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Brisbane (2)

I am not particularly an early bird, but this morning Jan persuaded me to get up at 5 am to go for a walk up Cedar Creek. I was surprised it was already getting light at that time but Queensland is an hour behind New South Wales so the sun rises very early here, and by the time we reached the creek at 5.30 it was almost completely light.

I guess it wasn't technically creek walking as we made our way over the boulders along the side of the creek. On this trip I managed to fit 5 weeks worth of clothes and gear into a medium suitcase and a small backpack but that meant I didn't have the right shoes so I slid over some rocks and went the long way round over others until we reached the waterfall at the end. We managed to find a road on the way back that took us back to the car in 5 mins! And by 7.30 we'd stopped off for coffee and were heading back to the house.

Later on in the day I took a trip into the city. From the Goodwill Bridge it reminded me of a mini London with its Wheel of Brisbane.

I walked through the city down George Street (which although now home to the business district, was once where the first residential house was built here) and onto Ann Street towards central station to get the train back to Ian's house ready for tonight's concert.

Ian's house is beautiful. It's in the style of a Queenslander house with a huge porch that wrapped around from one side to the other. It even came complete with a bush turkey in the back garden, which had built a massive 4-foot high nest to keep its children safe and warm. Although they are technically pests it did a great job of gathering up the leaves from the garden to add to it's home. That was the trade off for staying.

With the bush turkey in the back garden, and the house full to the brim with Ian's friends and family, we had the concert, featuring a sing-a-long country version of Happy Birthday. It was, after all, Ian's 50th today.

24 February 2011

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