Redcliffe

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On Sunday we drove out to Redcliffe to investigate the Aerodrome where we fly out on Wednesday for Lady Elliot Island. Redcliffe is a little to the north of Brisbane and one of the closest beaches. When we were in Brisbane years ago we used to drive there and go swimming. There's a long beach area on the east side facing Moreton Bay and a bit on the south. The airport is on the north side on Deception Bay and there's quite a bit of swamp area there. Redcliffe is not an ideal spot for swimming — the water here is quite shallow and a bit muddy, it might be reclaimed mangrove swamp as is much of the area around Brisbane, but there is a long sandy beach. If you want nice sandy beaches you ought to go south to the Gold Coast or north to Bribie Island, Coulandra and even further to Noosa Heads.

Redcliffe used to be a fairly quiet and, frankly, uninteresting modest suburb. But things have changed since we were last here. We easily found our way to the airport (it's about 45 minutes by car from our AirBnB in New Farm) and went looking for a nice restaurant we had read about along the water front. Today there seems to be an event/street fair of some sort with streets closed. Streets that are much more interesting, more trendy, than ever before.  We can't get close to the restaurant we hoped to go to and Kate is unable to walk very far. So, we end up driving along the water front and stop at Scotts Point which is near the south end of the eastern waterfront/beach area. Having not been able to get into the fine restaurant we had planned we ended up having "Fish & Chips" from a small shop that was incredibly busy.

After a long wait at the chip shop we enjoyed our lunch and met even more "Bin Chickens" who wished to join us for their dinner. On the way back we explored the Sandgate beach area (south of Redcliffe and north of the airport) before heading off to meet with Ross and Bev,

That evening we met up with Ross and Bev's family for a pizza party at their son Chris's place near Griffith University. It was a fun family gathering with a lot of very nice kids. Chris, who was just a kid not that many years ago, has a son of his own — River is a young active footballer (footie?). Naomi's son is an informed well spoken young man and Jacquie has a newborn of her own. We even ended up talking over Skype (or some similar technology) with Tim, the elder son, who is a lawyer in Sydney. It's a well connected supportive family that we've known for years now.

Now, Kate has been struggling with nerve pain where she had an ankle replacement last year. I've explained the limitations to Ross and he's kindly waiting for us at the curb when we arrive to help Kate in. All of that has worked well. Unfortunately, when we were leaving in the dark, Kate tripped in the driveway, fell and wrenched her other ankle. Over the next few days we are coping with this set back and preparing for our trip to Lady Elliot Island — should we stay or should we go and forfeit what we've paid?

We got Kate home and into the house that night. We bought her crutches the next day (Monday) from the pharmacy down the street as she was simply unable to walk unassisted. At Bev's urging we ended up taking Kate to a sports/physiotherapy clinic in our neighborhood. We had been thinking that we should go to a Hospital Emergency but Bev was right. A podiatrist examined her injury, put her in a removable plastic boot and sent us for an MRI at another clinic to make sure the injury wasn't as bad as he feared. He ended up giving us a detailed report on the injury and the MRI results that we shared with our doctor when we returned home. She had never seen an MRI or an MRI report of an ankle injury; I guess they're too scarce in Ontario to waste on ankle injuries. Fortunately, though we weren't much out of pocket, it was fully covered by our travel insurance.

I worried about Kate's injuries but she soldiered on.

Eric Bogle, New Farm Powerhouse

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We were really excited to see Eric Bogle (born 1944) at the Brisbane Powerhouse here in New Farm, QLD with our friends Ross and Bev. It was a full house in a smallish concert hall. 

Eric had a small backing group — violin (Emma Luker), percussion (Jon Jones) and guitar (Peter Titchener) — that accented the music perfectly. It was a great low key show with lots of stories between songs over two long sets (7:30-10:00). He sang many of our favorites and I'm not ashamed to say he brought us to tears. We've learned his long time writing and playing companion John Munro (1947 - 2018) had died here in Brisbane some 6 years ago. As the song goes, "There must be a reason for it all ..." (from "Scraps of Paper" 1981).

We were first introduced to Eric Bogle's music through our friend Mike. I think he showed us "The Green Fields of France" (aka "No Man's Land") in a version by the Irish band the Fureys. This would have been back in the very early 1980's. Soon after we discovered his music again through the Pogues and their version of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" from "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" (1985). We have been lucky enough to see him at the Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, ON), the Roxy Theatre (Owen Sound, ON) and the University of Western Australia (Perth, WA) over these many years. We are especially lucky to see him today.

The Powerhouse is an old industrial building on the shore of the river not too far from our AirBnB. If we were anyone else we might have walked, instead we took a Uber. There are some pictures of the New Farm parkland where the Powerhouse is located in another blog entry. One reason for taking an Uber — there's a street party event in nearby Teneriffe so parking is at a premium. We meet Ross and Bev for dinner at the Italian restaurant, Bar Alto, in the Powerhouse before the show and got a ride home with them. We might have eaten outside on the riverside patio but it's dark and cool out.

An interesting story .... I had my camera and was taking pictures from our seats during the show. After a bit I got up to get a bit closer to the stage from the one side and to get some close up pictures. I was doing ok when one of the ushers came up to me and told me not to do take pictures during the songs — the clatter of the DSLR mirror slap was distracting. That's a first but I suppose it might have been worse for me as there was a sign up at the entrance saying "No Photography!".

To round out our collection of Eric Bogle music we bought a couple of CD's we don't have: "The Source of Light" (2008) and "Voices (with John Munro)" (2018). He sang songs from from his lengthy catalogue including, of course, "Waltzing Matilda" and "No Man's Land". "A Reason for It All" was originally a duet with John Munro singing the high voice. When he passed away Eric had stopped doing that sone. Fortunately the woman on violin (Emma Luker), who plays and tours with him, convinced him to let her give it a try. She plays an excellent replacement role, perhaps even better than John Munro's part.

If you're a fan of music with a story, music that tugs on your heart strings, simple tunes with a powerful message we would encourage you to investigate Eric Bogle. Some music is timeless.

Mt Coot-tha

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Friday June 7 was a day exploring a bit of Brisbane. In the morning we went shopping for bathing suits in the Gabba neighborhood which is across the river from New Farm (via Fortitude Valley and the Story Bridge across to Kangaroo Point). Kate wants a new suit for our trip to Lady Elliot Island. The store where we ended up was pretty serious with many suits to choose from and lots of diving and snorkeling gear. I offered, but Kate declined, to model a budgie smuggler — they are popular on Australian beaches.

There's some photos of traditional Queensland homes in the area with bougainvillea blooming. Apparently the "Gabba Cricket Ground" is a large oval stadium and it names the area. I understand there's some discussion about refurbishing or replacing it for the Summer Olympics Brisbane will host in 2032. But, Wikipedia tells me that "Between 1993 and 2005, the Gabba was redeveloped in six stages at a cost of A$128,000,000" so perhaps it's "good enough".

On the way back from the swim shop we stopped for the view of the city from Kangaroo Point. I was wearing my Wabi Sabis t-shirt and we shared a photo on Facebook. You cross on the Story Bridge to get to Fortitude Valley and New Farm. I understand there are conducted tours of the bridge where you can walk way up high on the beams. I recall Ross mentioning that as a possibility we might try. Neither Kate nor I are up for that adventure! Bad knees, ankles and a healthy fear of heights make us unlikely climbers.

We took an Uber and had lunch at the Balfour Kitchen & Bar which is in New Farm but at the north end very near Fortitude Valley. We had hoped to dine on the rooftop for the views but that part wasn't open. It's a very nice high end restaurant in an old house, we enjoyed our lunch and I did get some pictures from the rooftop.

We drove to Mount Coot-tha for sunset views of the city. While Google maps has been a great help at navigating the city we missed an important turn at the foot of the mountain and ended up stuck in a traffic jam on a 4-lane expressway. But we got to the mountain top in good time to catch the waning light of day. It might be interesting to come here for sunrise as you're looking east towards the city, at end of day the sun is setting behind us. 

We have been here before on previous trips and have fond memories of bumping into our friend Murray from the Brisbane Central BS&B club. The fine restaurant (The Summit Restaurant & Bar), where Murray was going, and where we had eaten in years past is no longer open. There is a cafe (The Summit Cafe) where you can get light snacks but the fine restaurant seems to have been another COVID victim.

As the sun left us we soon discovered how cool Brisbane winters can be. There's a picture in the album of a couple huddling under a blanket to keep warm as they watched the day end. Others wore sweaters (do they call them jumpers like in England?). I found it quite cool.

A note on "mountains". Mount Coot-tha is all of 741' (226m) so it's not really a mountain. There are some higher elevations in the dividing range but nothing to compare with real mountains like the Rockies or the Alps. An Uber driver was telling us about some people who were visiting from Austria and how the young boy was quite disappointed at what passes for a mountain in these parts. They had driven him into these very mountains and he had to ask "Where are the mountains?"

Mt Nebo

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On Thursday June 6, we retraced some of our paths from previous visits. Our destination is to get out of the city and head into the bushland of the nearby "mountains" of the dividing range. You can drive up to Mount Nebo, then on to Mount Glorious and come down the other side to Lake Wivenhoe which is a major reservoir for the city. We had done that before and thought we might retrace that path ... but we only made it as far as Mt Nebo this time.

We first stopped in the Spring Hills neighborhood to see City Park Apartments on Gregory Terrace. We had stayed there several times on previous visits and might have this time had there been room for us. It's a great place for a long stay in Brisbane. Convenient to the city centre, spacious well appointed apartments with balconies, parking garage, there's even a little pool and a nearby city pool. Our AirBnB in New Farm doesn't compare.

We headed west out of the city and first stopped at the Walkabout Creek Discovery Center. You're in bushland here, there's walking trails complete with warnings about snakes (sic!) and a pretty smallish reservoir made by the Enoggera Dam where people swim. Today they were sunbathing, I suspect the water might have been a little cool. I was able to take a brief walk down to the water. Some of the trail was briefly closed for a wedding under the trees. There's a spot there especially for weddings. I think there's also a special room at the cafe to host the reception after the wedding.

We stopped here because we have fond memories of a lovely little restaurant that used to be here (I think it was call the "Green Tree Frog Cafe"). It was a white table cloth hidden gem back then. These days it's a much larger open air restaurant but not fine dining. I ended up having "fish and chips" yet again. I think Kate had a salad plate with fried haloumi (the Greek cheese).

The road up to Mt Nebo is a narrow two lane affair and wanders along a mountain ridge. There's not much room for the locals to pass doddering tourists like us and there was some construction. Kate found the drive hard to stomach so we cut our trip short and turned around at Mt Nebo. That's a small town, a village really, only about 450 residents, with only a few shops. But Kate did get to do some shopping. I tried to get some international stamps at the post office but they didn't carry them. I suspect they didn't carry any stamps.

There are some scenic lookouts along the way. The picture above is from Jolly's Lookout which is very near Mt Nebo. There's a William Jolly Bridge in the city very near the GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) where we visited with Ross and I suspect this lookout is named after the same fellow (confirmed by Wikipedia).

There was a winery marked on our maps, and even some signs, but we did not find it. We had stopped in years ago but I suspect it's no longer in production. Another victim of COVID.

Motorcyclists love this road. Lots of twists and turns. That can be dangerous because there's two kinds of people who ride motor bikes: those who fallen off, those who will fall off.

BS&B, CityCat

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BS&B Lunch

I'm a member of the Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club which is based out of Australia — while most of the clubs are in Australia and New Zealand, with a few in East Asia, there is a local chapter here in St Marys where we live. Ours is the Stonetown Beefsteak and Burgundy Club (club #227) and was formed some time ago (1991) by our friend Pierre who had discovered the club while on sabbatical in Australia. I've been a member for many years and had a tenure as the chapter president (2015-2017).

Membership in the club is a passport, of sorts, to friends and events when travelling; especially in Australia where there are many clubs. Anytime we're in Australia we try to find a local club (e.g., there are lots in Brisbane; it's a big city) that is having an event that we might attend. Over the years we've been to several clubs around the country (in Perth, Melbourne and here in Brisbane) and always are welcomed. We looked for a club in Fremantle and Perth when in Western Australia earlier on this trip but there were no events that worked with our visit (there's only a few clubs in that area).

When we go to these events, sometimes just a tasting, often a gourmet dinner, we always have a good time, some good food and drink, and sometimes meet and make some long lasting friends. See our Brisbane BS&B (2006) story (a visit to "Brisbane" (club #17) at the United Service Club near the city centre) and note the photos of Murray and Baggins. Murray was a great friend, as was his wife Joan, who we met with many times outside the club. They had a very strong Canadian connection having studied here. He has passed away in 2019 and will be sadly missed.

The Fortitude chapter (club #138) has a regular first Wednesday of the month lunch event which would work while we were in Brisbane (we attended on June 5). I reached out to see if we could come as guests and, as expected, we were welcomed with open arms. Chris, the president, and Mick, the secretary were kind and gracious hosts to us; we shared their table. Although their club is a men only club they were happy to have Kate come as a guest. The event was a chef prepared gourmet lunch at the Royal Queensland Golf Club, in Eagle Farm, a far eastern suburb of Brisbane towards the airport and on the river at the Gateway Bridge. We took an Uber to the event and planned on riding the CityCat back along the river.

As you can see from the photos the lunch was quite a spread; a gourmet meal accented with gourmet wines. Wines were selected by the wine steward of the club; likewise for the dinner served. The many wines were all presented blind, poured from bottles wrapped to hide the label, so you did not know what you were drinking. The objective of the game is for the wine steward to call on various people from the club to have their say in evaluating the wine and what they thought the wine was that they had just tasted. This is a bit of a laugh because 9 times out of 10 the guesses were wildly off (at least beyond that was a red or white and probably from Australia, we could seldom guess the grape let alone the region, country of origin or vintage). That's interesting as all the members, like Kate and me, drink a lot of wine and should do better. Our wine club has a similar blind tasting at our January event. Kate, who is a bit of a super taster, was able to correctly identify several of the wines. She was, to my mind, the champ at this game.

Some of the wines were from their wine cellar. Brisbane is a tropical climate and wine cellars are rented space from a cold storage company as nobody has a cool basement. Some of the wines would have been recent purchases. And some wines were awarded in a draw at the end. The price for the event also included some money raised to replenish the cellar. They are a long standing club and have quite an investment in their wine cellar. So much so that they've recently, at the recommendation of the parent club, incorporated and are now insured to limit their liability.

I was called upon to speak to the main plate. As you can see it was filet of Australian beef au jus with a bit of black pudding (Kate had some fish, barramundi perhaps?), roasted cherry tomatoes, asparagus, beet greens and Hasselback potatoes all tastefully arranged. (I say fill-aye, they say fill-ette and are surprised by that dang French influence in Canada). One comment I had was on the mustard served with the beef. In Canada mustard is slathered on dishes and adds a bit of heat. Dijon mustard adds a lot of heat and is my mustard of choice. But the mustard they had absolutely cleared the sinuses and took my breath away! It seemed to have the intense kick of horse radish or wasabi paste. Really wild. "Is it always like this?" I ask. "Yup, that's normal", they say. All of the food served was great. The chef was introduced and rightly congratulated on the feast he had prepared.

There were several guests to this event beyond Kate; several wives as well some "Old Bulls". Within the BS&B club system there are "lifetime members"; a special status for long standing members who have contributed a lot. We have a couple at our club. This club had an interesting informal designation for older members who are no longer regulars. They're called "Old Bulls", an apt title as the logo for BS&B is a bull with a glass of wine, and are invited to events. This helps to make sure that friendships are maintained and they have good attendance at their events. We should do something similar at our club.

We chatted with many members. They even gave me a copy of the recently published BS&B history — quite a large tome. I am constantly surprised at how well travelled Australians are. Many we talked to had been to Canada and all were more than hospitable. When the event wrapped up we hitched a ride to the nearby CityCat landing at "Northshore Hamilton" where we caught a ferry around 3:30pm

CityCat River Tour

The Brisbane River is a distinctive feature to the city. Draining the Wivenhoe Dam in the mountainous interior and opening onto Moreton Bay, quite a few miles down river from the here (ie. Eagle Farm and the golf course), the river meanders through the city and, while there are many bridges, the river is an obstacle. The CityCats (large fast catamarans) are part of the city transit system. They're also a very good way to tour the city. We bought transit passes at a local shop in New Farm and only later discovered that we could have just used our credit cards to tap on/off the ferry.

Near Eagle Farm and the wine event the river is quite wide with the Gateway Bridge, the last bridge on the river, immediately downriver. The next bridge up river is the Story Bridge which crosses from Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley and nearby New Farm where we are staying. On the CityCat ferry it's about an hour up to the Story Bridge with many stops on each side of the river in between.

We continue on the ferry past the city center with it's many towering high rise buildings, the Botanic Gardens with it's quiet green space, the glossy Star Casino Center and across from that the South Bank park with the GOMA, on to the Milton stop where we got off and turned around on the next CityCat to head back towards New Farm as the day was ending and the sun had set. We returned down river and got off at New Farm Walk (there are several stops in New Farm) and called a Uber to take us home.

When we started at Northshore Hamilton there was a fellow waiting with us obviously dressed to serve on the boat. He said we needn't worry, that the boat wouldn't leave without him (hence us as well). It turns out he was the captain. Jeff was an incredibly friendly fellow, a real ambassador for the CityCats and the city of Brisbane. He posed several times for pictures with us and other tourists. He even had me come up to the wheel house to see things from that vantage point. He's our age, I would guess, and has been working on the river transit for many years. He obviously enjoys his work and the social aspect of meeting people. Not everyone wants to retire early. In the selfie above that's Jeff with Kate and me.

The river floods on a fairly irregular basis (see Historical Flooding in Brisbane). In our time there was a serious flood in 2011 and another in 2022. The 2011 flood happened, when after torrential rains (they have cyclones, we have hurricanes), water was released from the Wivenhoe Dam causing extensive flooding. At the time our friend Murray, who lived far up river in Chelmer (across the river from Indooroopilly where Ross and Bev live), had a home on a high bank of the river where we had visited a few times. He had a boat and dock on the river. It must have been 20' or so above the water with stairs down to the river but with that flood they had water to their doorstep. 

We had turned around on our CityCat tour at Milton. This has a flood connection as well. The first time we met Murray's wife Joan was at a lovely floating restaurant tied to the north bank at Milton. The flood of 2011 washed that restaurant away along with much more. There's a walkway/bicycle path on the river under the Story Bridge at the Howard Smith Wharves that I had explored before that flood. I know that much of that was wiped away in the flood of 2011. I can recall watching the news back then and seeing the damage that flooding caused. See for example Decade-long Drift restaurant debate (2022). Oddly I don't recall the flood of 2022 (that would have been during the pandemic) but should:

 "Thirteen people in total lost their lives in the 2022 floods, with 23,400 properties flood-affected in all but 11 of Brisbane’s 188 suburbs." — from Why was Brisbane’s 2022 flood different? (Griffith University)

From the CityCat there are many very posh homes along the river front especially from Kangaroo Point on down the river. I wonder how they survived past floods and what will happen to them at the next.

However, enough about flooding and catastrophes; the city is resilient and seems to take these in stride. The point here is the CityCat is an excellent way to see the city. There's lots of interesting places to jump off along the way. We enjoyed the trip, the captain was a treat, the weather was great and we would highly recommend the CityCat to anyone visiting Brisbane.

Ps. as well as the large CityCats which run the entire length of the ferry system there are also smaller "KittyCats" which provide a free shuttle service within the city core! See CityCat and ferry services.

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Notes composed Nov 21, '24

GOMA, South Bank

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Tuesday June 4, we met Ross on the South Bank, toured the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). and learned about "bin chickens".

The South Bank Parklands is an important green space, entertainment and cultural district across the river from the city center. We were here for a dinner with Ross and Bev when we first arrived in Australia on this trip (see Brisbane Briefly) and have been many times over the years. Much of the current configuration is the result of a big development for the World Expo 88; more changes are likely for the Brisbane Summer Olympics in 2032. And there have been lots of changes since we last visited years ago.

Across the river from the parklands is the city center dominated by a huge glass modern hotel/entertainment/casino — the Star Brisbane. It's a new building for us and seems to be still under construction. In front that is the old Treasury Casino which has now been merged into the Star Brisbane. We're told the development has been controversial with some dubious money involved. Several pedestrian bridges cross the river to provide access to the city on one side and the parkland on the other.

In these parklands the artificial beach is probably one of the more well known, we've gone swimming there when visiting in their summer months. There's also a big ferris wheel, The Wheel of Brisbane, that dominates the skyline and is again new to us. It's big, but not as big as The London Eye. The cultural buildings are just as interesting. At the far north end of the parkland is the GOMA but there's also the State Library of Queensland, Performing Arts Center and more. I recall visiting the Queensland Art Gallery here many years ago and was quite impressed by the collection of more traditional artworks. We had not been to the modern art gallery and, with Ross, are curious.

We drove there and met up with Ross. Google maps took us by what we thought of as a very circuitous route (perhaps it's the "fastest"; certainly not the most direct) and we got mucked up crossing the William Joly Bridge missing our turn into the gallery. After much circling about I was able to drop Kate at the gallery and ended up parking underground some distance away under the Performing Arts Center. It's worth noting that all of this area along the river, and especially the underground parking, would have been flooded recently in 2022 and before (See Brisbane's history of  flooding). 

The GOMA is a modern building on the river bank. There's a pedestrian bridge over the river, the Kurilpa Bridge is itself a piece of modern piece of art!, and an outdoor patio/lunch area. We three have a brief conducted tour of the gallery focusing on the galleries of indigenous art. Some of that was traditional (like the feathered Digging Sticks (Wapitja) and baskets). Others were quirky like the Smurfs hidden in a traditional black and white art piece. Some of the exhibits were painful and heartbreaking like the pile of sugar skulls (see above) to commemorate those who died as slaves in the sugar fields. After the tour, another gallery was an exhibit of recent juried high school pieces. All were quite good, many challenging and thought provoking: "Pardon Me For Being Born Into A Nation of Bigots". As in Canada, there's a lot of ground to mend with those who were here first.

Afterwards we had lunch on an outdoor patio overlooking the river. There were several Australian Australian Ibis (a really lovely bird, think of Egypt and the Nile) wandering around on the patio, green space and when not wanted, onto the tables. They had learned that there would be food scraps they might get if they were patient and fast enough. Ross tells us that in Australia they are seen as pests and called "Bin Chickens". "Bin" as in "garbage bin".

The gallery was certainly worth a visit. I actually prefer the traditional art in the Queensland Art Gallery which is just next door. Much of modern art I do not understand or appreciate. But it was good to go and visit with Ross. It was an interesting and challenging experience. I was worried about Kate and her ankle problems but fortunately we were able to use a wheel chair to keep her off her feet.

— these notes composed Nov 24, '24.

Howard Smith Wharves

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Tuesday June 4, Sunset at Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane.

Under the Story Bridge, which connects Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley, there's an entertainment district on the river front — the Howard Smith Wharves. We have decided to have our dinner there at one of the many restaurants; I'm interested in getting some views of the Story Bridge as the evening comes.

At each end of the bridge there's a high steep cliff, I'd estimate about 50' or so. There's the Wilson Outlook, a small greenspace at the top of the cliff on our side of the river which should have some good views. We take an Uber to the overlook and are disappointed to discover that there's a project underway to stabilize the cliff face so most of the viewing area is fenced off — you can't get there. But the elevator access from the overlook to the waterfront gives us a view of the work. At the foot of the cliff is some green space and the Bougainvillea House (a tea house and patio closed with the cliff remediation project). Immediately up river is the entertainment area, down river is the riverwalk to New Farm.

At the river side Kate settles into a table at Ciao Papi, as pictured above, while I go explore the New Farm Riverwalk. This is a pedestrian/bike way that wanders on the river side anchored by pilings. The steep cliffs mean there is no shoreline here, where we are, for the walkway. This is fairly new, I suspect that the previous walkway was washed away in the floods of 2022 (See 7News video of Brisbane flood 2022). I'd guess that much of this entertainment district was under water as well! But it's all been restored and reclaimed. 

We enjoy our Italian dinner, our views of the Story Bridge and the City Center. We enjoyed watching the busy CityCats ferrying people around on the river, there's a terminal here at the wharves, and decide that we should take a tour on the CityCats another day. See BS&B, CityCats later in this blog.

There are many restaurants in the area. There's also a Pirate Ship Playground for children with ships to clamber around on. But the area is more for the night life, I wouldn't say it was kiddie friendly.

There's another elevator nearer to the Story Bridge (the Petrie Point/Story Bridge Lookout & Elevator) that takes us up to the top of the cliff where I'm looking for more photo opportunities. When we're ready to go we call for an Uber but there's some confusion about where we are to be picked up. They keep coming to the entertainment district at the waterfront, nearby but we're at the top of the cliff. We ultimately get a driver who is patient with us and explains that they can't come to where we are, we must come down the elevator to meet her. With Uber you have to be exacting about the pickup location; I suppose we must have got a couple of bad reviews as a result of the confusion.

Howard Smith Wharves is an interesting area to explore. Lots of fine restaurants and great views.Pirate Ship Playground

— these notes composed Nov 24, '24