Beautiful Brisbane, Queensland

Brisbane is named after the river it sits on which in turn was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first penal colony was established at Redcliffe in 1824 but was moved to North Quay in 1825. The Turrbal people were the indigenous people that lived in this area whose ancestors migrated to the region from across the Torres Straight. They called the area Mian-Jin meaning “place shaped like a spike”.

Central Brisbane streets are named after members of the royal family. Streets named after female members (Adelaide, Alice, Ann, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Margaret and Mary) run parallel to Queen Street after Queen Victoria and perpendicular streets named after male members (Albert, Edward, George and William). Brisbane has the highest population of Chinese people in Australia and consequently has a large China town and a Taiwan town. Most people in Brisbane are overweight.

We headed off from Byron Bay after fresh ground coffee but still with clouds in our heads stopping off at Palm Beach, Nobbies Beach and Surfers Paradise for a quick Happy Jack which is the Oz equivalent to Burger King. Surfers was buzzing and great for kids but not really our sort of place but I’m glad we stopped to see it even though the traffic was awful. The satnav did a good job delivering us back to the rental car base and they were very helpful, taking us to fill up with cheap petrol rather than pay the $2 a litre they charge if you don’t fill up. When I asked them to call us a cab to take us to our hotel they gave us a free lift so that’s real good service. Thank you www.m2000car.com.au we hope other people enjoy the service you have given us and all for $36 a day. The Chinese couple that own it moved recently from Perth.

We quickly checked in and unpacked at the Soho Hotel on Wickham terrace and headed off down Spring Hill into town, crossed the Victoria Bridge to the south side and walked past the Brisbane wheel to the beach. Again, the south bank is where all the art places and museums are. Jon from Rexam had given me a few tips before we left and one of them was the artificial beach by the river; we will go back when we have more time weather permitting. It has been raining here for the last week but today it was fine and warm so maybe our luck is changing. Its early days but the more that I am seeing of Brisbane the more I like it. We headed home for an early night watching TV and to catch up on sleep ready for whatever we will be doing tomorrow. Maybe a boat trip if it’s fine. One last huge thanx to Mick and Lynn for showing us such a great time and lots of tips for the next leg of our journey up the boomerang coast. Rock on Parkway Drive!