Brisbane - Friday 2nd March

Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and Australia’s third city after Sydney and Melbourne, with 1.6 million population – but it doesn’t have that ‘big city’ feel and the town centre is quite small and conveniently lodged in a big bend of the river.  The town was started as a colony in 1823 “for some of the more intractable convicts from Sydney” – when free settlers came in 1837 they weren’t allowed to live within 50 miles of the penal settlement, so it apparently does have different communities, but we only visited the centre.

We docked at an impressive working docks about 12 miles down-river and got the shuttle bus into town.  There was no evidence of the large amount of damage that was caused by floods 2 years ago, but there was work going on to raise the level of new industrial developments round the docks.  We started the day with a delicious second breakfast of coffee and thick raisin bread dripping with butter and cinnamon sugar! 

Second Breakfast

We explored the town centre which is attractive without anything stunning – like Sydney, the modern buildings are interspersed with some nice Victorian and 1920’s architecture.  At the end of the town in the bend of the river are the Botanical Gardens which date back to the 1860s – they have a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps and paths through some beautiful old trees – saw some lizards and a few birds, the ibis is the most prevalent and acts just like UK pigeons, scavenging round the rubbish bins,  but disappointed not to see any parrots.  At the edge of the gardens is the parliament building and the Queensland University of Technology which has a beautiful setting and incorporates some of the old government buildings. 

Old Govt Building - part of QUT

Brisbane Town seen from the Lagoon

We took the new pedestrian bridge (their version of the Hungerford bridge) over to South Bank which, as in London, is the cultural centre of town.  However, unlike London, this one has a 1Km walkway through Bougainvillea-clad arches  and a superb beach area with a swimming lagoon.  We spent a couple of hours swimming in the lagoon and finished our tour with a drink in the Plough Inn.  The lagoon is next to another university – Griffith – and there were plenty of students lounging in the water and on the surrounding grassy slopes – a nice way to study.

Put this photo in as were interested to hear that it is law for all school children to wear sun hats – they also all wear uniforms.

We now have two days at sea before reaching our last port in Australia, Port Douglas.