Brisbane's steepest street

When Rene was a postie delivering in the Red Hill, Kelvin Grove, Paddington areas, he always spoke of Stoneleigh Street in Red Hill. It is extremely steep, in fact part way up the footpath breaks into steps. He left Australia Post a year ago this week. He doesn't miss it at all. His business is coming together well. Check this space soon for the launch. Meanwhile, the local ABC radio station set about discovering Brisbane's steepest street, and sure enough, Stoneleigh Street Red Hill got the guernsey. You can check it out here
http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/stories/s1964613.htm

A walk through Indigenous landscapes

This Saturday Rene and I are attending a one day workshop which is designed to provide an opportunity to walk briefly in the footsteps of Indigenous peoples. The workshop will focus on taking us on a journey to a greater understanding of:

- Barriers that inhibit effective communication with Indigenous peoples

- Three stages of Indigenous evolution - traditional, transitional, contemporary

- Impact of past events and issues on Indigenous Australians today

- Core factors that contribute to their disadvantage

- Diversity of Indigenous Australia people - urban, rural and remote.

I'll report next week on how it all went.

Post Dentist Post

My mouth is sort of itchy, I want to scratch it, but relief is not at hand. Yes, the dentist has had my custom today. In fact I went yesterday after flossing the night before and having something pop into the vanity basin as I rinsed. My dental work from yesterday also popped out as I inadvertently chewed on the tooth whilst eating cereal at brekkie this morning. We're having soft food for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow night it's nearly all soft food. We have five guests for dinner and this time I'm cooking (Rene did it last time). We begin with Chorizo Gumbo, a soup made with the famous Spanish sausage, potato, leek, cayenne and vegetable stock (yummmm!!). Next is my fabulous (modest aren't I) onion and mushroom risotto which has five types of mushrooms in it (including porcini dried mushrooms). To finish off we'll be having a German chocolate pudding served in a Belgian chocolate cup and topped by a single scoop of dark/white chocolate ice cream. I'll let you know how it all goes. I'm not a fan of cooking, but one has to, but I definitely DO like eating good food. If you'd like a copy of the recipe/s let me know.

Rain at last

Brisbane and the South East (of Queensland) has actually received some reasonable rain, the best falls in the last two years. Around 4 inches (100mL) has been deposited across the region, sadly we still need much, much more. With our average dam storage at 18% it will take the floods that are plaguing East Gippsland and the Hunter regions down south to fix our water problems, but at least it has given the community here a sense of hope. Oh, I should also mention that it has been very cold here in Brisbane. Two days ago it was a min of 16C, max of 16C here. Today I think it has been 7-15. We're off next week for several days to North Stradbroke Island just off Brisbane in Moreton Bay. 'Straddie' is my favourite place on the planet. We'll be there with a few friends for a delightfully relaxing mid winter break. Walks on the beach, a roaring fire, the sound of the surf, good food and great wine, friends and conversation...doesn't get much better.

The New Boeing Dreamliner

This week the first Boeing 787 'Dreamliner' left the assembly plant in Seattle for final painting. It looks very smart, especially the enormous powerful engines. This airliner is very significant for Brisbane because when it comes into service next year, this city will get many more connections to many more places with non stop services to cities in the USA that currently need a change of plane on LAX or SFO. Greater frequencies will also come from this airliner since it's smaller than a 747 but capable of flying slightly longer distances.

1974 revisited

I found this picture of an old Comet 4 from Dan-Air in London. This pic is from 1969, but I flew it from London Gatwick to Le Bourget (Paris) in 1974. The short flight was memorable for several reasons; the aircraft was a Comet 4, the best and last of a line of aircraft that were infamous for exploding and falling out of the air. This fact did not inspire confidence as we ascended the stairs of this charter airliner. Another fact was that upon takeoff it made very loud noises, together with a rhythmic shudder that went through the craft for the whole flight. The final nail in this unforgetable flight was the announcement by the hostie that we were coming into land at Copenhagen. She corrected herself quickly after realising the loud murmur erupted from the assembled passengers who all thought they were arriving in France. Yes, you guessed it, she got it wrong. The aircraft was continuing on to Denmark. This was 1974 and my first experience of a cut price airline. 30+ years later cheap flying has improved immensely.

Opera House Heritage Listed

The Sydney Opera house has been placed on the World Heritage List. It takes its place on the register among more than 800 sites of outstanding cultural and natural significance, including China's Great Wall and India's Taj Mahal.
Australia now has 17 world heritage listed sites, ranging from the Great Barrier Reef and Tasmania's south-west Wilderness, to Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Buildings.
The Sydney Opera House is the youngest building to achieve World Heritage Listing. (source ABC News)