It's a wee bit chilly at the 2011 Brisbane Winter Festival

The southern hemisphere is approaching the middle of the winter season and what better way to enjoy the chilly weather than to hold a festival for it! This is the first time that I’m aware of that Brisbane has held a Winter Festival. I first heard about it on Twitter when someone tweeted about an ice skating rink being set up in King George Square. I eagerly looked into it and by the end of the day I had booked tickets. One of my friends managed to organise a small group of us to meet up and go to the same session and also check out what else was on offer.

Depending on what type of tickets you purchased, you could also get some free coupons for food and drink around the area. One of my friends got this fancy mug to keep with his ticket.

Brisbane Winter Festival Mug — My Friend’s Mug

Because the event was held in King George Square, the size of the festival wasn’t huge but there was definitely enough there to keep you well fed and entertained for an afternoon. There was a variety of different European food stalls around the place, I got myself a yummy Churro and a Frankfurter on a bun as well as some freshly squeezed orange juice.

Brisbane Winter Festival Food Stalls — These were the cute little huts most of the food stalls were in

Wood Fired Pizzas — The ovens behind the Wood Fired Pizza Food Stall

Brisbane Winter Festival Lipton Tent — Lipton had a large tent with an area that looked over the ice rink

Grill'd trailer at the Brisbane Winter Festival — Grill’d also had a trailer food stall set up

Grill'd Burger — The Boyfriend’s Grill’d Burger

Singing Yodel Group — While we were eating lunch there was a singing yodel group

I couldn’t take my camera onto the rink but I managed to get some photos of others skating. The rink was surprising quite large however it was slightly more narrow at one end due to a tent area jutting out on one side. Because it was a warm day, there were a lot of water puddles on top of the ice and unfortunately quite a few people fell into these and got soaked ^^;;.

Brisbane Winter Festival Ice Rink — The rink was a pretty decent size

Brisbane Winter Festival Skaters — The very fashionable, bright orange hire skates

"Bobby" the seal at the Brisbane Winter Festival — “Bobby” the seal which could be hired for little kids – we wanted to have a go!

Then it was time for us to get on the rink! The skates were pretty comfy though I think I might have done them up a little tight.

Ice Skate Hire at Brisbane Winter Festival

I’ve only done ice skating once before and on that occasion I had managed to not fall so I was determined to keep my perfect record in check :P. Thankfully I didn’t end up with a wet bum but there were a few close calls. I think my years of artistic roller skating have taught me how to save myself when I feel I’m losing balance ^^;. I had the hang of it by the end of the 45 minutes and I’m glad the session didn’t go any longer because it was so tiring! I actually felt quite hot and bothered trying to keep myself upright and skating forward at the same time.

By the time we finished and returned our skates it was starting to get dark and lights were being turned on all around the area. The little food huts look quite cute in my opinion.