Australia Day

Happy Australia Day! To celebrate our first Australia Day, I did a 4K Fun Run/Walk at Southbank area of downtown Brisbane. It felt good to be out and about and see the cheering, flag waving folks. However, I couldn't rouse Mark or Erik to get there by 8:30am, so I was on my own.

The run was "fun" despite the 85F temperature. It followed the river and took us over a pedestrian bridge and through the pleasant shade of the Botanical Gardens. In addition to participating in the run, I was recruited to be in a human map of Australia (I didn't tell them I was American) and ended up standing somewhere near Perth. Sorry the picture above is so small, but I didn't feel like buying it for $20. Once we had completed the coastline and filled in the center, I also learned that the proper response to the chant "Aussi! Aussi! Aussi!" is "Oi! Oi! Oi!" (which brings back vague memories of AC/DC).

Finally, although the fun run was supposed to promote exercise and good health, it included a sausage barbecue. I'm not sure if this is typical, but the "snags" (sausages) were served with grilled onions and barbecue sauce (no other condiments were available) on white bread, which was folded into a triangle. Of course I had to try one. It was delicious but probably canceled out all the calories I had burned running, so when I got back home I went for a ride on my new bike.

Not to be outdone, both Mark and Erik got out on their bikes today too. Mark went on a loop around Mt Coot-tha and Erik up and down the path at the park near our house.