I have wanted to visit Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens since we arrived in Brisbane. Finally I go to do it, in April, 2008 when Mum came up to visit us for her birthday. I thought the gardens were beautiful and I particularly liked the lake area as well as the Japanese Gardens. It was hard picking the best vantage point to get good photo’s because in most areas of the garden you can get fantastic shots. They cater for weddings as well at the gardens and also have a little chapel in case it rains. I thought it was all beautiful. I enjoy seeing the pretty flowers in bloom. I can never remember what names they are or whether they grow easily in Brisbane or not, so I just ask Greg… will that one grow in our garden?

When Mum and Dad visited us last in July 2007, Greg took us to Natural Arch. I thought it was really pretty and it was fantastic standing in the cave and looking back towards the opening as is shown in this photo. We had a lovely day, driving through the Gold Coast hinterland and skimming Mt Warning. We came back following the Tweed river and then back up to Brisbane again. When we had our picnic near here, little birds were perched in the tree branches waiting for scraps. One cheeky thing actually landed on our picnic table so he got a free feed for his bravery.

Riverfire is one of our favourite festivals of the year.  It is held on the first Saturday in September. This is where the F1-11′s do their fly over and also the dump and burn that Geoffrey is always talking about. I took this photo in 2007 when Mum and Dad were visiting. We were on the Kookarburra Queen which is why I got such a good shot. Michael came up with his grandparents and also enjoyed the fireworks. Dad loved it, and it was fantastic, because for us, this was the last time that we saw Dad alive. I hope to go again this year but we won’t be going on the Koorkaburra Queen.

This is a picture of the Yarra River looking towards Melbourne CBD. We were on a river cruise when I took this picture in 2005. The Yarra river is often colourised to a blue colour but nine times out of ten it is a murky brown colour and is well known as the river that flows upside down – the mud is on top! Melbourne is a different city to Brisbane, much more cosmopolitan with European influences in it’s fashion, restaurants and also architecture. There is a blend of Victorian and Edwardian styles of housing to the three fronted brick veneer houses of the 1970′s to quaint weather board cottages. Mum lives 35 kilometres away from the CDB and it takes an hour to get home by train from the city.

This is another favourite place of mine. The Sunshine Coast is about a 2 hour drive north of Brisbane. The Hinterland provides welcome relief to the heat on the coast. It is in this area where Australia Zoo is situated, another favourite place of mine to visit. I enjoy Australia Zoo above any of the theme parks on the Gold Coast and I also enjoy the towns of Maleney and Montville. Both are very different catering to different clientèle. Maleney is more alternative whereas Montville caters to the mainstream tourist. I think it is really pretty.

One of the biggest assets that Brisbane has is Southbank. It is the site of where Expo 88 was held. The body of water in the foreground is actually a swimming pool, ‘Street’s Beach,’  one of about three and actually has a surf life saving station on site. The body of water in the background behind the concrete barrier is part of the Brisbane River. There is actually a walkway below that barrier. The buildings on the North bank are part of the CBD. We have never swam here and wouldn’t plan to. We enjoy the scenery and also in the streets behind the Southbank markets are held every weekend. I love them! The market sells lots of trinkets and souvenirs and hippy dippy clothing that are in fashion.

Our last destination was Macau. Greg particularly liked this region. He was taken with the Portuguese influence melded with the Chinese culture. This picture is of St. Paul’s or the ruins of them anyway. The sculpture on the facade is fantastic and it was a pity that I couldn’t get close enough with my camera to take a close up of one of them. It is also interesting how the church had many superstitious symbols on it to keep out the evil spirits. The food was a little different here, with more subtle blends of herbs and spices, not the fire of Cantonese food that it sometimes has. The buildings were also influenced by Portuguese architecture – yellows, blues and even oranges. Some of the roads were also built in the traditional cobblestone, laid out in the black and cream to offset the vibrancy of the colours of the buildings.

We also visited China, and who can go pass seeing China’s lovable Panda Bears. There were two in this enclosure, a male and female and whilst we were watching, they spent their time wrestling and playing together. The female Panda was the dominant one; she got cranky when the male tried to join her in a tree log. We loved China, mainly because it was so different to our own culture but also the landscape and lifestyle was different as well. Along with the Panda’s we also visited Guangzhou, which is what used to be known as Canton. We had a beautiful Chinese lunch there with traditional foods, including the milk algae jelly. We also saw a couple of the forbidden soldiers but I couldn’t take any photo’s of them because the light affects the clay. We want to go to China again once we have retired and have more time to spend in the country. I would like to travel the Silk Road, encompassing Beijing, the Great Wall, Shanghai and all the little villages along the Silk Road. It would be fantastic.

We went to Hong Kong for our honeymoon, in January 2004. This is a picture of Tai O village on Lantau Island. We were on our way to visit the largest sitting Buddha in the southern hemisphere. This village represents the variety of Hong Kong, ranging from traditional little villages like this to the bustling metropolis of the western world, before Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese. We loved it Hong Kong and hope to travel again in the near future.