Merry Christmas!!!

Don't touch! This one is mine only!

Ever heard about Trifle?? That's the dessert on the picture. Might be something to bring home to Sweden.

Christmas day today and TV is, and have been for a few days, full of christmas shows and parades. I'm still a bit confused about their fascination for everything that has to do with winter.
There are snowmen, snow landscapes, reindeers, father christmas in winter clothes and millions of christmas trees of a type that wouldn't even grow here. The european heritage is strong 😀

It's still burning. The bush fires are the worst ever and this week two fire fighters lost their lives. An extra thought at Christmas celebrations to those who continue their brave work over the holidays.

Myself is today going away for a pacific holiday. At 4.10 pm I'm off to New Caledonia!


This was obviously popular so here it comes again with another video! Aussie Jingle Bells!

Cheers

In a rusty Holden ute!

It's christmas time. Or chrissie as they of course say here. And although there is summer and a normal day is around 30 degrees celsius the decoratios are all about Santas, snow, reindeers and snowmen. It feels a bit weird to start with but you get used to it.

Christmas trees and decorations in every store

A somewhat kitchy reindeer

Xmas holidays here are a bit like our summer holidays at home. You are more or less forced, or at least expected to take a few weeks off.
They don't celebrate xmas eve like we do in Sweden, it's actually a normal working day. Xmas day is the big thing but also boxing day is a public holiday.
One big difference in the xmas food here is that they eat a lot of seafood. Besides the ham (that doesn't taste at all like our marinated swedish, you got to have loads of prawns.

Santa looks happy. Wonder why...

In Brisbane there is a xmas parade in the city every night during december which is very popular.

Angels in the parade

And finally... Santa himself!

Also every night there is an animated film that is projected on the town hall building. This year about a koala searching for the christmas spirit, together with his friends, a kookaburra bird and a kangaroo.

Animated movie on the town hall

I'll leave you with the Australian version of Jingle Bells, really fun lyrics actually! For you not familiar with Australian cars, Holden was an Australian car maker that unfortunately closed down manufacturing in October 2017. (Strangely enough same month as I left last time...)

In a rusty Holden ute

Cheers

A stinker week

It's been hot in Queensland. Well, actually in entire Australia. This week started off at around 32 degrees here in Brisbane and then got warmer by the day until the peak was reached yesterday at 39.
We actually topped the leaderboard among the bigger cities as you can see on the map.
Luckily it has been a very dry heat this time. Relative humidity has been around 10% which makes the heat bearable.
Yesterday it was even a little bit windy which gives you the funny feeling of walking with a giant big hairdryer blowing your face.

But the best way to spend such days is of course by the beach or the pool, which I chose.

The haziness in the pic comes from the bushfires around that unfortunately don't get better from the dry windy heat. In fact the bushfires is still a massive disaster and we don't see an end of it.

This coming week will be cooler going back to more normal temperatures. Today we might get a thunderstorm with hopefully some rain

Tonight I'm going to a xmas party arranged by the swedish club here in Brisbane. Looking forward to some nice food. Hope they have Jansson!

Cheers

ps Stinker is aussie slang for a very hot day...

A car! ...and the Bee Gees

This week I picked up the little pearl on these pictures. Hope we're gonna be best friends for a a while

There are a few issues. A chirping sound from the engine when on idle made me think I had a bird under the bonnet but none flew out when I opened...
The power window on the driver side will not last long I'm afraid. Don't dare to open it as I'm not sure it will be possible to close one more time.
Those things need to be fixed but otherwise it seems to be driving ok. No surprises.

So this weekend of course we went on a road trip, my blue friend and I. Redcliffe became the selected destination. Redcliffe is, besides being a quite nice little town by the sea, known for it's many fish restaurants and Yabbey Road is said to have the best Fish and Chips in the Brisbane region.

It's just a little hole in the wall but obviously very popular. The F&C was served in paper just as the tradition dictates. The fish was perfectly cooked and very yummy. Not sure about the fries though. Thought they had a bit bitter taste

Redcliffe's big sons are the Bee Gees. Well, actually they were from the UK but the family emigrated to Australia and they were living in Redcliffe when they got their break through. Haha, I always thought they were Californian...
Anyway, in Redcliffe they have got their own laneway with pictures, information and statues.

On the way up along the coast I passed Shorncliffe with the pier and Sandgate. As you can see it was a quite windy day although the temperature was +31 !

Cheers