Petalsweet in Australia Part IV

After teaching all of my classes in the amazing city of Sydney (please see Part III below), it was time to head north to beautiful Brisbane, Queensland! The weather was a bit warmer and the sun was shiny and bright...and I finally had a few days to relax and enjoy some of the gorgeous surroundings including...

The Brisbane skyline:



The Story Bridge (nope, I didn't climb this one):



The Mt. Coot-tha lookout:



The Roma Street Parkland which is located right in the Brisbane CBD and is filled with absolutely stunning flowers and gardens:







And, of course, my trip would not be complete without seeing some of Australia's adorable wildlife up close and personal. I had the incredible opportunity to visit The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is one of the world's first and largest koala sanctuaries...and where I got to meet and hold the very handsome "Wisely"...and yes, they are quite heavy for their small size, and their fur is very soft:





And feed and interact with a gorgeous group of kangaroos:







After a few quick few days, it was time to get back to work and back to class! I was thrilled to be teaching at Cakes Around Town which is an amazing cake decorating supply store (online too!) and classroom in Brisbane owned by my lovely new friends Cathy and Glenda. I was also hosted by my dear friend and fabulously talented Greg Cleary of Sweetums Designer Cakes. Greg is a long-time resident of Brisbane and is an incredible cake designer and sugar artist. He graciously took me all over the city to see all of Brisbane's beautiful sites! He also took on the role of my wonderful assistant for both of my classes...thank you so much, Greg!!

The charming classroom:



Cute stripes on the wall:



I taught peonies, hydrangeas and filler flowers to be arranged on a small tier...the class was two full days, and I taught the same curriculum for both classes (lots of requests for peonies!!). The class project looked like this:



Group photo from the first class:



Group photo from the second class:



Beautiful student work:



Thank you, thank you to all of my wonderful students for coming to class and being so completely fabulous...it was a pleasure to meet you and work with you!

And many thanks to my kind and thoughtful hosts Cathy and Glenda for providing a beautiful classroom AND a great visit after classes were over...so grateful for you both!

And I could not have done it all without my incredible friend Greg...thank you for all of your time and generosity, for making the classes run so smoothly, and for showing me your fabulous and unforgettable city!

Thanks so much for stopping by...stay tuned for the final stop I made in Melbourne before heading home to the States!

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Petalsweet in Australia Part IV