On Sunday we went to the Einbunpin Festival.
The what?
Yes, the Einbunpin Festival. It was the 22nd Einbunpin Festival and, as you probably know, it takes place around the lagoon in Sandgate.
You didn’t know?
Well, if you really want to find out what the Einbunpin Festival is and, specifically, what a Bunpin is, then visit the Einbunpin Festival 2013 website and go straight to the page called What is the Bunpin?
This though, is what the lagoon and the festival around it looks like…
Effectively though, the Einbunpin Festival is a Sandgate Community Celebration; today’s post is also about celebrating Sandgate.
Sandgate, North East Brisbane
It only took us around 50 minutes or so to drive from the deepest south western suburbs of Brisbane to get to the north eastern suburb of Sandgate, which is on the coast. Last time we drove to Sandgate, we got as far as the pub on a hill overlooking the sea, although the weather was so atrocious all we could see was grey mist and rain and nothing of the bay.
It was a totally different story this weekend.
Sandgate and Shorncliff are sandwiched between Nudgee and Brighton beaches. I really like this part of Brisbane, and I loved Nudgee Beach; in my post about it I described it as Another Australian Surprise.
Brighton is one of the very few beaches around Brisbane that has a bit of sand, and you can see a video taken on that beach in my post Kitesurfing – More Australian Fun on the Beach.
About 10 kilometres further north from Brighton is Redcliffe which is easy to access by crossing the Houghton Highway; we went early in the year for Easter at the Festival of Sails.
So now you have a good idea of the area all around Sandgate, but what of Sandgate itself?
Before I bombard you with some pictures, I’ll just say that the place oozed character, had a great communal feel, reminded me much more of an English village than an Australian suburb and also boasted some great looking old historic buildings.
With cycle paths covering the entire length of the coastline there, what more could we possibly want?
How about a great looking pub for starters…
Okay, that’s the important architecture out of the way; let’s have a look around elsewhere…
Nip down this road to get to the sea…
See the kite surfer in the distance? Look closely…
Here he is again…
Okay, let me zoom in a bit…
That’s his kite anyway, he’ll be on the end of it somewhere. Oh, by the way, that’s the Houghton Highway that goes to Redcliffe you can see in the background. Back to the cycle path…
Yes, all great for a Sunday afternoon stroll, even in the middle of winter…
Time for just one more cool looking building before we go…
The place had such a good vibe it had Mrs Bobinoz asking about house prices. Last time she did that we were in North Shore, Sydney, which was hugely expensive. This place though, well, they have ‘our’ sort of prices, that’s for sure.
