Balmy Bouncy Brizzy

We are seeing reports that around a half foot or more of snow is falling back home.  Ouch!  When will winter end in the US?

Over the past few days (arriving on Monday), K and I have really been enjoying Brisbane (or Brizzy as it is known to the locals).  Its weather is the complete opposite of home - warm and sunny.  Just what we need as we start the end of our month in Australia.

Brizzy is the capital of the state of Queensland in Australia with a population of almost 2.25 million.  Queensland has the motto of "Sunshine State" in Australia.  High temps here average between 70 to 90 degrees year round here in the city.  Freezing temperatures are a real rarity.  With many local amusement parks, a large casino, growing music (remember the BG's - they were from Brizzy) and studio scene, Brisbane feels a like a cross between Miami, LA and a dash of Vegas.  In fact, it is sometimes called "Briz Vegas" in the guides.

While fairly big (especially when incorporating the neighboring city of Gold Coast - more in a bit), Brisbane is also very livable and a fun city to be in.

The city is dominated by the Brisbane river (for which it is named), and sits less than 10 miles from the Pacific.  Therefore, water is a dominate theme in Brisbane (sometimes to its detriment - they had awful flooding here in 2011 - a topic that still carries public debate/conversations in local media). 

The river zig-zags through town - which creates the need for many bridges, water taxis and some amazing vistas.

Historically, Brisbane was one of the original penal colonies (like Sidney, Hobart, Perth and Melbourne).  During WWII, Brisbane served as the Allied Pacific HQ for MacArthur.  Today it is a fast growing city and region.  Next to Perth, I have not seen as much new construction in a city in a long time.

K and I have really just enjoyed the city.  We have used Brisbane as our base of operation as we explore the city as well as surrounding areas including the Gold Coast and Hinterlands of Australia.  Apart from a visit to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary here in town, we spent one whole day in the Queensland Cultural Center which sits on the South Bank.  The Cultural Center contains the Performing Arts Center, Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), State Library and more.  We can actually see most of this complex from our hotel window.  A very well laid out and thought out way of arranging all the arts within a city district - just across the river from the business and shopping district.

We started with a visit to the GOMA.  A lot of the art was a little out there for me (and I think K too), but the architecture and space of the building was gorgeous.

There was a special exhibition from Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang called Falling Back to Earth.  It was amazing based on its size alone.  Here is one of his pieces which has 99 life size animals around a watering hole.

 

We then visited the Queensland Art Gallery right next door.  Again, a great space filled with primarily Australian artists.

K and I both really liked some of the Australian water color art created in the early 1900's.  Not a lot of Aboriginal art.  There were a few European and Asian works as well, but this was probably less then 10% of the collection.

We also visited the Queensland Museum, but K and I felt that it was a bit of a let down after seeing the state museums in Victoria and South Australia and those in NZ.  Again, a great space and well situated in the city, but the exhibits were less interesting.

 

Parks and green space are a vital part of the city - just as in most Australian and NZ cities and towns.  Brisbane has three gorgeous spaces.  The City Botanic Gardens sit adjacent to the business district.

South Bank contains the Cultural Centre as well as some great green spaces right along the river.

Finally, the Roma Street Parkland is the "largest subtropical garden within a city" and it is out of this world beautiful.  It comes a close second to Perth's Kings Park for best park I have seen in Australia - and that says a lot given the many beautiful parks I have seen.

Brisbane has also gone to incredible lengths to make the city accessible by foot or bike (not just for tourists but for regular commuters as well).  The city is literally ringed and dissected by bike and people only paths and bridges.

 In the picture below, the bike/pedestrian path sits below the cities motorway around the city.

What else did we see in Brisbane?  Here are some of the other iconic sites.

 

Queen Street Mall.  Brisbane city streets are named after kings (E/W) or queens (N/S).  Kind of  neat layout and naming convention.

ANZAC Square and the Shrine of Remembrance with Eternal Flame (for WWI and other veteran memorials)

 

 "Old Windmill" - constructed in 1824 is the oldest remaining convict-built structure.  It was a grain mill powered by convicts when the wind didn't cooperate.  Later it was used as an observatory.

 City Hall

 

The old State Treasury building which is now the city casino - this seems oddly appropriate to me.  Seems like politicians are gambling with our tax dollars everyday - why not just avoid the middleman?

 

K and I are here for one more day and we have already made trips  out to Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Hinterland surrounds.  I'll report on those places in another post.  We head for Sydney - our last stop on our two month tour on Sunday.  I can't believe it is coming to a close.  We have so many incredible memories and good times from our trip.