The Queen in Brisbane - and the Rugby

Yesterday was a big day for thousands of Brisbane and country Queenslanders people, when Queen Elizabeth 11, came to town.

The Brisbane River was a picture on a beautiful day, totally lined with thousands and thousands of delighted onlookers wanting to catch a glimpse of Queen Liz as she cruised up the River to debark at Southbank, which only 9 months ago was covered in mud, water and debris from the floods.

Some little ones got dressed for the occasion, and the flowers gifted to the Queen were sent to different aged peoples homes - a delight for them.

The Queen attended a reception to meet many of the flood victims, spending quite a bit of time with them.

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She still has that smile, and at 85 seems to be able to handle all the stairs down off planes, boats and monuments no problems at all,

and it was a great day for the kids - I still remember so clearly in 1954, when she first came to Australia, and I lined up to see her.

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ON THE SAME DAY IN AUCKLAND

It just happened to be a Public Holiday - Labour Day. Not too much labour occurred in Auckland yesterday, with the exception of hundreds of thousands of celebrating Kiwis flooding the streets of Auckland to cheer on the All Blacks, who had one the night before, the Rugby World Cup against France by one point (7-8), great joy for everyone there. The Wallabies came third, beating Wales, it certainly was not their best performance at all.

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AND

it was also Sarah's birthday, so we called Auckland to wish her the best, think there was yet another celebration happening in Auckland.