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.