Sandbags blocking the entry to the underground parking, should the river creep up much higher and cause some flooding.

This Ibis was persistent and kept flying into the little pub where we were having our afternoon beer and wine.  I don't know if it would have been so keen to stand there if it knew there was food being served and it might make it to the menu.

These beautiful sculptures support hot pink bougainvillea, which is slowly growing to cover them.

Wheel of Brisbane

 Aerial view of the city taken from the Wheen of Brisbane.

The Wheel of Brisbane is located in the parklands on the South Bank in the heart of Brisbane's cultural and entertainment district.   I know this because we got some culture by visiting the art gallery and museum.  The art gallery had a Picasso which was actually a recognizable woman, La Belle Hollandaise.

The museum had a replica of the small plane flown by Bert Hinkler in 1928 when he made a solo flight from England to Australia in only 15 1/2 days.  And we think 15 hours is long.  When he came to Sydney to celebrate the historic flight, 80,000 Sydneysiders sang:

Hinkler, Hinkler
Little star
Sixteen days
And here you are.

I spent a nice half hour soaking my feet in the "river beach".  Then we finished off the afternoon with a glass of chilled white wine and frosty beer in a cutsy outdoor pub just spitting distance from the beach.  A lovely day.  And those clouds you see?  They never did rain on us.

This pretty little beach above is man-made and adjacent to the river in Brisbane.  It's pool water, so it's clean and chlorinated and quite shallow so perfect for the little kids.

Then we stopped at this pretty little temple, a gift to Brisbane in 1988 from Nepal, to celebrate Expo '88.

A Day on the River Cat

Since it was drizzly and not really a day for walking around, the four of us decided to take a round trip on the River Cat.  That’s a catamaran that works like a bus, only it’s on the Brisbane River.  It only cost about $7.50 each and here’s what we saw along the way:  some gorgeous huge houses, lots of riverfront condos, huge yachts and a Ferris wheel.

St. John’s Cathedral

A beautiful cathedral that was finally consecrated in 2009 after the Dean, our host John, and a group of local movers and shakers managed to fundraise $45 million in 5 years to pay it off.  Now that’s a fundraiser!  It’s a Parish Church for the local congregation, a gallery space, a venue for musical performances, an historic building and a space for quiet reflection within a busy city.

The photos show the Three Wise Men and an Angel, all made from cardboard!

Mount Coot-tha

The distance is slightly misty due to, well, mist. 

It was a bit cloudy when we started out on tour this morning, but we managed to avoid the rain during our driving tour of Brisbane.  It’s a lovely city, very green with all the trees.  Then we were driven through Brisbane Forest Park, a huge forested area  within the city boundaries on the western perimeter.  We stopped at a lookout which was beautifully green from the recent rains, and apparently will become greener yet because by then the rain had some back and we scurried back to the car.

Welcome, Canadians

“O Canada, our home and native land.”

I’m listening to our hosts and Hans sing the national anthem, and they all have great voices.  They also had this cute little fellow sitting at the top of the stairs when we arrived. How sweet is that?

Cape Hawke

Hiking up to Cape Hawke, which was almost exactly 500 steps up.  David walked with me, probably to make sure I didn't have a stroke or that no snakes came out of the woods to bite me.

The view from the top was breathtaking, though the actual climb was more breathtaking.  Literally. 

Christmas presents!

Doing my part to help fundraise.

David, Sheryl, Ann and I were wrapping gifts at the mall for a gold coin donation, which is either $1 or $2.

"Thank you very much," I said appreciately to one lady as she handed me $10 for wrapping two gifts.  Noticing that she didn't leave right away, I caught on.

"Do you want change?" I asked, regretfully?

"Yes," she shrugged.  "I've spent a lot of money."  I didn't want to be too helpful and give her $8, so I said, "How much change would you like?"

"Oh, $5 will be fine."  So I thanked her again.

Quite the road

Something got lost in the photography, but this road was narrow, rough and quite perilous.  More than once my stomach fluttered with the thrill of vertigo.

Stone carvings

We drove to Finchely over Long, impassable hills rent with treacherous gorges and bouldered canyons.   We were on our way to see the ancient writings carved into stone by the Aborigines some time long before the first white men came here.

I'm not sure what they mean, but the ones above have affectionately been named Big Dick.

Cicada

 A Green Grocer cicada, found injured by our hostess.

Horse scupture out of vines, on the road from Wollombi to Cessnock.  It's life size and quite beautiful, though unfortunately the horse is facing away from the road.

Peterson's Winery

“From Canada, are you?  Where about?”

“Alberta.”

“Been there.  Where in Alberta?”

“Calgary.”

“Been there.”

“Have you been to Red Deer?”

“Yes!  Just last night we hung a Christmas decoration that came from Red Deer.”

That was a most delightful and surprising introduction to Peterson’s Winery.  Turns out he and a bunch of Aussies came to Red Deer and Ponoka (imagine!) back in 2000 for something wine-related.  They stayed with Dr. David Lindsay in Ponoka and one of the things they did while there was shovel the snow off the front stoop.  Since it was Christmas time and they had champagne to chill, they just made a big hill from the snow and stuck their champagne bottles in it to chill.

Tyrrell is one of our host’s favourite wineries so we stopped there.

“I have some of that at home,” said Peter, pointing to a 2007 Semillon as the vendor was hovering around waiting to pour our tastings.

“Well, drink the bloody stuff,” he said as he poured us a taste.

One of the most interesting wineries we came across is one owned by a funeral director in the Hunter Valley.   When he first bought the land he was testing the soil in various areas to find the optimum place to plant his vines.  These were big holes. “They look like graves,” said Peter when he and his wife first passed by. 

Today, the holes have long since been filled, vines have matured and grapes have been transformed into wine.  And the name of this wine?  “Deceased Estates.”

We headed for the Audrey Wilkinson Vinyard established over 140 years ago with reputed breathtaking views of the Hunter Valley.

“Got your blindfold on?” asked Peter

“I can’t see anything,” said Hans.  “But is that a white car?”

“Really, close your eyes.”

“Okay.  Can’t see anything except through my fingers,” said Hans.  But we did obediently close our eyes and view truly was breathtaking.

“It was closed during Oprah’s visit,” said Ross, the vintner, telling us a group of her entourage came for a visit.  “They didn’t buy anything.”

Hunter Valley Wines

Hunter Valley Wines, Hunter Valley Cheeses and Hunter Valley chocolates.  What a day!

There are hundreds of wineries in the Hunter Valley, and we visited maybe eight of them.  Luckily we had two good drivers so we could indulge freely.

Millbrook Estate wines pictured above

The small boutique winery was our first stop.  John is a friend of our hosts and he does much of the work by hand, just like in the old days.  For example, he hand riddles and labels all his champagnes and recently made a small specialty wine, Red Dragon, which is a chilli wine.  It’s quite different and has a little kick to it so it’s totally unforgettable.

Below, that's Cessnock, close to Kurri Kurri where Alcan used to have a smelter and close to the area where Gina and Lloyd spent some years when they lived in Australia.

Tallavera Grove 

Gorgeous place with a lovely restaurant that was booked for a Christmas lunch by a lucky group.  I’d say this place looked darn near perfect with a picturesque view, crisp white linen napkins and tasty wines.  Their menu writer, however, would benefit from a visit by the Spelling Nazi as he misspelled Snapper:  Schnapper (sic). 

A bird in the hand

King parrots in Wollombi, being hand fed by our hostess.