Christmas Colours and the Best of 2019

Tuesday 31 December

A quick catch up!

Two weeks before Christmas, my ladies choir sang Christmas Carols at a local Nursing Home. Here I am with my dear and radiant friend Janice, who has spent the past 9 months kicking breast cancer's butt!

A week before Christmas, five us took the opportunity to visit the lights of Government House. The grounds were open for an hour each evening that week.

In a street nearby, a local mailbox was delightfully dressed as Santa. 

Opposite was a colourful home. Their neighbour used lights to write "Ditto"!

The Hungry Hikers on their city Christmas hike! Cheers everyone!

St Stephens Cathedral  laser light show.

Entrance to The W Hotel.

City Christmas trees, spotted on our walk.

City Hall laser show - the story of Baby Koala trying to find a present for his parents.

Brisbane's Southbank Parkland has a long, bougainvilla covered walkway. Sections were made into a Christmas wonderland.

Final destination on our 11 km hike, was the Emporium Hotel for a Christmas glass of bubbles and its fine city view.

Southbank Parklands is in the foreground.

The 'best' of 2019.

January 2nd to be exact. 

Our Hungry Hiker's group were off to a great start. Hiking in heat and covering 15, steep kilometres. Alas, Mt Cordeau that we climbed and Mt MItchell in this view, have both been ravaged by the bushfires.

February

Daves Creek Circuit, Binna Burra - 12km. The 90 year old resort where the trail commences was totally destroyed by the fires. I'm not sure about this trail.

Rebecca was enjoying her first outing with the Gaiter Girls.

March

Cousins retruning to the Murray Scrub, to relive childhood picnics.

April

Hard to believe that we actually got to walk in rain at the beginning of the year - Kondalilla Falls.

May

Walking the Rail trail at Wamuran.

June

Memory of our Ireland visit. Cliffs of Kerry.

I just had to select 2 for June. We flew to Prince Edward Island from Dublin. Our darling Grandson Ben, came straight into our arms.

July

So many highlights of our PEI visit, but the lupins win.

August

From the lush green of PEI, the reality of our drought stricken countryside. The ranges in the distance were also ravaged by the fires in late November.

September

A coastal walk, with aqua sea and our famous Glasshouse Mountains in the distance. 

October

Return to PEI to celebrate Ben's 2nd birthday, with the bonus of witnessing true Autumn colours.

November

A coastal walk with our son Matthew, before he left for his new job in Austria.

December

Watching the storm clouds gather, only to be disappointed when they veered away from us. Christmas Eve, Santa made sure another storm brought us and many others a good, soaking inch of rain and cooler temperatures.

For the moment, this part of SE Queenland is faring well. My heart goes out to those in Southern Australia, suffering the castatrophic fire conditions this week  The images we are seeing are beyond belief.

As 2019 draws to a close as I write this, I wish you a Happy New Year and only the best things for 2020. It is my earnest hope, that fire and drought breaking rains are not far away. They will have to be extensive and soaking. Please no flooding!

I would love to read your comment.

Getting in the Festive Spirit

Wednesday 11 December

Festivity hadn't been our original plan. Several weeks prior to this walk, Hiker Leanne suggested an evening walk here at Shorncliffe Pier, to beat the heat and watch the full moon rise. The plan progressed with Leanne suggesting that if we put in money, she would provide prawns and salads to enjoy in the evening cool.

We all arrived in the carpark at 2.30pm. It was very warm, the wind was raging and visibilty was quite poor, but as you can see below, Leanne's afternoon tea provisions quickly had us finding not only our hiking spirits but those of Christmas too.

Setting off around the bay. 

Low tide and rough seas gave interesting vistas.

Of course we had to play as well as walk and talk and laugh and tease and ..............!

Six kilometres walked, we then reversed direction to return. The sky was filled with ominous stormy clouds. A quick check of our weather radar site, had us relieved that the storm would pass us by. It was heading to where it was definitely needed and some good falls were received.

Almost back and the high tide was crashing on the wall.

No specatacular sunset tonight.

It was now that we realised that Leanne had gone over and above her duty to provide us with sustenance for the evening.

This was not going to be an ordinary evening on the pier but one truely memorable.

Time to moon watch. We were not at all hopeful.

Our brief sighting!

Who wants to see the moon anyway! Dinner!

Windswept, but feeling filled with the Christmas spirit, we reluctantly returned to our cars about 9 pm. The Christmas spirit followed us home as we passed so many beautifully lit homes and buildings. This wonderful display [only 1/2 of it] was in the grounds of a church.

A fabulous night with these fabulous women! Twelve kilometres walked and  a delicious gourmet spread in an elegant setting, thanks to Leanne's culinary artistry. We really didn't care about the sulky moon.

I would love to read your comment.