Brisbane has some wonderful weather, and we can go from clear blue skies to dark, to dangerous clouds, to blue skies all within an afternoon. Saturday was a lovely day and the that afternoon storm hit. I had gone outside to get some shots of the clouds as it came across when lightening hit nearby. I was rushing back indoors as the rain and hail hit. It was pretty spectacular. I didn't get many shots but here they are.

I've been on a bit photo binge the last few months, my favourite subject the architecture and sites in Brisbane. From South Bank to the Fortitude Valley I have snapped shots of buildings I used to take for granted.

South Bank/South Brisbane

Brisbane

Fortitude Valley/The Valley/Tenneriffe

I love my coffee. My friends and family all know this and pander to my expansive diatribes on the topic. I do not like to put them through it too often though.

This afternoon I visited Brew in Brisbane for the first time. I have been walking past Burnett Lane off Albert Street (Adelaide Street end) for months and always say "I must go there one day." Well this afternoon I did, and I enjoyed it greatly.


Walking down that alley you are not quite sure what to expect.  There is a small chalk board and some stools arranged at the end of the alley. There does not appear to be a barista in sight. It is not until you get just inside the entrance that you realise there is much more to Brew than meets the eye from Albert Street.


There is music, and art (photography at the moment), food and beverages from coffee to wine and beer and spirits. Although we only had time to sample the coffee today I am dying to go back and try some of the tapas, snacks and cheeses they have on offer. 

The barista was friendly and helpful. She had a great sense of humour and spent time talking to her customers while providing great service. The coffees came out with a couple chocolate covered coffee beans, a personal favourite. The music was unobtrusive. It provided great background to chat, but at the same time you could hear the other person speaking. The layout also helped with this and even though there were people seated within a few feet I never once overheard their conversation.


I was so impressed with the coffee and service at Brew that I am planning on taking a friend there tomorrow. I can only hope that she enjoys it as much as I. Photos to come...


More reviews of Brew here...

I know I normally stick to looking at Brisbane, local events and photography, and while the following doesn't exactly look at these, it does look at events taking place this month. It seems these days that months of the year are being adopted by different events or charities. Of course we are all familiar with Oktoberfest, a glorious German tradition that had been adopted throughout the globe. Over the last few years we have also become familiar with Movember, raising money for a great cause. This year however I have seen the clash of the October festivals.

Black Forrest Cafe Restaurant (Highgate Hill)

Tradtionally October has been a month long salute to good beer, good friends and good times. I myself have participated in beer tastings, wonderful meals at the Black Forrest Cafe (Highgate Hill), and general revellry. When I started seeing the media for Ocsober I became a little intrigued. And then I heard about Orktoberfest. Yes Orks, Warhammer 40K Orks to be precise.


So what are these events on this month?


According to the Ocsober Website - 
"Ocsober is a fundraising initiative that encourages people to give up alcohol for the month of October. The money raised goes to Life Education, the organisation behind the iconic educational mascot, Healthy Harold. For over 30 years, our loveable giraffe has been teaching Australian children how to enjoy a healthy lifestyle by resisting participation in drug and alcohol abuse. This year, Ocsober aims to raise $750,000 to help Life Education and Healthy Harold go into even more schools across Australia."
A worthy cause, and I understand that focusing on drug and alcohol abuse during a time of year when people may take alcohol to the excess.

Orktoberfest
What is Orktoberfest? It is a massive Miniatures game called Warhammer 40K. People all over the world buy, build and paint their own armies then meet up in a large tournament environment during October to do battle. These events happen all over the world. Here is some youtube footage of some of the miniatures ready to do battle.




I suppose the marketing world could continue along this vein if they wanted to. Let's see, there could be Sanuary (promoting workplace sanity), oh and as February already has Valentines Day, why not make it Heartuary focusing on Cardio-Vascular health.  Really, the list could go on for all the months of the year. It can be a clever marketing tool for the right event, but an overuse of the one marketing ploy can also desensitise people and what may start off as a clever idea could lead turn out to be hurtful to a campaign.

Okay, so this was a couple months ago, but as I have been a bit lazy on the blogging front I thought I better get back on board.

After a long public transport trip (Translink, please do a direct bus to the Gold Coast from the rail line. It would be great for tourism) we arrived at Sea World. HUngry from our trip we decided to indulge in a snack before venturing through the park. We then had to protect our food from seagulls galore.

One of the highlights of the day for me was seeing the dolphins. I don't know why but I always feel the heart strings being pulled when I see them. We also visited the Polar Bears, penguins and the aquarium. All in all it was a fun day, although we were disappointed that some of the rides were out of order, or were just not working properly. Seriously, when it comes to 4D movies, Movie World was much better.