THE CARS HISS BY MY WINDOW

Jim Morrison from the Doors wrote one of my favorite songs, a great blues ballad called “The cars hiss by my window”, (like the waves upon the sea, da da da da dum da dum dum…………………..) He obviously did not live where we are residing in Brisbane, as it would have been a very different lyric altogether. We are lucky to be staying 8 mins from the centre of Brisbane in a very modern, 3 level townhouse which backs on to Old Cleveland Road, a fairly major route by the sounds of the non-stop traffic. It is strange to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of motors accelerating uphill and not the sounds of birds, wind and nature, I know which one I prefer. Brisbane is a very hilly city with many old weatherboard houses, mostly built on stilts, the suburbs being quite a contrast to the city we have seen so far which is a vibrant, modern, angular looking place, with many one way streets. The Brisbane River which snakes through the city seems to be an integral feature, with ferry services moving people comfortably and peacefully to and fro. The Citycat is a catamaran which just oozes power and cruises smoothly and effortlessly through the greenish waterway. On the south side, opposite the CBD is the surprisingly named “Southbank” which is quite an amazing area of various entertainment venues including a tropical lagoon surrounded by beach sand and palm trees, cafes, ampitheatres, museums, Imax theatre, rainforest walks, cultural displays, sculpture and much more. The weather is nice and warm about 25 degrees every day so far, makes me feel a bit guilty when I see Melbourne’s chilly, wintery weather. Oh well….. It is funny to be sleeping in a real bed in a real house for the first time in 3 months, I suppose it is like a sailor reaching land after a time at sea. I have become so used to feeling every movement at night, when one of the children rolls over in bed we can feel it at the front of the bus. Went to the Botanical Gardens for our Mother’s Day lunch today, tall palms and lush rain forest filtering the strong sun to leave dappled sunlight along the pathways. This time tomorrow we will be in Fiji and everyone is excited. There is a good chance that we will not have access to the internet for the next couple of weeks, so while we are away check out some of the other blogs on www.blogger.com. There are some amazingly different blogs out there, a whole new world. On the home page there are some that are recommended. One of our favourites is www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com Please keep in touch, we do appreciate news from home, so either leave us a comment or send an email all call!!