Where has the vacation gone?

With an election looming the knives came out for former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (from Brisbane). Sad though it has been, I'm thrilled not to have to worry anymore about which party to vote for in the forthcoming (yet unannounced) Federal election. To say I had lost faith in Rudd and the policy vacillations of the past few months would be an understatement. The dropping overnight of any action or continued pressure on carbon offsetting was disappointing. The decision to go into a mining supertax without initial negotiations with the mining industry was careless and caused unnecessary ructions across the world. Yes, we need something more for every tonne exported, but done in such a way as to feel that it has been negotiated and well thought out instead of a sudden announcement without consultation with Caucus or the industry affected. To go from 80+% popularity a few months ago to less than 40% last month was indeed indicative of the electorate's displeasure; and the absolute worst case scenario was arising...the possibility of the obnoxious, less than endearing Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott becoming Australia's 28th prime minister. Awful possibility, but in fact still possible with a potential date being August 21 for the election.


Here, above, Kevin Rudd signs off after the coup that brought him down. It was a great speech delivered with much tension and humility. It outlined the great good he had done in just over two and a half years, which really generated even more negative images for me of the twist in his stance on many things in recent months.
The lady replacing him is Julia Gillard; an intelligent woman born in Wales, and a former industrial relations lawyer. She doesn't believe in God and won't move into The Lodge - the PM's residence in Canberra - until she has won the election in her own right. I consider her a good replacement for Rudd.

The man above is Wayne Swan, now Deputy Prime Minister and continuing as Treasurer. He and Rudd steered Australia through the GFC and enabled this country to be the leading economic performer in the advanced economies. He is also my local Federal Member of Parliament (electorate of Lilley).

Two weeks ago he was in Toronto replacing Kevin Rudd at the last moment at the G20 Summit. Last Thursday he was at the local Chermside Bowls Club chairing a community morning tea for the Older People Speak Out group. I went along after being invited by Wayne's office to attend now that I am officially a Senior (I even have a Seniors Business Card now). He took questions from the floor and they were life altering questions about health care, ageing and so on. My question was left until morning tea when I queued up with others to ask him a personal question. My question was simple: after giving same sex couples all the legal and financial equalities with straight couples, why not endorse same sex marriage like has happened in Spain and Mexico? The PM doesn't believe in God, so religious reasons can't be behind it, what is the problem? He simply replied that he believed in marriage as being between a man and a woman, and gave me no hope as to it being changed any time soon. Oh well, at least I asked the question.

This dingo fence on Fraser Island was in an album I looked through for this blog today. It has not only bars to stop them coming across but also a mild electric shock because the very resourceful dogs had learned to walk the bars slowly, so electricity was introduced to dissuade the animals from entering the community from the beach.

This was sunset on Fraser. Very beautiful it was too. We have so many glorious places to holiday in within Queensland - no wonder we have so many tourists visiting every year.

Enough said!

A couple of weeks ago we attended a weekend of cabaret. There were many shows on during the festival, but we picked out just two. "Liza on an E" was brilliant, with Trevor Ashley appearing as Liza herself. He had a seven piece band (all in tuxedos) accompanying him and Liza belted out old favourites plus dozens of witty and at times cutting one liners. We had a table for eight with two bottles of wine and platters of delicious food to graze on during the show. Top night! Trevor has been announced as the lead in a new Australian production of Hairspray, opening in Melbourne in October. He will play the mother Edna - you may remember John Travolta in this role in the 2007 movie. He should be astounding.

I'm heading off to Shanghai in September for Expo 2010. I remember well the expo we had for Australia's bicentenary in 1988 here in Brisbane. I'll be there for six nights with a three day pass to Expo. There are also two nights in Singapore on the way back home. I have met now five people who have been to the Shanghai Expo and all have reported it well and truly worth the effort. I'm not doing three days in a row (too exhausting) so will incorporate some more sedate things - my travel agent knows Shanghai well (his partner is from there too) so I'm getting tips. Rene is staying home and I'm going with my friend Kay from Toowoomba. Roll on September 21 (what am I saying? it is rolling along waaay too fast already!)

Expo area is huge, but so are the crowds. I've never been to China (HK doesn't count in my mind). I was in Taiwan last January, so it is sort of like China, but minuscule. I read the other day that Beijing airport has overtaken Heathrow as the world's second busiest airport. You know two and three, what is the world's busiest airport then? Let me know (of course I already know the answer, I'm a member of the famous trivia team that has come first six times this year so far).

The person above is Ennio Marchetto, from Venice, the other cabaret act we saw a fortnight ago. Here's a link to see him in action. One hour of total captivation. Clever!

http://fliiby.com/file/510894/azxfi6bp6q.html

I just love this poster - brilliant!

Need more be said?

Finally:

The Dutch meteorological office KNMI has issued a weather warning for extremely hot weather on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Temperatures can reach as high as 33 degrees Celsius, which is significantly higher than the long-term average maximum of 20.6 degrees. Saturday and Sunday in Utrecht will be 31C and 26C with a 40% chance of rain – quite humid for The Netherlands. Here in Brisbane it will be a max of 22 and a min of 10 on both days with a 20% chance of showers – after all it is our winter. Interestingly, at this time of the year there’s not only the Tour De France but also Wimbledon, where strawberries are synonymous with the tennis. Here in Australia, the winter months are the best for strawberries since it is far too hot for the berries in summer. At the moment, the strawberries from Wamuran, near Caboolture, just 30 minutes from here, are at their peak. Simply delicious!

Last night René and I attended the monthly meeting of the Gay and Lesbian Business Network, now renamed in Brisbane Fruits in Suits. There were around 80 people there, packed into the upstairs meeting room at The Wickham Hotel in Fortitude Valley. The person from Suncorp whom I deal with re insurances was there – did a deal with him this week regarding the house and contents – and the person arranging my trip in September to Shanghai for Expo 2010 was also there, and I handed him my travel insurance papers. Met a gorgeous man from Berlin who has been attending an urban planning conference - we had a fascinating chat. He told me that in Shanghai, where he was before Brisbane, they have a five floor building devoted to urban planning. On the top floor is a display featuring Brisbane’s Expo 88 and what has been done with the site since then. We got a very good mark from the Chinese on the redevelopment of the Expo site. Rene and I were in Seville in January, and they had the next expo after Brisbane. It has not been a great success after the event with much of the area left derelict. Brisbane has done well, even now having the South Bank area undergoing its third upgrade since expo ended 22 years ago.

There were door prizes and business card draws for even more prizes, and René won not one but two: a lucky door prize of five sessions with a personal trainer (I’ve requested to watch, but alas I think I will get the prize since René thinks I need it more – bless him!) and the second prize was a night at a smart Brisbane hotel (Urban) plus breakfast for two. Not only met some new people but won prizes and drank with great friends. Dinner afterwards in The Valley at a terrific Beijing restaurant topped off a great Friday night.

We both watched the Netherlands-Uruguay semi final in bed last Wednesday morning. Waking at 4am wasn’t so bad since we are currently on vacation from our schools. The final this Monday morning at a similar time won’t be as easy since we are both back at work. I figure on watching from 5:30, which ought to be the start of the second half. My heart wants The Netherlands to win, but my head says Spain. Since either of them will be the first time ever for their countries, I wish both well and hope that the refereeing is as good as that by the ref from Uzbekistan the other day for the Dutch/Uruguay match.

I’ve been very pleased with the coverage from South Africa and the organization of the Cup. Everybody wanted so hard for the South Africans to pull it off, and they appear to have done so. Yes, there were a few glitches, but that happens in such events every time they are held. Generally speaking, from far away in Australia, it seems to have been terrific for all. I have spoken to a few passengers arriving back from South Africa about their experiences and they’ve all been positive. It’s not hard to spot them – they’re the ones with a clutch of bloody vuvuzelas sticking out of their carry on luggage. God I hate those infernal noise makers! I now treat it like ‘white noise’ that’s there, but not apparent. At the start they annoyed me enormously, but now it is tolerable. How one could sit in a stadium with those blaring right into one’s ears is beyond me, but there you go – I’m not that sort of football fanatic. At 120 decibels at 3m range, it can cause permanent hearing loss.