Riverfire

This Saturday was the much anticipated Riverfire, which is the big fireworks introduction to the month long Brisbane Festival. And, we definitely weren't disappointed. Chris and I joined about half a million other Brisbanites along the river at Southbank Parklands to take in the festivities. It all started about 4:30 with a fly by of a Black Hawk helicopter. I have to say, it was less than impressive, but since people had been parked out since 9am, I guess the city felt they needed to do something to keep them entertained.

Since the fireworks and F11 fighter jet fly-by didn't start until 7pm, we decided to head to an outdoor pub and grab a couple Aussie beers and enjoy the hot weather. Spring officially arrived this week, and it's almost like mother nature flicked a switch to bring on the heat. The past couple days have been in the mid to high 20s, and it doesn't cool down at night...so it is heavenly! This is what we came here for!!!

After our beers we headed back towards the river to try and find a good spot to take in the show. Unfortunately the rest of the 500 000 people were doing the same thing, so it lead to some intense crowds and a tad bit of frustration. But, we managed to get a pretty decent spot really close to the river. The show started off with the F11 fighter jet doing it's famous 'dump and burn'. We were so excited to see this, and weren't disappointed. Last year was supposed to be the last year for the fly-by, but they brought it back one more time. I'm glad we were around to see it. A fighter jet flying across the sky with fire shooting out the end of it, coupled with the incredible rumbling noise it made was a show in itself. After it flew by, it climbed up into the sky, and you could see the glow of the flames behind the clouds like a giant firefly. It was really impressive.

After the fly-by, the fireworks began. The city had put up mini barges along the river that set off fireworks, plus they were set off on most of the bridges that go across the river, and they were set off on top of some of Brisbane's tallest buildings. All in all, 6500 fireworks were set off in a 20 minute show that was set to some fun music (there were speakers set up all along the river). I took some videos and pictures, but I'll search YouTube in the next couple days for some other views of the festivities. Since Brisbane's river curves quite a bit through the city, we didn't have a view of the Story Bridge and the fireworks that were set off there. But, I'm sure I'll find a video and post it later.

We had a fun time and hopefully we can take in more of the Brisbane Festival next weekend.There will be lots of art, music, and performances over the next month.

For now, I hope you can enjoy our pictures! I will try and post a video once I get Chris to edit it for me :)