I am excited to share some of the adventures we have had these first couple weeks, but I will admit that they are mostly of playgrounds and trees that the boys have climbed. We are so blessed with three bedrooms to spread out into and pair up in at the Coffey’s! It’s much more than we could afford in the heart of the city. But the boys don’t have the freedom to run laps or climb railings or make jump piles like they did at home, so we are having fun exploring the big city we get to live in.
This is down on the river, in the heart of the city, a 20 minute walk from where we live. We really are living in the city! Paola helped me find hats at the local op shops (second hand), because the sun shines every day here. I am loving the climate!
But there are plenty of trees to climb, like these in Orleigh Park, also on the river, 15 minutes the other way. The boys love to chase the birds here. Stewart has fallen in love with the birds. He and Lewis talk about having a noisy miner for a pet.
See if you can spot Stewart. He was literally looking out above the top branches of this beautiful flowering tree. I haven’t learned the names of all the trees yet. I won’t feel at home really until I do. For now I am still marveling.
I think tree climbing runs in the family, on both sides.
This is part of their favorite playground, down at South Bank, near that first picture on the river. The playgrounds here are very challenging and adventurous. There’s also a huge public pool, man made beach, man made rocky stream, and fountains at South Bank. We’re finding that Brisbane seems to like kids.
Roma Street Parklands. We hiked quite a way to get here, because our second day we had to pass it by on our 3 hour hike to Chris’ campus. It was worth hiking back for. And Paola came with us!
Check out Wesley’s hair! Picked up some good static on this slide!
This is Muskgrave Park, probably the closest one. We also passed this one by on our first day, walking up from the train station with all our luggage. So we have been back a few times. There’s a great public pool there, but it’s empty right now because it’s still winter. But winter is still 70’s and sunny every day!
This is from today at a new park we found yesterday on Paradise Street. Doesn’t Wesley look like a little Aussie? There was an older boy climbing barefoot at this park, and I think the boys were talking the subtle lesson. There’s a communal clay oven with wood provided at this park that we hope to make wood fired pizzas in sometime.
Not sure if you can appreciate the steepness of this hill from this photo, but it’s the steepest I have ever hiked. This is on the way to Paradise Street Park. We found it because the bus goes by it on the ride to church. But we only ride the buses on the weekends when the kids are free. They’re getting pretty used to walking. Twill is usually the little koala on my back in the carrier, so that’s why he’s not in as many pictures. When all his brothers are in school I imagine he will get to spread his wings a bit.