Welcome to my blog. Here you will find my adventures with my family and friends. Thanks so much for stopping by.

I'm so enjoying this wonderful world of blogging where I have met and made so many new friends.

Please leave a comment when you drop by so I can visit your blog and get to know you too
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Monday, December 7, 2009

WHERE I LIVE

In answer to a request from Sandy ( Teacup Lane (http://www.teacuplane-sandy.blogspot.com/ ) I'm going to tell you a little about where I live.
Most of my blog friends from the UK will know a bit about Australia, after all we were an English colony and are part of the British Commonwealth, but those of you from Canada and USA may not know too much about us.

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I live in Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland. Our city has a population of about 2 million and sits on the Brisbane River about 60 miles inland and not far from the border with New South Wales.



Our city has grown up in the last 20 years. In 1988 we hosted EXPO 88 and since then our city has really developed. The centre of the city, or "town " as we call it, is now a thriving centre with a growing number of tall buildings and the suburbs radiate out from there in all directions for quite a long way a - a big sprawling city.



I live in one of those outer suburbs about 40 minutes from the city (town )...


... in a newish housing development so there is still house building going on all around us which, in our climate,  means we live with lots of DUST!



Where the EXPO was, is now a busy parkland along the river right in the centre of town. We call it  Southbank. There are restaurants, public BBQs , picnic areas and a beautiful purpose built beach where anyone can go for the day to swim, picnic and laze in the sun.





For free!!
Open to all and right in the heart of the city.


Needless to say it is very popular and well used, especially in our hot summer weather.

About 60 miles away on the coast we have the lovely beaches of our Gold Coast where Surfers Paradise is the best known resort beach.




To the north we have another set of beautiful beaches we call the Sunshine Coast. They are a little further ( perhaps 100miles ) and stretch a long way to the north. Noosa , Mooloolaba and Caloundra are some of the beaches there.




We are famous for our beaches and surf and I think you would be hard pressed to find better beaches anywhere in the world. Our sand is white and fine and squeeks when you walk in it. It gets so hot you can burn your feet on a hot day and the water is blue and clean and never goes below 20 degrees - usually its about 26 - 27 in the Summer. Surfing and going to the beach is a very large part of our way of life because on the whole our weather is fine and warm to hot.

Well that's a little about where I live. Hope I haven't droned on too much.

I'd love to hear more about where you live.

Cheers.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Helsie,
    What a wonderful post! I must admit I don't know much about your beautiful country. I saw a TV series years ago called "A Town Named Alice" and enjoyed it so much. Thanks for showing me where you live and posting those great pictures. Now when I go to your blog I have a feeling of where you are at. My hubby & I live in SE PA about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia and about 2 miles from the border of Wilmington, Delaware. My hubby was born in Pittsburgh, PA (west part of PA). We never EVER thought we would live here. But about ten years ago my hubby's company was bought by a company with their headquarters in Philadelphia (Philly). So we moved from the Chicago, Illinois area to here. PA is a beautiful state - it is hilly and has mountains and billions of trees. We love to shop in Delaware because they are a tax free state - there is no sales tax on most items purchased there. We don't live in a town but in a rural area near small towns - our township is small just 6 square miles. We were both raised in the state of Ohio and we met at college in Ohio in Philosophy of Law class. We both at the time lived on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio but in different towns. It is funny where life takes you but we are very happy here in PA. We like it better than Chicago, IL and we lived there 25 years. The only problem is our families are still in Ohio. Thanks again for showing me where you live.

    Teacup Lane (Sandy)

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  2. Hi Helsie,
    Thanks for stopping by my blog! I've just loved this post. So interesting to see where others live. The scenery is beautiful. How will you be spending Christmas? I really like the idea of a purpose built beach! Wow! It sounds great. Those beaches too are out of this world.
    I'll be back soon,
    Hugs and LOve Suex

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  3. Hi Helsie - Great photos and explainations of the area. I made it to Expo 88 and loved it, just wore myself out with all the walking and looking. I have family who live on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and some still live near Ballina, so I am very familiar with the area as at least one or two trips a year were made up there over the last 30 odd years.
    Maria

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