Photos of the week - Dinosaurs & Crazy Sales

The museum had this DIG DINOS event and one of the attractions was the LIVE T-REX. It made roaring sounds that scared the shit out of my son - look at the lady's legs!

Boxing Day Rush - everybody had to queue up to get onto the escalators and there were wardens to monitor the "boarding" process so that it won't break down.

A storm was brewing sometime before Xmas day...... wished we had more rain this summer. It's getting too darn hot!

Milton Park - 5 mins ride away from our house. The place for my son to play train master!

Cycling - the most common activity for father and son bonding.

Brisbane City

Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland Australia, is my current stop. We should be staying here minimal for another 1.5-2 years, so I should call it HOME for now.

This 2 Million population's city has a very good bicycle path. It takes me only 15 mins to ride along the Brisbane riverside to the City. Driving to the city often incurs hefty parking charges. Therefore, cycling is the best mode of transport (FOC). Other means of getting to the city include via the City Cat ferry, by train or by bus if you do not want the hassle of looking for car parks.

In Brisbane, people seldom need to go to the city because every suburb has its self sustaining facilities like shopping malls, parks and shops. So far, I have cycled to the city to visit the museum, the man-made beach, government and banking institutions. Below are some good shots of Brisbane City downtown. The photo with the multiple colored buildings is the City Council Library. The one with the old architecture is the Treasury Building where the city's Casino is located. City buses and City Cats could be seen as well. I was really proud of these last 2 photos as they looked like post card shots! I took them from my bike on a 30C sunny afternoon.

New Chapter in Brisbane - starts with free, free & free concerts

I have finally settled down in Brisbane for good (at least for the next couple of years). Leaving Palembang was difficult but I have finally started my new chapter in life in Brisbane.

Not having to work until school starts next year means everyday feels like a Sunday. Sometimes it is hard to even keep track of the dates and days of the week. Due to the many activities being lined up, I seldom have time to even log on to the internet or use the computer!

Summer is starting in Australia now, which also means we are gonna have a HOT Christmas in a few more week's time. All the places are decorated with xmas ornaments and xmas trees. It also happens that the city of Brisbane starts to organize free concerts. For the past 5 days, I have attended 3 free concerts: The Lord Mayor's Xmas Carols Concert, C&K Children's Concert and the City Hall's Senior Xmas Concert.

The Lord Mayor's Xmas Carols Concert was held at the Botanical Gardens. We were there 2 hours before to reserve our seats but the place was almost jammed packed by the time we got there. We managed to find a place along the grass slopes by the side of the concert stage to place our picnic spreads. It was fun to be in a picnic cum concert atmosphere like this.

The C&K Children's Concert was held at the Brisbane Convention Center. They had a small animal exhibit (a bilby - see above photo, and a slink), play sessions with kids with the C&K staff (C&K is a kindergarten chain) followed by the concert. The City Hall's Senior Concert was held at City Hall. Supposedly meant for seniors but we booked tickets for the whole family to attend.

So far, my new chapter in the world down under is filled with concerts and days out. Have not had a stay without any events or stay-at-home days yet.... which is good! It's gonna be a HOT HOT Christmas!

Miniature Steam Trains

Our toddler son is crazy about trains. When we were in Brisbane, we found this place where the Lions Club had their minature steam trains operating and bringing people along for rides. It was heaven for our son.

The train rides are available every last Sunday of the month in one of the parks. The railway tracks go around the park. There were a total of 5-6 mini steam trains in operation and each of them could carry passengers up to 8 persons. The steam trains had to stop to load coal and water upon completion of one round around the park. Despite their miniature size, they could move as fast as 10km/hr with passengers!

The queue was long when we arrived and had to wait for almost 20 mins before we could get on. The Lions Club sold donuts, hotdog sandwiches and refreshments. They also had tents selling handicrafts as well.

We had much fun riding on those trains. Our son managed to get onto 3 rides. He was happy just to see his Thomas and Friends chuffing along. They had "Salty", "Emily", "Thomas", "Donald & Douglas", " Annie & Clarabel" and "Henry" in operations that day.

Queensland Spanner Crabs

I had lots of nice food when I was in Brisbane. We ate some good authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum from Landmark, Sunnybank; good steaks at Normans Hotel but the best is still the delicious spanner crabs.

Spanner crabs are named after their spanner like claws. They are mostly found in the sandy beaches along Queensland, NSW and South Australia. Unlike mud crabs, spanner crabs could walk foreward and backward (not sideways) plus they are already reddish orange even before they are cooked.

Below are some photos that show how big they are and their unique shell designs. I am sure future sci-fi movie producers would use their figures for some alien characters.

Photos of the week - Brisbane Activities

Miniature train rides (organized by Bramble Bay Lion Club - 4th Sunday of every month).















Picnics along beaches of Redcliffe (not the Chinese movie RED CLIFF!)














Sandcastle building at South Bank's man-made beach.















Playing "excavators" at the back yard.




















Fishing at Redcliffe's pier
















Stationary Thomas train rides at Indoroopilly Mall.
(we are not stingy but we don't want him to have a habit of asking for rides)


















Reading Thomas books in a bookstore until people stare at us.


















Fishing at the marinas around Raby Bay (near Elaine & Scott's place)
















We only caught these pest fishes the whole day (donated much of our bait)!
















Cycling along Brisbane river
















Visting the City Library.