Brisbane Is Not on the Beach, But……

… it doesn’t do bad for sun, sea and sand. I’ve been meaning to write a post about the South Bank Parklands for some time now, but for some reason I never seemed to get around to it. Until today.

I showed you a glimpse of the Parklands a few weeks ago but felt it inappropriate to gloat about it in view of Europe’s ice age. But as some parts of Europe have now started to defrost, the Parklands are no longer taboo.

As I’ve mentioned, Brisbane may not be on the beach, but we do have this……….

….looks like a beach, doesn’t it?

There are also a couple of play areas and as you can see, the river in the background as well as the city.

Given that this was Sunday, it was the middle of February and therefore the height of summer, obviously it was crowded. But probably no more crowded than between the flags would be at any popular beach. And if you were to turn up around this time, you’d still be able to find a patch of sand you could call your own.

My little girl and her friend didn’t have any problem establishing an area to build sand castles in and they were soon accompanied by a third little girl who just seamlessly joined in.

Just behind this lagoon there is a “lifestyle” street market that is open all day, (Sundays) as well as a selection of cafes and for those who are interested, a pub.

Admittedly, you won’t be catching any waves, so you can leave your surfboard at home. But at the same time, you’re not going to get bitten by a shark swimming in this man made lagoon, are you? Well, no one has so far!

So, all in all, South Bank Parklands is a pretty good beach substitute. And the kids just love it!

But this wasn’t any old Sunday in February. This was……

Valentine’s Day in Australia.

Yep, we have it too.

And when this appeared in the sky above us at South Bank Parklands, my wife got a little excited.

You see, it was about 3:30 PM and she still hadn’t yet received any kind of Valentine’s Day present. Could this be it?

She watched with bated breath.

Slightly deflated, realising it was now unlikely to be a message for her, she took to trying to guess what it would be. We all joined in. BeninOz was the first to come up with a theory, “Call 0891 211211 now and arrange your dream date for tonight”.

Hmmm? Possibly Ben, let’s see.

Mrs BobinOz said “it’s going to be call me”, which we all agreed would not be very romantic at all. I suggested the plane was going to double back to add a U to spell Callum.

But we were all wrong. The message was…..

Call Mum? Call Mum? What kind of Valentine message is that? What is all that about? Well, romance is alive and kicking in Australia, at least we do have Valentine’s Day, but perhaps a little more work is needed on these romantic messages.

Although we suspected that this message was the work of Telstra, the national phone company. Who else would possibly want to pay for a message like that?

Not me, that’s for sure. It wasn’t you, was it? No?

Strewth!

Mum, was it you? Crikey, that’s spooky……