore and its the perfect time to be doing this, too hot they tell me in summer time :)  

We have now moved about 5mins away while we take care of a house and garden for the next wee while. So we have plenty of time to explore all the options Brisbane has to offer.   
One of the first things we did was visit Victoria Point beach and the  causeway to King Island. We walked across the tidal causeway last visit and its a magical wee spot. 

[Remember to click on the photos to enlarge and all editing failures are to be overlooked :)  ]

Cleveland has a fab Sunday market with lots of fresh local produce and we happened upon a demonstration against development of the Toondah Harbour which would mean dredging the local fishing beds and harming the bird environments.  Great to see so many people out making their voices heard but I fear the developers will win the Council over with dollars and the protest may be in vain.  

We have been poking around a lot of the little beach settlements, looking at property prices, employment options and local facilities. Just as on our last visit we are so impressed with the community parks and rec facilities. Shorncliffe Pier below was equipped with fish cleaning stations and fresh running water so that the fisho's mess didn't impact families wanting to picnic on the wharf - nice work whomever designed these features, never seen such a clean fishing pier.

We love the little green koala traffic signals, if you are travelling at the correct speed up pops a little green koala, so cute. 

We have been practicing our gardening skills this side of the Tasman with tree trimming at my brothers house. This involved multiple trips to the dump to dispose of the green waste. Always impressed with a well run dump site and the Redlands Council has it 'sussed' with a terrific waste transfer station where you can recycle just about anything and wait for it, its free for rate payers/private local citizens.  How good is that!  No wonder we have seen very little fly tipping around the roads, so sensible not to charge, well done Redlands Council and a very slick operation, we tested it out with many dump loads worth :)

There are so many  tracks and paths to explore. With the coastal birdlife and mangrove forests you often spot wonderful birdlife from dawn to dusk. We happened upon a big Kookaburra sitting on a street fence bold as brass - not bothered by people walking by at all.   

Popped over to Wynnum and Manly beaches  to have a little fossick around the beach and park tracks.

  We are still in awe of this winter weather, glorious! 

The Wynnum Mangrove boardwalk is worth a visit. Spectacular mangrove forest and the birdlife is plentiful.  

After looking into the tidal pools you suddenly 'get your eye in' and it's alive with Fiddler crabs!  Great food for all those tidal birds. 

We saw Spoonbill, White Egret, Pied Stilts, White Faced Heron and Brahmin Kite - never seen a Brahmin Kite before - majestic as it hunted over the tidal ponds with a couple of Plover trying to see it off.  Photo below from the web as I couldn't capture it with my little phone camera. In flight its so colourful.

One of the pleasures of new neighbourhoods is being able to taste the local produce.  Before our coastal walk we had a healthy brunch at a funky little café just off Manly beach esplanade,  Cambridge Lane Expresso - very nice. 

 It's nice to be able to try different things to what's on offer back home.  

We'll do regular updates as our Brisbane 2023 adventure unfolds. So far its been wonderful having time with family we don't get to see that often and  to meet my adorable new great nephew from Melbourne.