This weekend, we went to the Brookfield Show. It started out as an agricultural show and has adapted over the past 50 years. The suburbs have now spread all the way out to what was once "country." The show grounds are only about 5 minutes drive further West from our neighborhood. I was reminded very much of the Indiana State Fair, but on a much smaller scale. There was the home economics section - with winning jams and cakes. There was some show jumping and a quilt show. The shortened Shakespeare programme went down like a lead balloon, with people milling about and talking during the performance. The highlight was the Freestyle Moto Cross where 2 guys rode their motorbikes up the huge ramp and did death defying feats before landing on the ramp. It was so popular, we got to see 2 shows in the few hours we were there. The poor horses trying to jump in the background - you can just imagine the racket! For Elliott, the fireworks weren't as cool as the Dodge-em Cars. It was his first time to have a go on the fair ground ride. Of course, all I could think of was the bleeding from the brain that could result from such a dangerous activity. Luckily, he seems to have survived unscathed.

Brisbane is a town that is divided by a river. There are only about 5 bridges that cross at various points which is one reason Brisbane traffic can get so busy. We took our bikes to a Bike Path that runs near our neighborhood and rode all the way into Brisbane. We crossed the River at South Bank over the Victoria Bridge and discovered the Nepalese Pagoda that was built for some Expo. Then we rode on and crossed over the Goodwill Bridge and headed back out West. We rode over 20 km on the bike path. We had to take the bikes in the car to our nearest park because the neighborhood is so hilly, we couldn't have made it home again after 20 km!