Okay so this festival from where we were staying in Brisbane wasn’t so close, it was about an hour and a half away by car. It was a relatively warm day and indeed a good time to spend by the sea.
The festival is held every year by the Shorecliffe pier which they were reopening this very year. Along the stretch of beach, there was a series of food truck vendors and local clubs and associations all wielding goods to sell to the general public.
We arrived fairly early, so we had a good chance to scope everyone out before it became hectic. It was so lovely to sit in the sun with the sea breeze listening to James G Brennan sing classic songs, you can never remember the name of, but you know all the words too.
As the dark started to kick in we decided it was time for food; I wasn’t feeling the wide variety of fried food that was on offer, so I want to the ‘health food’ van, yep it had that written on the side of it, lol. I had a grilled chicken breast, salad and thousand island dressing; it was delicious. The chicken was so tender, and it was refreshing to find something good for you to eat. Of course, it went downhill after that, but hey sweets are my passion, what can I say. Lee had a Mexican beef burger from Sues Country Kitchen, and it looked at tasted delicious (I think he wanted another one).
Our desserts weren’t so good for us, unfortunately. I had a whipped ice cream that was dipped in chocolate and coated in nuts…. Mmmmmmm I’m salivating at just the memory of it. Lee had a rather large churro from Churros & Chocolate the was filled with a caramel sauce; he said it was nice until you got to the end and it was a little too hard. He wished he had chosen a chocolate sauce instead of a caramel.
By this time it was time to watch the lantern parade, all the children were encouraged to join in with their handmade lanterns, and they marched along the beachfront with their parents to the main performance area. We were then prompted to count down from ten, and all the lanterns were hanging over our heads lit up, forming a lovely display on the beach front. After this lovely heartwarming display of soft simmering lights, we were then wowed by the offshore firework display. It wasn’t too long, and it was truly awesome to hear all the children ooohing and rrrrrrring. Hehe, it was a lovely end to a beautiful afternoon.
Although we didn’t attend the following day’s celebrations, if it were anything like the first day, anyone attending would have been in for a beautiful beachside treat.
We had fun, and I’m sure you would have too.
