Letho's Blog

August 15, 2011

Having arrived in Brisbane quite late in the evening before, we now had a fews days’ time ahead of us to start exploring the city in full daylight. After driving into the CBD we started walking. Only a few minutes away we found Cathedral Square:

On the other side of the street we spotted St. John’s Cathedral and walked in. It’s a fairly new cathedral, judging from the window paintings it is quite modern as well. We tried to catch some of the great ambience in it:

Right next to the cathedral we found St. Martin’s House. We started to grasp how historic buildings and shiny new skyscrapers form an interesting contrast throughout the whole city.

We found sculptures like the above and other forms of art everywhere on the streets. Continuing our walk we passed the “Shrine of Remembrance”, one of so many war memorials in Australia. Literally every community regardless of size has one.

King George Square is the heart of the city, with the City Hall located there as well as the Uniting Church, again in front of much more modern buildings.

We strolled further along the streets, catching impressions with our camera. Moreover we bought a really cheap tripod for it. It seems we get more and more interested in photography as we’re always on the lookout for good motifs!

With the daylight fading and after a snack we were still curious and resumed our exploration. Along Eagle St Pier and St. Stephen’s Cathedral we headed for Queens Park and the Treasury Building.

At the Brisbane River we made a few steps onto Victoria Bridge where we could see the South Bank located on the opposite side, famous for its vibrant atmosphere including pools, museums, cafes and boardwalks.

We stopped for a last time to take some shots of the Kurilpa Bridge, a pedestrian bridge over the Brisbane river. It is greatly illuminated and constantly changing its lighting.

August 16, 2011

We found accommodation at a CouchSurfing place, this time with quite a few fellow couchsurfers. Besides us there were up to 6 other couchsurfers, not to forget the people living there as well. They call their place the ‘funny farm’ which is derived from all the chickens, ducks, lizards and a dog living there. And they are growing their own herbs and crops as well. Here are a few impressions:

We decided to head into the city again and to take a ride with the ferry on the Brisbane river. Stopping at South Bank we hopped onto the ferry called “CityCat”. The council operated a few engine-powered catamarans, and these things really have a lot of power!

Exiting from the ferry at Eagle St Pier we walked all the way back to South Bank along the Brisbane river. In the afternoon we attended a brewery tour at the Castlemaine&Perkins brewery where the well-known “XXXX Gold” comes from. After all it’s what I drank most while being in Australia.

Later in the evening we drove up to Mt Coo-Tha and enjoyed the scenery with a great view over Brisbane at night.

August 17, 2011

This morning we packed up and left the funny farm. Heading into the city again, we took a walk through the Royal Botanic Garden where we could observe a few big lizards at the pools showing territorial behaviour and chasing the ducks away.

We quickly looked at the Parliament House and the Old Government House ..

.. before walking to the South Bank to get to the “Gallery of Modern Art” (GOMA). There we mostly enjoyed the contemporary art sections and found a few amazing exhibits.

On our way back we came across the Big Wheel and the Nepalese Pavillon, nicely illuminated again.

We stayed a final night in Brisbane with another CouchSurfing host, having a bicycle ride. The imprint on the bikes’ tyres has nothing to do with me, though – hopefully.