Venture to Australia

River Festival 2005

Today I went to the Brisbane River Festival to see Riverfire 2005 which is a firework show that is put on every hear by the Brisbane river. Along the way there was a pagoda that was there for tourists I think since it wasn't very big inside.


The website for Riverfire describes it as:

If it's your first time at Riverfire or you're a veteran, a big welcome to the opening free event of Riverfestival 2005. Riverfire keeps getting better and this year will be unforgettable with a breathtaking 30 minutes of choreographed fireworks. There's great music too, so tune into Triple M 104.5FM, or watch Channel Nine's special broadcast from 6.30 pm, hosted by National Nine News presenters Bruce Paige and Heather Foord. After the fireworks, hang on for a festival favourite, The RAAF F1-11 strike jet sweeping low over the City and South Bank performing their dazzling "dump and burn" display. So get settled on your deck or go early to South Bank to enjoy the river and the Australian Defence Force Open Day at Suncorp Piazza.

RAFF Roulette stunt flying team flew over the river around 4:30pm, they're like the Australia equivalent to the Snowbirds. They did a barrel roll while in formation which was pretty cool and ended off doing some attack maneuver where they swooped low over the river one by one as the announcer introduced their names.


The actual fireworks started at exactly 7:00pm with a blazing RAFF F1-11 strike jet swooping down over the river that had it's rear burners flaming so the whole back of the plane had huge flames burning out the back.

So far, this was the best fireworks display that I've ever seen. The whole show lasted about 30 mins and included the usual fireworks and these green fireworks that skittered about the sky like fireflies. The fireworks were set off from 4 different places, 2 from the bridges that flanked the main viewing area, 1 set from boats that were in the river and 1 set from the tops of the buildings that lined the edge of the river.

I sat on the beach to watch the fireworks which turned out to be the perfect place because the sand was soft to sit on, it was in the centre of all the action and it was far enough back from the river so you could see the fireworks coming off the buildings without having to strain your neck too much. There are more photos of the fireworks in my Flickr album.


After the firework show a bunch of us went for dinner down on Queen St. at an outdoor restaurant called Milano. These types of open restaurants are quite common and line the centre of Queen St. It's basically a smallish building with a bunch of tables set up out in front of it and a little canopy for a roof to keep the sun off. The Milano in particular specializes in Italian food, as you may have guessed, including pasta, bread salad and pizza.

River Festival events will be going on all week starting tomorrow with the charity duck races in which people can bid on a duck and bid money goes to some environmental society. If your duck wins you win a brand new car. There are also many other types of events going on, some free and some not including concerts, art displays and wine and cheese tastings.

posted by Compmouse @ 9/03/2005 10:13:00 PM