We are loving Brisbane. Not being "city folks" we are surprised to find we are really enjoying our time here. There is just so much to do. When we first arrived we anchored off the Botanic Gardens by the public pilings. We were a bit hesitant because the tide changes are huge and with a mud bottom we were worried about dragging. We had heard it was difficult to secure a piling berth but we weren't anchored more than 2 hours when two became available. It was a definite coincidence because none have become available since. David went and tied some lines to the piles and Stefan on the boat in front helped us into the spot and handed us the lines. Zack tied up the front and David got the aft line so no worries. We spent our first few days walking around and each day brought a new surprise. We found a rain forest walk along the river, bike paths everywhere. Almost the entire riverfront is devoted to parks, bike paths and recreation. People are out everywhere biking, jogging and walking. We found the nicest public pool I have ever seen. It is huge and has beach sand on one side, so it feels like you are at the beach except on the other side your view is skyscrapers. There is an area for younger kids with lots of water activities, even Zack got into these with pans of water that fill and drop randomly on your head. We have been to the pool a few times. Zack found a large diamond earring at the bottom of the pool and was sure we were rich. Unfortunately it was pretty obviously a bauble and plastic, he was a bit disappointed. Next to the pool if a public garden. It is organic and you are free to pick herbs, which there are lots of. There are fruits and vegetables but I am not sure how that works, I think they give away what is ready each day but we have not been there at the right times. We have been enjoying the fresh herbs. There is a great museum that is free. We spent a day there with our friends from MacPelican and had a great time. Zack and Finn took off on their own so not sure if they really learned all that much. Bernadette had brought some worksheets for them but they did not want to do them. Nice try anyway. There are playgrounds everywhere but Zack is getting a bit old for them. On Sunday afternoons there is free music on one of the green spaces. We were wandering by when we discovered it. They even put out chairs for people and there were blocks and baci balls to play with. There are even public grills that are free for the public to use all over the place, with picnic tables and water. It is really unbelievable the things that are available for free public use here, and it is all clean and well cared for. Brisbane would be a great place to live. There is also all sorts of shopping and restaurants are everywhere, with all sorts of ethnic choices.

We have purchased bicycles on GumTree which is the Australian version of ebay. We bought 3 bikes for $100. They weren't in great shape but for the price whose complaining. The very next day David found a great deal on a bike and bought that also. We now have 4 bikes. There are trails everywhere and the city is very bike friendly. You can ride just about anywhere. We have been out everyday since, checking out even more of Brisbane. To cross the river there are bridges that are only for bikes and pedestrians. It is all very safe and Zack has been loving it. It has made school a little more challenging as we really just want to be out doing stuff. There are also free city hopper ferries that allow bikes on to cross the river. It is just so easy to get around, and so much to get around to. Thanks to GumTree, Santa even came early and brought Zack an awesome surfboard. We were looking for one for Christmas and when this one came on we just had to get it. It would be difficult to hide so we just gave it to him. He was stoked and now can't wait to get out to a surf beach.

We put the surfboard in Zack's bedroom and were glad we did. It was sort of a joke before we figured out where to store it on deck. Brisbane was hit with a "super cell" storm and we were in the middle of it. We have had one torrential downpour since we arrived and were expecting the same. David saw it on the radar and figured he had time to run to the grocery store, so he was off the boat. Zack and I were working on some school and all was quiet. In an instant that all changed. There was a whooshing sound and it was on. I'm not sure we saw as much but the papers said the wind was 85 knots. It was strong and constant. We saw at least 50 but not 85. The rain was torrential and Zack and I ran out to the cockpit to get in anything we could. The rain was sort of painful and it took me a minute to realize it was golf ball size hail. The wind was blowing so hard that Zack got hit in the face with hail when he was down below in the main salon. By the time we got the drop boards in the inside of the boat was soaked and there were hail balls everywhere. We were sure glad we were on the pilings. There were several boats on anchor in front of the pilings and 2 of them dragged anchor into the pilings but fortunately on the other side and we were not affected. The people that had to go outside to deal with it were wearing bicycle helmets, it was hailing that hard. When it finally subsided and we were able to go out and asses the damage where we found that the eisenglass above the helm had been shot through and was ruined, the plastic on the fishing rod holder was cracked, and the plastic over the tachometer was cracked. We also had a few small holes in the bimini from sharp hail stones. We were pretty lucky compared to others. We had our canvas sunshades up and they protected our dodger. Every other boat had shredded dodgers, with huge holes where the hail just went through. We went to check on MacPelican and their dodger was ruined and Paul's surfboard looked as though it had been used as a target for pellet gun practice, totally ruined. In town lots of trees limbs were down and some buildings had windows broken and a roof blew off of an apartment. We saw cars that were dented all over. What a mess, but still no comparison to a hurricane. We are fine and nothing that can't be fixed.