Even a little more Brisbane

We got back to Brisbane on December 16, 2013 and we tried hard to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit. It just doesn't feel like Christmas when it is 30+ degrees outside and you are constantly sweating from the humidity! It also didn't help that Woody is basically Scrooge and doesn't like Christmas at all, hahaha.

Since Woody had just started his summer holidays he had a big "to do" list so we spend a few days helping him around his house, checking things off his list. Basically, we helped him prep and paint one of his spare rooms. We also took some time to catch up on our Blockbuster movie watching. We went to see both Catching Fire and The Hobbit 2. Both were very good movies.

One weekend while we were in Brisbane, Jeff had his cousins staying with him, so we hit up an airBnB apartment in a different part of Brisbane called New Farm. It was such a nice area - right on the Brisbane river, with tons of parks, interesting restaurants and shops around. We had such a good weekend exploring the area. One day we went to South Bank to a man made beach they have there and spent the day lying in the sand and swimming in the water. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was nice and hot. Perfect for a few swims! We also decided to try stand up paddle boarding for the first time. It was a little scary because we did it on the Brisbane river on a day when it was really windy and the water was pretty choppy, but neither of us fell in and we actually really liked it. It was pretty easy and relaxing for the most part, and a really nice way to see the city.

Once we were back at Woody's place it was pretty much Christmas. His family was nice enough to invite us to their Christmas luncheon. Both of his brothers, parents and a few others were there celebrating together. Lunch was amazing - it started out with fresh crab, shrimp and oysters and was followed up with a full turkey meal. And if that wasn't enough, there was 3-4 different desserts too and to booze just kept on flowing! We ate our faces off and got a little day drunk and had a great Christmas!

 

Since Christmas we have done a bit of relaxing, a bit of prepping for our trip to New Zealand and a few other exciting things. We went to the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament the other day and saw Maria Sharapova play. She is totally OCD when she plays tennis. She has all these funny things that she does like when she is receiving a serve she has to slap her left thigh twice before she's ready and when she walks on and off the court, or around the court, she never steps on any of the painted lines. It's hilarious! But it was cool to see her and a few other people play.

We also spent about 3 hours one night just watching this wicked lightening storm that hit Brisbane. Woody lives in a house with a big balcony on the front and not much blocking his view from northern Brisbane so we had a pretty spectacular view for the lightening storm and it was amazing to watch. Dave even managed to get a few cool pictures of the lightening.

 

We didn't plan on doing much for New Years Eve because we had to be at the airport at 6:30 am on Jan 1 to catch our flight to Christchurch. We got some food and made a delicious meal - mussels, steak, corn, mashed potatoes, cheesecake and lots of wine and beer. Then we decided to go downtown to watch the fireworks display over the river. It was a great show and we weren't ready for our night to end so we headed over to the casino and spent a few hours there. Dave and Woody played roulette (both won some money too!) while I did a lot of people watching...the crowd was amazing and I could have stayed for hours. But we were all getting a bit tipsy (or a lot tipsy in my case) and we had to be up early so we headed home just after we rang in 2014.

We have really enjoyed our time in Brisbane and we are so thankful to Jeff for letting us stay at his house. We always felt so welcomed and it was a great home away from home. But, now we are on to our next adventure...New Zealand here we come!