Seventy Minus One Month

 Sunday evening, saw the culmination of a year of planning on how to celebrate my dear friend Jocelyn's seventieth birthday, when I wasn't going to be in Oz, on the 8 October.

A seed of an idea was sewn in January, when I saw this instagram post.

Instagram then kept feeding me wonderful ideas. I kept saving them on my laptop desktop, in a folder named Joc ideas. By April I had a plan, as in the title above. This past Sunday evening, 8 September, the Hungry Hikers had the most wonderful evening of elegance, celebrating Joc's almost 70 years.

As my friends are very much in travel mode, I sent a date claimer in April.

And this one a week ago.

My wonderful friend, Lyndell has a beautiful garden and pergola. My cousin Sue, a large gazebo. Rebecca has folding tables and large white table cloths. Janice came on board as a photographer. I already had a few drapes from my cousin's seventieth. I am so very grateful for all their generous assistance. It was a perfect evening.

Arrival of the birthday cake with sparklers.

As of April, there were many, many projects creating lanterns, candle holders, serviette rings, floral ice balls for the wine bucket and growing violas and pansies to press for use in these creations. Number one on the list was a book of my years of friendship with Joc. 

In 1974, my second year of teaching, I had been transferred to the central Queensland town of Biloela. I loved this rural town, but my year of teaching was stressful to the extreme. The education department provided government accommodation, as the majority of the staff were city folk transferred in for their country service of 3 years. I had had a lovely flatemate, but as she was getting married, her room was vacant. My principal informed me that my new flatmate would be the Inspector's daughter! I was horrified, but here we are, 49 years later, the closest of friends.

By midday Sunday the garden and gazebo were looking wonderful and Lyndell and I wished we could just relax and enjoy the sunny day with its gentle breeze.

I had managed to keep my plans under wraps totally, even though my hiking friends had offered to help on numerous occasions. They arrived at our home at 6pm. Frank greeted them and when all had assembled handed them each an envelope containing a message card and eye shade.

Frank drove the two locals, Laurel and Jayne. Leanne was the driver for the Brisgang and had been prewarned she would have to drive further.

They all followed these instructions completely, although Joc did sneak this pic of Jenny.

Arrival

Sadly the flower ice balls melted quickly.

Canapes under the pergola.

Gift time.

Joc loves cows so there was a little cow theme to the evening. I rafrely have tme to paint but I created these coasters for her.

Dinner

The birthday cake

Coffee was enjoyed back under the Pergola. It turned out that I wasn't the only one going to be absent for the actual October birthday. Laurel, on behalf of the HUngry Hikers had created an amazingly creative book, featuring our hiking photos with humorous captions. I wish I had a page ort two to share. Equally funny was the box of bottles.

The beautiful Lyndell, who generously supported me to create this very memorable evening.

This finds me completing this post at Dubai airport with our flight to London about to board. Please excuse its rushed nature.

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The Changing Face of our River

Neville Bonner Bridge

Just over a week ago, our third pedestrian bridge across the Brisbane River was opened.  It was paid for by the consortium that delivered the new Queen's Wharf precinct, but as of the opening, it is now owned by the State Government.

On Wednesday, the Hungry Hikers took our first walk across this beautiful addition to the river.

320 metres in length. Height of the mast 77 metres above sea level. 10,000 pedestrians per day expected to use it.

It was named in honour of the late Indigenous Senator, Neville Bonner AO.

We had our own small celebration for the bridges opening.

Coffee time beside a most unusual sculpture.

Queen's Wharf Precinct and The Star Brisbane

The Destination Brisbane Consortium has delivered this "multi-billion-dollar development, covering more than 12 hectares of CBD land. A vibrant urban playground for families to high flyers - world class hotels, delectable dining, unique entertainment options, spectacular sky-high views, casino and state-of-the-art Events Centre."

Taking the escalator to the first viewing level.

A lift then took us to the stunning Sky Deck with its almost 360 degree, spectacular views.

Photos are in a sequence of left to right along the river.

One section of the Sky Deck has a glass floor.

Three of the towers of Star Brisbane are connected by elevated walkways.

View to an outdoor lifestyle precinct [and the city], located between two of the towers.

Here I have lifted my camera for a higher city view. The river and Story Bridge can just be spotted.

My view when I turned around, after taking the previous images.

Back at all but street level, we are looking at one of the oldest city buildings. The Commissariat Store, now a museum.

The grand entrance from the city side.

This is the Rolls Royce Spectre that one of us is going to win in December!

                 Dazzling power. Effortless performance. Limitless freedom!"

A very impressive design and thankfully it will be very user friendly for ordinary folks and it also compliments the wonderful Southbank Parklands.

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