Brisbane French Festival

Bastille Day, the Tour de France and this weekend's French Festival in Brisbane...it's hard not to think about France today!

We enjoyed another beautiful sunny winter's day here on Sunday at the Brisbane French Festival.

Lots of market stalls, French food, dressed-up folks and activities for the kids.

As close as I've ever been to Tahiti:

Churros with a warm caramel sauce:

What happens after you say 'no more churros':

And the grand finale - Pepper the French Bulldog:

I hope you're enjoying your Bastille Day, wherever you are!

Teneriffe Festival, Brisbane

Hey, you guys, did you have a good weekend? Was it warm? It's winter here but we managed 24℃ (75℉), which is not too shabby.

We had a fab weekend, due in part to attending the Teneriffe Festival on Saturday.

Several streets are closed off in the trendy inner-city suburb of Teneriffe and all sorts of attractions and activities are set up - from food vendors, markets, displays, music, petting zoos, fashion parades....the list goes on.

We arrived early and were treated to free popcorn for the kids while we wandered down through some nostalgic car displays.

I was very keen to catch Betty and the Betties, an acapella, boogie-woogie style group, who were performing at 9am. I was not disappointed.

Have you ever heard Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know done Andrew Sisters style? I have now, and it was fantastic.

We browsed through some of the market stalls:

Why yes, I'd love a sample. Erm, what is it? Never mind: irrelevant. 

Next we headed down to the kids' area.

Face (and hand) painting

Spin-your-own painting

We gave the petting zoo a miss and instead secured a front row spot for the piglet races.

Talk about cute. Here they are snoozing in the sun before the race (I love how they're all snuggled up together.)

Then the announcer played the racing call and they jumped up and ran over to the start line all by themselves - they were keen to get into it!

The course took maybe 90 secs for the piggies to run, at most. And of course, it wouldn't be Australia if there wasn't a sweep to participate in.

The winner was the first piglet to navigate the gates, tyres, hay bales, pipes and ramps and make it to the feed bucket.

Once their little tummies were full they went back to lazing in the sun. Not a bad life for a piggie, considering the alternative:

Oink. (To be fair, I think these sausages say Moooo.)

After the big race, the mister and I were in need of refreshment. Low and behold, we happened upon a wee caravan selling boutique beer. There were high fives all 'round.

It was midday and very warm, so a cool beer was just the ticket.

They drank the beer and the beer was good.

There were deck chairs and leis and even Pimms for those not so keen on beer (such people actually exist, I hear.)

Sitting back in a deck chair with a beer, looking up at the lovely old converted buildings in the area:

This lasted a good 12 seconds until a child ran away and had to be retrieved. Oh well.

The Festival went on well into the evening and included many more things than I'm showing today (particularly for the grown ups). This 2 minute video on the Festival's website gives a great overview of it all.

We really had a most splendid day and we'll be noting it in our diaries for 2015. If you happen to be in Brisbane in July I hope you'll do the same!

 

Linking up with Design Mom's Love the Place You Live series.

Noosa and Eumundi

We had a weekend away at Noosa to coincide with one of the mister's biking events.

Noosa is on the Sunshine Coast, about 130kms north of Brisbane.

It's a super popular tourist spot for anyone who loves the beach, eating out and shopping.

What is this stuff?

You know you're in Queensland when you find beer stashed in the palm trees.

The Noosa River meets the ocean here so you get both beach front and river front businesses and homes.

Sweeeet.

Spotted in the river mangroves

Saturday morning I tagged along with Marg and her daughter on a trip to the Eumundi markets.

Eumundi is in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, about 20kms inland, southwest of Noosa.

We arrived early (7am, how's that for early) and had no troubles at all with parking or crowds.

By 8am we were a little peckish and sat down for a yummy cooked breakfast without having to wait for a table.

The markets are very popular with good reason - plenty of original and quality handmade items with a dash of fresh produce and cooked food stalls.

Despite having breakfast less than an hour before, we caved in and had some teeny dutch pancakes:

Amongst the all the lovely, tasteful wares there has to be some crassness, or it's just not Australian.

Case One:

Keyrings and coin purses made from cane toads.

I know hate is a strong word, but Queenslanders hate cane toads. Introduced in 1935 from South/Central America to eat a beetle that destroyed sugarcane crops, the species bred like Catholics* and badly affected some of our native fauna. Not to mention poisoned our cats and dogs (their skin is toxic). To add insult to injury, the bloody things didn't even eat the beetles. Way to go, Australian scientists!

Case Two:

Firstly, are you eating? If you're eating: stop eating.

I don't actually even know what sort of functioning device this is supposed to be.

But it's made from a kangaroo scrotum. I bet he sure misses his scrotum.

Lordy, did I have fun typing kangaroo scrotum in the flickr tag box. And look, I've just typed it a few more times.

Alright, enough silliness from me. Just go and visit Noosa and Eumundi and don't forget to pick up your very own kangaroo scrotum. I bet they're really soft.

View from a lookout in the Eumundi area. I had house envy.

Enjoy the end of your week!

*I am allowed to say this because I am Catholic. I also have 4 children which proves the point.