We were all quite tired after the excitement of the wedding so we took things easy when we got back to Brisbane. There was a bit of excitement, however, when one of the bride's friends turned up with a HUGE present that had been too big to bring to the wedding.
We all wondered what it could be.
It took ages to unpack.
And then we saw that it was a lovely chest of drawers with a Union Jack painted on it. The bridegroom has a few things with Union Jacks on it because he likes to be reminded of home even if he is an Australian citizen now.
After we had cleared all the packing away, Mrs P said it would be a good idea to catch the River Cat into town. I wondered what on earth she meant! First of all we drove to Toowong and parked the car.
We walked past the Regatta Hotel, which is a famous pub in Brisbane. It is quote old and built in the traditional Queenslander style. Only the upstairs part is open at the moment because the Regatta was very badly damaged by the floods that happened last January and it is still being renovated.
When we got to the river, we saw this giant duck floating on the other side of the river.
When we saw the news later that night, we found out that the duck was there to advertise a duck race that was taking place on the river later that week.
I was still wondering what a River Cat might be. Seeing the giant duck on the river made me even more curious!
When it arrived, I realised that the River Cat is really a sort of bus that travels up and down the river. It is called a River Cat because it is a Catamaran. It's official name is CityCat. It's a great way to see Brisbane as the city is built around the river and you get to see it all while your sitting in the boat with a nice breeze to keep you cool. Here's a picture we took later after we got off.
Can you see the big blue building behind the Cat? That's one of the city council's buildings and the windows have been designed to look like didgeridoos. To the right hand side is the old Treasury Building which is now a casino.
Before we went to the city, we stopped off at GOMA, which is the gallery of modern art. We went to see an exhibition of indigenous art. That means art that was made by the traditional owners of Australia.
I thought these totem poles looked very similar to the didgeridoos on the side of the city council building.
These scary creatures are made to keep fire sticks safe. Here's some information about them:
My favourites were these little dogs. They look very fierce with all their teeth showing, don't they?
Here's some information:
After we had finished looking at the exhibition, we crossed the river and went to the city centre. In Australia, they call the city centre the CBD. This stands for Central Business District. There are a lot of posh shops there but Mr P and I soon got bored of shopping. The one thing I can say about the shops is that it is nice to get inside because the air-conditioning keeps you nice and cool. Mrs P got very excited because she saw a dress just like the one her sister had worn to the wedding in one of the very posh shops. She took this photo of it:
We will be saying goodbye to the bride and bridegroom tomorrow when they go off on their honemoon. We will be looking after Chilli while they are gone. Next we will be saying goodbye to Grandma and the Bridegroom's brother when they set off back to the UK. We are going to enjoy some family time together before they all set off.
I've put in a link so that you can visit the GOMA too.
Hooroo!
No comments:
Post a Comment