Aussie bound

We had talked about a return trip to Australia for some time and thought this year would be the year, though originally we talked about travelling there later in the year. But an opportunity came up to join a special celebration in March that helped seal the deal. The plan was to explore a couple areas we had not explored on our trip 11 years ago and then head to Sydney to join the celebration festivities. We had booked a direct flight into Brisbane, rented a car and planned to drive over to the Gold Coast to explore the surrounding area, then head back to Brisbane for a couple days before flying down to Sydney. The night before we were set to leave, we discovered a weather system that was hanging off the coast of Brisbane and threatening the area to make landfall as a cyclone during our time there. This made us rather concerned as it would put a huge damper on our plans but more importantly could be devastating for the locals and cities affected. Being a tourist there while this was going on seemed irresponsible. So, we made the last minute decision to revamp our entire first week and a half of our trip to avoid the cyclone. Thankfully everything we had booked had cancellation options and it was low season, so outside of the stress and extra work to cancel and rebook everything that we had planned for a couple months, we (let's be honest here, Z did all the work) managed to rejig our entire front end of this trip. The only unchanged part was our red-eye direct flight to Brisbane. 

The advantage of this flight is arriving in the morning so you can get time zone adjusted quickly. The flight itself, while long, was quite good. We both got a decent amount of broken sleep which helped and the time did seem to go by quickly. Arrival in Brisbane was smooth and going through immigration was pretty quick and very easy. The late summer heat was noticeable immediately after deplaning and was very welcome. We quickly got on our way to the hotel and thankfully our room was ready when we arrived. This makes a huge difference after a long flight. After a quick refresh we started our exploration of Brisbane on foot. We had a couple days in Brisbane before heading north and we were fortunate that Cyclone Alfred decided to continue its pause off the coast and not create a disturbance while we were here. There was plenty of coverage and news trying to prepare people for when Alfred was expected to make landfall; some locals considered it scare tactics, but it’s better to be safe and prepared than not. All estimations had Alfred make landfall a few days after we would move on. We did notice the wind increase though over our couple days in Brisbane. 

Brisbane is a multi cultural city situated along the Brisbane River. We stayed at the W Brisbane, a funky new hotel situated along the river’s boardwalk. We had a beautiful river view from our one bedroom suite. The city is quite walkable with numerous bridges connecting north and south Brisbane. There is a water taxi service that costs $0.50 per ride that is very efficient. Their larger sized ferries are called City Cat, a smaller one called Kitty Cat, and one called City Dog. You can guess how these ferries are painted. Also available everywhere are scooters for rent, again an easy and convenient way to get around. There are lots of parks and green space throughout the city and in the south bank neighbourhood you can also find a city beach call Streets Beach in the middle of a park. We found plenty of great eateries, including a Columbian restaurant which we really enjoyed, and coffee shops which didn't seem to stay open much past mid afternoon. 

The city is filled with old and new architecture, mostly skyscrapers. The recently completed Brisbane casino precinct at Queen's Wharf is worth a visit. This is a mixed-use development that includes the Star Brisbane casino, a hotel, shopping, and many restaurants. But the highlight is the arc-shaped sky deck that offers 360-degree views situated 100 metres above the Brisbane River, is free to access and has several restaurants and bars. The city is amazing to see at night as well as all the bridges are lit up in different vibrant colours and many of the buildings along the river are donned in lights too. Taking the water taxi at night is a great way to see the city lights. We felt quite safe walking around the city at times of the day and night. We felt we got a good sense of Brisbane in our three days there.