Bustling Brisbane
Brisbane is a big, modern metropolis, set along both banks of the Brisbane river whose waters at this wet season are brown and fast flowing. The first weekend we were there it was hot and a little less humid than in Darwin, but the second weekend the weather had turned and a cotton cardigan was welcome. We were also thankful for the overhang of the buildings above the pavements which protect pedestrians from sun and/or rain...in this case rain... thus enabling us to amber along with no umbrella.
We were staying with friends in the suburbs where I noticed that many homes (and here they tend to be two-storeys high rather than the bungalows which seem ubiquitous almost everywhere else we've been in Australia) don't appear to have air-conditioning. At least, not like in the United States where you see the air-conditioning unit in every window. Brisbanites just grin and bare it in the summer!
Our friends very kindly took us hither and thither our first weekend. The only drawback was that we didn't get to grips with the city ourselves, unlike in Melbourne where we quickly had to familiarise ourselves with the public transport system so that we could get about.
But the second weekend we struck out on our own. So what I can tell you about Brisbane apart from the fact that if one has to live in a city this one would be high on my list? The streets in the suburbs are impressively wide (is this beginning to sound familiar?!); the museum and art gallery are lovely (worth two visits over the week); the campus of the University of Queensland is vast and green and filled with young men and women playing cricket; the Queensland University of Technology has the botanic gardens as its backyard; there is a free, clean public beach and swimming pool just across the river from the Central Business District (CBD) complete with lifeguards; the CBD, even on a Sunday, is lively, the streets filled with families (many with three or more children I noticed); and the shops range from luxury to cheap, so something for everyone.
The centre of the city and the South Bank area where the pool and museums are struck me as being much airier and greener than Melbourne's. The walkway along the river in Melbourne is nice, but resolutely urban: concrete lined with shops and restaurants. The Brisbane equivalent is much greener: bougainvillea covered walkways with the ubiquitous ibis' stalking elegantly in the grass. However, Melbournites win the elegancy stakes hands down. Why don't Brisbanites know how to dress? Perhaps they look better during the week but on a Sunday, ill-fitting shorts and T-shirts with cut-off sleeves that do nothing to hide rolls of fat seemed to be the norm. We sat on a bench and people watched. I said I wouldn't leave until I'd seen one sexy man. I gave up after 25 minutes!!
The city has no metro. But it has buses and, even better, the ferry that is part and parcel of the public transport system and gives a clear feel for how the city is built along the many sharp bends of the great river. For the very reasonable price of $4.70 you can hop on and off these modern catamarans for two hours. We took it all the way upstream to its last stop at the University of Queensland and then all the way downstream to its last stop at Northshore Hamilton where the passenger ships come in.
There are some very lovely homes along the riverbank: some the old Queenslander style, up on stilts to let the air circulate underneath and keep the beasties out of the house (although many people have filled this space in, giving them an extra floor), and some very modern and imaginative. Many have a private pontoon for their boat. I saw a few that I'd be very happy to call mine!
It was clear when we flew in from Darwin that Brisbanites like their space: individual homes with small gardens seems to be the norm but there are a few, low-rise apartment blocks that are being built. It was also clear from the queues of cars we could see as we were coming in to land that traffic in this city is much denser than in Adelaide or Darwin. This impression was confirmed once we were on the ground and in the traffic! So, I think if I lived here and money was no object I'd live in one of those riverside homes and take the ferry to work every day.
