During our stay in Oz I have found Australians to be open,
friendly, helpful and a lot of fun. They can also be very direct and forthright
with their views. So why is it that so many respond with the statement, "Eh...
yeah, no." when answering a simple, unambiguous question? And why is
it that Telstra mobile stores do not have a simple procedure for reversing
duplicated transactions? (After 30 minutes they gave up, leaving both
transactions in the system and giving us $100 from the petty cash.) And just
what is the point of modern art. These questions and more we sought to resolve
on our first day in central Brisbane (Brizzie).
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Enough said. |
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Brizzie skyline from the City Hopper, a free river ferry service. |
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Frequent costume failures but powerful nonetheless. |
On returning to dry land we wandered down Queen Street , a largely pedestrianised
road that houses many restaurants, bars and cafes. We were fortunate to catch a
free performance by a Torres
Island dance troupe. The
dances were fascinating, even to an acknowledged arts-phobe like me. It was
also not without humour as they kept having costume failures. Juices of all
persuasion are very popular here and we downed a 'Morning After' during the
performance. We felt very righteous as we sipped our carrot, apple and ginger
which lasted only until we later tucked into paella at a food market by the
river.
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Old Government House, Brisbane |
In the afternoon we wandered through another beautiful tropical
garden before popping into an art exhibition at the Queensland University of
Technology. The campus was adjacent to the gardens and quite possibly one of
the most attractive we have ever seen. Sadly the art exhibition failed to
excite. As previously hinted, I have a boredom threshold for all things arty
and this typically kicks in after about 30 minutes. I know, call me a
philistine but, unless I'm involved in its creation, I lose interest very
quickly. And this is particularly true for modern art, which to my eyes always
looks like it's been created by a year-seven art class. This particular
exhibition featured the work of a Philippine husband and wife team who sought
to show how difficult it was for them to journey to Oz. Regrettably my only
response was that perhaps they shouldn't have bothered.
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Painting by numbers? You decide. |
After this we popped next door to the Old Government House which
was constructed to accommodate the first Governor of Queensland, Sir George
Bowen, and his family in the mid 19th century. It's an imposing building
that must have made quite a statement in its day. Today it's largely empty
except for a permanent exhibition of the works of a well-regarded 20th century
Australian artist, William Robinson. Fo enjoyed the surreal farmyard scenes but
all I saw was yet more year-seven painting-by-numbers.
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The Lamington; light, fluffy and far too sweet - an iconic Australian. |
One of Australia 's
famous culinary features is the Lamington, which may have been invented at the
house in 1900 by the cook Armand Gallan (a Frenchman inevitably) during the
time of the Queensland Governor, Lord Lamington. In an effort to create a novel
high tea, the chef dipped some leftover sponge cake into a light chocolate
sauce, then rolled the resulting cake in coconut. Other conflicting opinions
suggest it was actually first created at the Governor’s house in Toowomba or
that it wasn’t the chef at all but a kitchen maid who created it. During a
particularly hot day she accidentally dropped the Governor's favourite sponge
cake into some melted chocolate. Not a person of wasteful habits, Lord
Lamington suggested that it be dipped in coconut to cover the chocolate to
avoid messy fingers. Whatever the source, Fo loves it and I hate it – far too
sweet.
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Oh joy, more modern art. |
By late afternoon we were pooped so grabbed an early sun-downer in
a riverside bar before catching a bus back to base. Initial impressions? We
like Brizzie.
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