From Australia 2015

There's no question we're in the "sunshine state" of Queensland, for the sun just beats down day after day. It is turning everything we have into a duller shade. Even our backpacks are bleached from walking around in the sun. I checked the Lifesling today- a piece of throwable man overboard equipment that hangs on the stern at the ready, and it is barely hanging together for all the UV damage. Hope we never have to throw it to someone. Somebody told me yesterday that it was Autumn. Really?? In that case, we can't wait for winter! Every time I start making dinner Jon goes around adjusting all the fans which now run 24/7, so that they point toward the galley. He then begins pacing around looking at me with his tongue out- because he's hotter than hot. Our meals are getting simpler by the day. But I suppose we'll be wishing for this in a couple of weeks when we're back in New England freezing. It is what you don't have that you're in the mood for.

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Brisbane. Originally, we'd planned to go up the Brisbane River with the boat and get a pile mooring off the botanical gardens and just be right there in the city like the guides say you can do. But after having our anchor drag a few months ago and hearing that friends of ours dragged in Brisbane on their third day there, we decided that biking in to the city from our marina sounded safer and a little more exciting. There's something about putting a few things in a pack and setting off somewhere on your own two feet, or in this case, wheels. Brisbane is known for an incredible system of bike paths and we wanted the full experience. We booked a place to stay through AirBNB for the first time and got a whole apartment to ourselves right in the city, 2 blocks from the bike path. The lady we rented from was a little reserved at first since we were making a last minute reservation (a getaway from boat projects) and we had no previous reviews but once she saw us come dragging in after a full day on the bikes, she knew she didn't have to worry about us being up all night partying. You can bike from our marina in Newport all the way in to the city- it's 42km on fantastic bike paths. Then once you get there, there are many, many more miles to cover. It's something of a bucket list item actually, to be able to just go & go like that. We visited the botanical gardens and felt thankful that we weren't counting on a vacant pile mooring, went to some great museums including the modern art museum which actually had a couple of pieces that we thought were really great. One was this darkened room that you go in to standing on a platform surrounded by water. All around you hang these colorfully lit fibre optic balls and in the near distance, mirrors situated to repeat every object, including yourdelf standing there, huncreds of times over. You see via black light. Interesting! And another was a black seal balancing a black piano on his nose- full size. We never found we needed a camera in a modern art museum until that day. But it was secure in the cloakroom... We saw giant stick bugs in the natural history museum and fancy Hollywood stars' gowns in another part of it. The museum of Brisbane had an exhibit on the history of one of Australia's most widely known bush ballads, "Waltzing Matilda". We'd seen references to it before and like every story it seems in Australian history, there's a sad part about it, but the term waltzing is Australian slang for walking and matilda is a name for a sack where one carries his meager possessions on his back...... you can see where this is going, rather apropos. A lunch out made us wonder if it's even possible to get a meal in Australia that doesn't come with fries....

From Australia 2015

From Australia 2015

One thing we have definitely noticed is that Aussies love their beaches and waterfront fun. Brisbane may be many miles up a river, but they have their own historic baths and man made beaches and they ENJOY them! If you could be a kid again, Australia would be the place to live. The playgrounds are chucker block full of fun and the pools & beaches have everything you could want. There's water shooting from jets, buckets sporadically dumping water on your head, fountains to play in, sand for castles, slides, you name it. If it wasn't for all the urine we KNOW is in there, we would have gotten in!
From Australia 2015

From Australia 2015

It was so nice just being in the city for a bit and having a change of scenery from the dock at the marina where we've been fairly nose down doing projects. Brisbane is an extremely clean city with a beautiful skyline complete with unique, undulating bike/pedestrian walkways & numerous bridges. There was even a bridge that was dedicated to only bikes & buses. Everything seemed to just work and we couldn't find a seedy area. It's just so funny how things come around. Three years ago we were making our first flight back to the US from NZ and we were routed through Brisbane. At the airport, looking out the windows, all I could see was all this dry dirt and everything seemed, as you would expect being near the airport, flat. After coming from tiny NZ, where everything is so hilly & green, I'd made a judgement that Brisbane wasn't any place that I would like. Well that was a stupid thought. Little did I know that 3 years later I'd be biking past that same airport with a big smile on my face because I love it here. And it is green too.

But after 3 days, we did feel like we'd done all we wanted to do in the city and we were ready to head back to the boat. We took our time, making a few nice stops along the way and then pedaled it out for the last part along the water to the peninsula of Redcliffe where our boat is. All buttoned up, the interior thermometer said "OL" for over-limit and we have now contemplated getting the AC that we'll need for SE Asia next season, a bit early!

Right before we left, I was going through the boat exercising all the seacocks as I periodically do- we have 13 of them, making sure they all opened & shut OK. One gave me little trouble so I put some muscle into it and broke the handle off. So.... Jon replaced that seacock today by emptying the water tank on the port side and putting extra weight on the starboard side- no hauling out needed! We have a few more projects to do before it's time to go and we're also doing our health maintenance stuff now too. I got a free mammogram today. I remember reading something that said Australia's health care was expensive. Well we haven't seen it. We didn't see it in NZ either. We are outsiders looking in but we're also using the system. This trip is doing what it's supposed to do: opening up our eyes to other ways of doing things. It's been a great ride.

From Australia 2015