"Welcome to sunny Queensland!"

Many of you have asked about what the difference is between Brisbane and Queensland. Think of it this way...Queensland (featured below in the green) is the state we live in. It is known for the sunny, tropical weather because of how close its proximity is to the equator. We are in the city of Brisbane (3rd largest) and the suburb of Carina Heights. Sydney (where the Pope visited this week for World Youth Day, and where the 2000 Olympics were) is also on the east coast, but further south (in the state of New South Wales, in the blue). Melbourne is in the brown, in South Australia. Make more sense? We just love living in sunny Queensland, where everyone is very relaxed and the weather is very warm. Here are some other reasons why we love it here in Brisbane (pronounced "briz-bin"):

This is the giant tree behind our townhouse which houses many varieties of birds, most of which like to talk and sing all day. They are hard to spot but Summer's favorites are the colorful little "Rainbow Lorikeets". See a pic HERE

Our neighbors around us have heaps of beautiful plants that naturally grow in their gardens. (Not sure what either of these are, but they are pretty!)

Speaking of neighbors....we met the friendly 83 year olds Aussies Ken and Dorothy, who live in the house behind us. They have been living in that house since 1949! They started to build their original home on this property during WWII, but there were barely any materials left to use in Aussie due to the war. Here is Ken showing the boys the cool stuff he fabricates in his workshop all day. These two are lovely and have lots of stories about Brisbane since the 50's!

Here is the first night of the "Brisbane Festival", the city's annual cultural 2 week festival, celebrating Aboriginal and modern art, theater, music and culture. We went to this free outdoor concert to hear these awesome bands play instruments like the didgeridoo.

Loads of people came out to partake in the music, but it seemed we Americans we the only ones who didn't know the words to most of the songs. ;) We learned that much of the music we heard this night was written from the famous Australian Aboriginal musician Jimmy Little

The next day we also checked out the "Running of the Kites"....an all day kite festival for professional "kite teams" and locals to fly their kites! What a beautiful day to fly a kite...(Can you spot the mermaid one in the background? It was Summer's favorite!)

No post is complete without blogging about (another) trip to the beach. We just adore the beach, and lucky for us they are less than an hour away from where we live! Here we are enjoying winter weather again, in the popluar "Surfer's Paradise", on the Gold Coast....we bought some beach gear to use as soon as it hits summertime. Can't wait to surf here!!


Lastly....thanks to all our mates and family back home who have been sending us care packages! We love getting stuff from home. We found out today that the Aussie government digs through your packages en route to Brisbane to throw out some products like foods that don't meet their agricultural standards. We weren't aware of this, so we're very sorry in advance if we don't get some of what you send! :(