How warm was my pool

It probably goes without saying that the best thing about being in Australia in December is not being in Canada in December. This was never clearer to me than yesterday – that would be Christmas – which I kicked off with a swim in Natasha’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Jenny’s pool and which we finished with a walk along the beaches of Bribie Island, about 20 minutes by car from their house.

Today we finally got to see a bit of Brisbane, in what apparently is the best way to see the town, by water taxi on the Brisbane River, which is probably the defining geographical characteristic of this city of over one million people. The CityCat fleet of catamarans is completely integrated with the town’s extensive bus and rail system, but it also doubles as a budget river cruise. If you like river tours or appreciate transit systems that actually work (hi there, Ottawa!), it’s the only way to travel.

(Brisbane from the river.)

On shore, the highlight of the day was our stop at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, a wonderfully whimsical gallery that’s more PS1 than MOMA. Like all galleries, several artworks were accompanied by descriptions; unlike most galleries, several of these descriptions were also accompanied by descriptions written for kids. Frankly, I found the descriptions for children to be more clearly written and informative than the overly complex regular descriptions. This may be due to my art illiteracy or my impatience with pointless jargon: take your pick.

Sadly, the State Library of Queensland's exhibit Game on!, in which you can play dozens of classic video games, was closed.