Yellow Sky?

We woke up yesterday to see this odd and weird glow to the skies. They stuck around all day.

WONDERING about Brisbane's eerie golden glow?
The Weather Bureau says it is courtesy of a dust storm that went through the St George area in the State’s southwest yesterday.
Dust, combined with smoke from fires and car pollution, combined to produce a haze across the city.
A 20 knot southeasterly is expected to continue through much of the day in coastal areas, with swells to 3m.
Lighter winds are expected in the interior.---posted by Brizpaul on PattycamWatchers


The previous day had been the hottest of the year so far. The official temperature given during the weather report was 33 c (91 f), but some locals report that the suburbs got up to 38 c (100 f). Not wanting to run the a/c all day, we decided to head to the mall for some shopping.

We knew that we wanted to go to a specific store at the Queen Street Mall (in the city) so we drove to our nearest train station (not wanting to pay $$$ for parking), but its lots were full, so we drove one station closer that the girls knew had a lot of parking. Success!! So we rode in to the city in a comfy, clean and a/c'd train! Emily who is the family expert and go-to person for all knowledge of Queen St. Mall led Audrey and I directly to the store. Purchases made!! and we headed off in search of our next pursuit----LUNCH!!

Audrey "settled" on banana crepes. (I say "settled" because this girl LOVES these crepes!! She's had them a zillion times since we've been in Australia--except for once when the restaurant was out of bananas) Emily had a turkey sandwich and Greek salad. I enjoyed a fruit salad and water. (made exotic w/ passion fruit on top) After lunch (in a VERY crowded food court, where a man literally commandeered our table as soon as we stood up!!--didn't even ask if we were done, no communication at all!! GRRRR!!)


Oh well.....we decided to stop by Emily's little discovery of a shop that carries some US food and candy!! This is the store that she and I made a special trip to after school one day the week of Thanksgiving to purchase canned pumpkin! so that I could make pies for Thanksgiving. It was really fun to see the products all crammed into a small section of the small store (other sections have products from England, Canada, and a few other countries) What wasn't so fun was seeing the HIGH prices! I understand them, but will only buy if I absolutely have too! For instance, I'm sure you are wondering, the canned pumpkin small can was $6.95 aud ($5.44 usd), a box of Jello was $3.95 aud ($3.00 usd). They had some soft drinks there as well: cherry coke, a&w rootbeer, fanta grape, dr. pepper. Some other products: Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix, Unsweetened Kool-Aid packets, Hershey's chocolate syrup, Hershey's baking chocolate powder, a big assortment of candy. Audrey picked up several choices (of candy, obviously), Emily only chose a sucker saying that she likes to buy 1 thing leaving her the "need" to return again and again!! What did I get---nothing!!! I was still reeling from purchasing the pumpkin a couple of weeks ago!! Besides it was fun just looking at what they thought was important to stock (maybe I should see if they take suggestions!)

Next we headed back to the Central Train Station to catch the next train to Indro (Indooroopilly) for some more shopping! The walk from the station to Indro was a SCORCHER! It is a short walk really, but not just a dash across the street. So when we finally made it to the closest entrance, oh my, did that cool air feel GOOD!! After our purchases were made, we decided on a movie and happily plunked ourselves down for an entertaining 2 hours. The heat had let up a bit once we were walking back to the train station and the storm clouds were looking good and ominous---just hold out until we get to the train station, ok?

They did! and we boarded our train headed back to our parked car. When we got off the train----the clouds could not hold off any longer and it began to hail! Luckily, we were under cover the entire time it was hailing and when we began our walk/jog to our car the hail stopped, but the rain began! It was not a legendary Brisbane downpour (haven't seen one of those yet), but precipitation nonetheless---always welcomed!! Ahhhhh, back in the car (soggy, but cooled off) and headed for the short drive home.

What a fun day!!! Thanks girls!!!