Saturday January 3 2009

Christmas is gone for another year... I know the feeling baby!

Happy New Year!
新年好
Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
Nouvelle année heureuse
Glückliches neues Jahr
Καλή χρονιά
Nuovo anno felice
明けましておめでとう
새해 복 많이 받으세요
Ano novo feliz
С новым годом
Feliz Año Nuevo
Happy New Year to one and all!



Brisbane fireworks New Year's Eve South Bank 2009.


I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful welcome to 2009. We entertained two dozen friends here at home, and I think everybody had a nice time. I set up a hot dog bar plus desserts at 11pm and as midnight approached we toasted with bubbles and drinks all round. Exploding crackers ensured lots of noise, the smell of burnt gunpowder and LOTS of tiny multicoloured streamers. Rene asked to be allowed to clean up the last bits and I went to bed around 2:45 and I gather he came to bed around 3:30am. I was exhausted, and dearest Rene knew it. Superb gesture, much appreciated.
A friend, Kay#1, arrived at New Year's Eve with a house warming present in the form of a large teapot in the Eternal Beau pattern, complete with a box of loose leaf tea. Beautiful!

It was hot on New Year's Eve, and we have just endured a period of four days where the average temperature was around 34C. Today it is gloriously cool, with constant rain showers and gusts of quite chilly wind. At 3pm it was 23C and we've had about 4mm of rain. Wonderfully, fabulously cool - for a change. We also haven't had the ducted air conditioning on today, so it's much nicer having fresh air wafting through the house.
Storms last week over the city, Botanic Gardens Reach of the Brisbane River.


Last Monday Rene and I went up to Mt Tamborine for the night. It's just behind the Gold Coast, fairly high up. We experienced another storm, loads of thunder and lightning, and of course our small part of the mountain lost power. We walked to a nearby Thai restaurant to have dinner, and we dined by candle light alone, with the meal prepared under some tension since the chef had been coping well but the heat got to him and the light in the kitchen was just barely adequate. Still, we had a look around the shops and galleries during the afternoon, and the following morning had a lovely drive down the back side of the mountain, through Canungra and Beaudesert, back to Brisbane.


Rainbow Lorikeets feeding outside our hotel at Mt Tamborine.

Just as we were leaving the mountain we came across hang gliders.

Last Sunday we saw Slumdog Millionaire at the Dendy Portside and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. It has a British director, but has a distinctly Indian feel to it, filmed mainly in Mumbai with studio work back in England plus exteriors in places like the Taj Mahal. The score was interesting, sounding quite Indian/English (some of the accents on words) and all in all a terrific bit of escape into a world of stereotypes and action. Loved the Bollywood dance sequence over the final credits too, a nice 'fix' for me because I love a bit of that stuff. Acting, scenery, adventure, escapism - it has it all, plus very good cinematography. I recommend it highly.

On Monday I'm seeing 'Nixon/Frost' without Rene (not his taste). Let you know about that one in the next update.

The Patrick Rafter Arena is the centre piece of Brisbane and Queensland's newest home of tennis at Tennyson. The old power station site has been transformed into a massive tennis complex with sixteen hard courts, four clay courts and two grass courts. I think the main arena holds 5500 people. Of course it has a movable roof making it completely useful all year round regardless of weather. The apartments are not yet completed, but the inaugural tournament hits off this week - until January 11.

Patrick Rafter, once #1 in the world, returns from his Bermuda home for the opening of the new home of Queensland tennis at Tennyson. The main arena is named after him. From Mt Isa, made US$11m in his career, donated lots to charitable foundations helping children. He even has set up his own foundation for children. Great work by the nicest guy around who is still only 36.

Last Tuesday was our 6th anniversary so we went to Sono Japanese Restaurant at Portside for a fabulous feast of all things Japanese. Wonderfully clean flavours, beautiful presentation, attentive service - a very nice dining experience. Rene's sister and brother in law who visited last September / October gave us vouchers for this restaurant, and we saved them for this special occasion. Thanks Claartje and Jan, it was divine. http://www.sonorestaurant.com.au/ THIS IS A BRILLIANT WEBSITE, WELL WORTH A LOOK.

We're off to barefoot bowls tomorrow with a social group we are in. Should be fun. It's lawn bowls in the tradition of Sir Walter Raleigh, except here in Australia the older players (serious ones) dress in special uniforms and shoes etc. We rock up in shorts, T shirts, sunscreen, no footwear, and that's all. It's becoming hugely popular with younger people (like me haha). Tonight we are helping a friend of ours eat a huge fish he caught up in North Queensland. Apparently it'll need around 15 folk to help consume it, so that's our mission for tonight. Wish us luck! Until next time...

Boxing Day /New Year sales. Need some space? Highly recommended practice - from outside an English pub.

New stock has arrived! Check out the new paintings from Ernabella Art Centre (South Australia) on line here at http://www.centredart.com.au/