Wine Tasting River Cruise

Sunday evening was a time to celebrate.  Sarah has a friend who works for a wine distributor and each year they take people out on the Kookaburra Queen boat for wine tasting and selling.  We were invited to go for free!  And the added bonus: there was no pressure for us to purchase; just to have fun.

Simon, Sarah, Daniel and myself packed some snacks of cheese and crackers, got mildly dressed up and took a cab downtown.  First we stopped into a small bar on the river to meet our friends, Greg and Chris.  They were having dinner with Greg's family and wanted us to stop by to say hello before our cruise set sail.  The name of the bar was Mr. and Mrs. G's.  The walls were made completely of windows, which gave spectacular views of the city.

 Making our way to Mr. and Mrs. G's

(I let Sarah choose my outfit)

Brisbane is really a lovely city. 

The sun was just about to set, which was a perfect time

to capture the light on these buildings. 

We had a nice visit with our friends before they left for their dinner reservation and we went down to the dock.  Simon had a beer, and the rest of us waited for the alcohol that was imminent.  Chris and Greg were sharing a drink that came in a tea pot.  It was iced raspberry tea with gin in it and a cucumber slice.  Sarah, Daniel and I tried a sip and it was very good.  It was also served in a neat half martini, half tea cup.

Gin-infused raspberry tea!!

(hence the fancy snob face)

Down near the river we walked around enjoying the weather and scenery.  Soon our friend Ainsley arrived and we all boarded the boat together.

There are two Kookaburra Queens.

This is not the one we rode. 

The boat and the city 

This is a popular past time in our city we've realized.

The invitation we received was calling this event

a Valentine's Day Wine Cruise.

As we were making our way upstairs Daniel hollered at me

to turn around and pose fancy.

I'm calling this photo "Titanic"

Ainsley, Sarah, and Simon ready for wine! 

Handsome Daniel enjoying the evening 

One of the views along the river outside our window

Simon almost never looks at the camera

Except when he's photo-bombing!

This is my nervous face as I began to feel tipsy.

The event started with champagne.  Sarah and I agreed that the Vintage $95 was our favourite.  The other three at the table liked the bottle that was $65.  We then moved onto white wines.  Almost everything we drank came from France.  Two in particular came from the Loire Valley, where Daniel and I visited a few years ago with Steve and Francoise.  We loved those wines on principle!   After sipping and judging at least ten white wines it was time for the reds.  At his point, I'd had six glasses of water and heaps of crackers with cheese in between tastes.  

Half way through the reds I started giving my wine to Simon.  He's not usually a wine drinker, but somehow the man could hold it together and seemed to be loving all the flavours.  Then we made a spit glass because Simon couldn't handle all of our left overs!  

I'm sure you all recognize South Bank,

near Streets Beach.

When the reds ran dry, Sarah's friend brought us some decadent liqueurs to taste.  And finally we ended  with a couple different kinds of sherry.  Does it sound like we had enough?  (we did!)  Exiting the boat we were secretly offered one of the chocolate liqueur bottles to sneak home with us.  Simon dutifully put it in his sack and away we went.

None of us were driving, however we decided to stop for a coffee somewhere along the river because we were not done having fun.  Simon busted out his phone and put "All the Single Ladies" song on and we danced down the road laughing, and probably being laughed at by passers by.  

I do not know the name of this bar. I did like the water element

and the lit up bridge in the background. 

Apparently there is a new theme song in Brisbane.

In the middle of them dancing I told them to freeze

so I could snap this shot. 

Sarah took this photo of Daniel and Ainsley

who were making fun of how low the seats were.

They did look tiny - and so cute.

We sat at the table, talking, laughing and dancing for ten minutes before we decided to leave.  All the servers were just standing around ignoring us, and we went searching for a different place to have a cuppa. (Usually cuppa means tea, which Sarah had.  The other three had coffee, and I had more water.)

This statue was in the bar.

It helped me find my zen and forgive the lack of service.

I was wearing my four and a half inch heels because I was promised we were not going to do a lot of walking.  I haven't been in heels very much in the last year.  Unfortunately we did do a bit of walking and the monster blister on my foot is reminding me now that next time I'll wear flats, or at least keep flip flops in my bag!  Making our way down Queen Street we stopped at a place called, Jimmy's.  Simon left the table to have a smoke and while he was gone his mother called him on Skype from his phone.  Sarah handed it to me because I volunteered to answer.  She's a lovely lady and she didn't seem at all surprised to meet a new face on her son's phone.  We passed her around the table to introduce everyone before Simon came back.  His parents are currently living in Spain, and had just woken up from a late afternoon nap.  

Winding down the night at Jimmy's

At last it was time to call it an evening.  We opted to take an earlier cruise so we wouldn't be out late and just after nine we hugged Ainsley goodbye and walked even further to catch a cab home.  It was so much fun and we feel very thankful to have great friends here.