Weekends in Brisbane

The routine of teaching, shopping and cleaning is driving what we do on a day to day basis. While we haven't been as consistent as we should, we are actually trying run regularly although our fitness level is currently quite poor.  I (Boyd) swam a couple of times with the local Master Swimming group and must say it is a quite novel to to swim "under the lights"  outside at night. We joined a large, friendly running group that meets at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays - yes, I got up at 5:15 A.M. to run!  All exercise groups meet at 5 or 6 in the morning as it is just too warm later in the day. 

Last Saturday morning we attended the traditional exchange teacher orientation and luncheon put on by the Queensland Exchange Teacher Association. They were lovely people and we are looking forward to attending some of their future functions. In the arvo, after getting a little lost, we toured Brisbane skyline via the City Cat ferry on the Brisbane River.

 

 

 

That evening and most of the following day we hosted hosted a wonderful exchange couple, Greg and Heather, and their young son Fenton. While they were here we went on a few short walks and were lucky enough to see a couple of koalas.

 

 

Last week Nancy completed a lot of school work which also included making a sleeping bag, book, and carrying bag for the class mascot moose, Alice.  Alice will go home each weekend with a different student to have Australian adventures that the kids will write about in her book.

 

 

                                   A tiny little gecko about an inch long; maybe less.

 

Yesterday we took the train down to an Australian Rugby League game at Suncorp Stadium in downtown Brisbane between the League All Stars and the Indigenous All Stars.  Prior to the game we spent an hour or so wandering about Roma St. Parklands adjacent to the train station in central Brisbane. They were quite pretty and we hope to go back at some future point.

 

 

There were scores of these lizards sunning themselves on the paths in the gardens. They are about 18 inches to 2 feet long.

 

 

 

The Rugby game was 28 to 6 in favour of the Indigenous Allstars.  A little lopsided but we really enjoyed it even though we were a little unclear on all the rules.  The stadium is built specifically for rugby and our seats were great.  I think capacity is 52,500 but the announced attendance was 41,201 which apparently was very good for what is essentially a preseason game.

 

 

 

This afternoon (Sunday) when the heat abated a bit, we took the bikes out for a spin through the parkland near us.  It was a lovely ride through the woods.  We did have to stop for a large carpet python (about 6 feet and non-poisonous we found out later) lying across the path.  It slowly slithered out of our way and, after watching it for a while, we continued on.  Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us!