Year: 2014

Living in the sub tropics the spirit of Xmas is slightly more elusive, so when I joined a friend on a tour of Christmas Lights in the northern suburbs of Brisbane I was not sure of what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Firstly because the bus we went on sporting the title of…

The history of Lord Howe would not be complete if I didn’t mention the creatures that they literally saved from extinction. A rather brown, fairly unprepossessing bird called the woodhen – a flightless bird which was endemic to the island. But because it was flightless and because settlement meant the introduction of feral pigs and…

Plentiful on both scores and good fun. The island has a few well frequented roads and even more paths in the pristine forests. The walks are all graded from Class 1-6 so you need to chose them carefully depending on your fitness level. The highest is Mount Gower at 875 metres and then Mt Ligbird…

Everywhere you turn there is a tern. They have a blog post all of their own, they were so plentiful and colourful on the island. They are sea birds and there are several types. The White Terns love the  low branches of the Norfolk pines that grow tall and majestic on the island. They are…

This little island in the middle of the ocean is quite special for a number of reasons – it has faced environmental change, it is self sustaining on a number of levels, it boasts original flora and fauna and it has an interesting history of social equality and an economy that escaped the ravages of…

No mobile network, no Wifi, no street lights to talk of, no seat belts necessary as the speed limit is 25kms per hour, no buses, not much traffic, except bikes. Not much happens after 9pm but by then tourists and locals alike have been well fed and looked after and are all ready for bed,…

President Obama landed in Brisbane this morning and will be talking at the University of Queensland at lunchtime. What an honour for those students to be able to hear him. The leaders have all arrived – he was the last one.They are all holed up in their respective hotels across the city where they are…

In recent weeks I have written a lot about how much the city has to offer and how much fun it has been to be a resident here. The city is young and vibrant. I was walking past the centre of town. A man selling the Big Issue beamed a smile at me and said…

1st of November 2014, sunny and warm and everyone is out enjoying themselves. The swimming area on South bank is packed full of families cooling off, having a picnic and chatting. At 400pm we all gather on Southbank to see the parade. We have all watched parades in our lives, school, army, harvest festivals, carnival…

Dear Lord Mayor of Brisbane and Team Brisbane, We have walked our socks off, marveled at the colours of the city, enjoyed the circus acts, the Latin parties, girls walking on water, swayed with the rhythms of the Zumba classes and Disco Balls and watched everyone having so much fun and we are only half…