Another Detour ....

 

 ... but this one was planned.

We took the opportunity of being in the same hemisphere as Australia to carve out a two-week visit to the place we called home for 6 months in 2014. Our base was Brisbane, where I had a sabbatical at the University of Queensland, and so we first returned there. We had great reunion with the "river city," our neighborhood haunts of the West End, and our good friends Beryl and Al. 

We walked along the Brisbane River near our old apartment, remembering the good vibes of the waterfront park and its bougainvillea walkway, and even (finally) saw "Hamilton" performed by an all-Aussie cast at the performing art center just blocks from where we lived.  It was great nostalgia!

After that great visit, we headed down to Sydney for a rendezvous with some cousins-by-marriage on Kate's side. We had visited their 3000 acre cotton farm in Wee Wah, in north central New South Wales, over Easter in 2014.  They had since sold the farm and moved to a town about an hour north of Sydney. We had a fun time mostly with Robyn, as Clinton was just in the midst of rehabbing two hip replacements.

The bougainvillea walkway brought back fond memories of our life in Brisbane

The Brisbane River Park is so picturesque!

 

 

Great to reconnect with our Brissie friends Beryl and Al ... like we'd never left!

With our friends, we ascended to a great viewpoint looking over Brisbane ... we have the exact same photo of us in 2015.

Got "day of" tickets - really good seats! - for Hamilton, fantastic!

 

We had a wonderful weekend sojourn with our friends to Noosa, one of our fave spots when we lived in Brisbane.  Beautiful surfing beaches.

We tried out paddle-boarding ... Kate was pretty steady on the inflatable board.

Aaron, not so much.

Gorgeous views of the Southern Cross.

After Brisbane, we flew to Sydney ... and were greeted by three Rainbow Parakeets, the first birds we saw when we landed in Sydney in 2015. So cool!

Robyn and Clinton live in this amazing Tuscan villa and botanical garden about an hour north of Sydney.  It was gorgeous, quiet, and full of many cool birds (another bird post to follow!). 

Though Clinton was holed up in a Sydney hospital during his intense rehabilitation, we were able to have a farewell dinner with him and Robyn before we returned to Auckland.