Singapore

26 January 2016

Australia Day 2016

Our neighbour Rob called in this morning asking us if we'd like to join them on a visit to South Bank where there was a food festival in honour of Australia day advertised in the Courier Mail. Well, we had nothing better planned, so we agreed. We never miss a chance to go out for lunch. Rob and Kathy picked us up around 11am and we drove to the Hyperdome at Loganholme, where the 555 express bus starts for Brisbane City,via South Bank. From the bus station we walked down to the river, where an area was fenced in with a handful of food tents. There wasn't much action yet, so we walked over the Goodwill Foot Bridge over the river to the QUT campus.

There were just a handful of people waiting at the food tents
As with every Australia Day Celebration, there was quite a large Police contingent everywhere including officers on horses at the southern end of the Goodwill Bridge.

Mounted Police at the Goodwill Bridge
The City Hopper ferries people from one side of the river to the other.

The sky looked ominous and we were not sure if we were getting a soaking. But we carried on over the bridge.

Dark sky over the city
A City Cat passed below us
The Goodwill Foot Bridge leads under the Captain Cook Bridge, the main arterial road into Brisbane.

Captain Cook Bridge above us
I had to change the memory card in my camera, so I took the opportunity to try the new card on a pair of feet.

Typical Australia day attire, Thongs (Flip-flops in UK)
Again there was a police present on the northern side of the bridge, cops on bikes. 
Are they looking for new recruits? Sorry, lady, too old.
The sky was getting darker, so we trundled back over the bridge looking for a place to eat.

Mangroves on the bank of the Brisbane River.
Back at the other end, time for a pose with the horses
By now the crowd was getting bigger. We checked the food tents but nothing took our fancy.


In the end, we decided to walk down to the Plough-Inn, where we found a table on the upstairs terrace for a nice lunch.

Then we walked back to the bus station where a 555 bus was just arriving to take us back to Loganholme to pick up the car for home. A nice day out for the Romans and the Bohlens.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY everybody