Time flies....

Wow! How did it get to be Monday already!!? The days are just zipping by, and I can imagine that, all too soon, it will be time to say goodbye....and we've only just arrived!

We have managed to locate the car, which is enormous! Not sure I'm going to be confident enough to drive it..... Successfully done the first shop and been surprised all over again (funny how quickly you forget!), that you can't buy booze in the supermarkets - you have to go to a bottle shop! Horrified that 6 bottles of beer costs $17.99, which is £10.60, and disappointed that is cheaper to buy imported wine, than it is to buy Australian ( it's a long way to come to go home with some Italian Pinot Grigio!)!

We were very amused to come across a British section in the foreign foods aisle, but it's reassuring to know we can get some Irn-Bru or Paxo if we need it!

Friday was spent exploring the South Bank which brought back memories of our last trip. There are very few cities in the world that we would both be happy to live in for a few months (both being country bumpkins), so it's really amazing that we've had such a great opportunity to come here to Brisbane. Such a nice green friendly place, and the sunshine is nice too!

We've been fitting in a swim almost everyday. Difficult to get Crack to swim at the moment, as he's totally obsessed with jumping in! Just wants to do it over and over again!

On Saturday, Crack and I went back to the South Bank and strolled through the City Botanic Gardens, killing time whilst hubby caught up on some emails. We found a great frozen yogurt place, and enjoyed the walk, although there was one particularly bizarre moment where a man in a gorilla suit snuck up on a young Asian couple sitting on a bench, and roared at them! I looked around for a hidden camera, but I couldn't see anything!

Sunday was windy but hot with just a few clouds. We decided to go out to Mount Coot-tha, west of the City for a hike. With Crack in the backpack, we walked up the steep trail, watching kookaburras and cockatoos pass overhead, laughing and screeching. The viewpoint at the top was great, really cool views of the city and glimpses of the bay and islands beyond, and a good cafe where we had lunch before hiking back to the car. I could certainly feel my quads by the time we got back!

Also picked up some postcards, mainly so I can keep in touch with Jim (dont get your hopes up peeps!), and found this one, which rather puts things into perspective, doesn't it!?

Next we headed to Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, where Crack napped in the buggy whilst we wandered. It's a fantastic place, really big too! We walked for 2 hours and didn't see half of it! When Crack woke up, we headed to the restaurant, where we shared a Devonshire tea (with whipped cream - yuck!) and Crack loved his first ice cream sandwich and some playing with straws (initiated by hubby, as are all the most unhelpful, but fun games!). I have put most of the photos of the botanic gardens at the end....I got a bit carried away, I know they aren't everyone's cup of tea! I'll be popping them on fb at some point too, so make sure you don't trawl thru them twice!

This one is really for my Dad, who doesn't need a hair-net :-D

Today was hubby's first day at work, so C and I headed into town to run some errands It was pretty hot and I was knackered after loading up the buggy with shopping (I found Target ;-P) and pushing it back up the hills and ramps from the Thornton St ferry....my cunning plan to go early and avoid the heat had been sabotaged by having to find the police station to hand in a drivers licence that I found...the signs pointed the wrong way, so it took a while! Clearly lots of jokers in Brizzy!

All the above in the Tropical House. This last one is a cocoa tree with pods and a vanilla vine growing up it.

Pandas in the Bamboo Garden

Can you spot the croc?

Giant tree ferns (as an aside, I realised the other day that palaeontologists have got it wrong about the T-Rex, compare its body shape to a kangaroo and you'll realise, as I did, that T-Rex hopped. What a great example of convergent evolution!)

Japanese garden. So peaceful, could spend a whole day here!

Below, a brush turkey also enjoying the Japanese garden!

Well, it had to happen sometime, didn't it!? Here are some bees, native Aussie stingless bees, no less!

BONSAI! Place your bets now! (Marc!)

Crayfish made of kitchen tongs etc!

Heavily laden fig tree and, below, bromeliad

Above and below, Bougainvilleas and a sinister looking spider web....I didn't look to closely, reading the reptile section of the Australian wildlife book scared me too much, I couldn't go any further!