Brisbane's Southbank !

While staying with friends in Brisbane we decided one Sunday to visit Brisbane's Southbank precinct so we caught the train in and took my scooter. The trip home was crowded as we had to share with the many people returning home from The Ekka ( the Brisbane Show). 

Southbank is a precinct which is positioned along the Brisbane River opposite the CBD and is the old Expo site. It is a wonderful area full of lots of different things for all ages, a little like Darling Harbour in Sydney. There is sub-tropical parklands, a man-made inner city beach area, the Wheel of Brisbane which gives you a bird's eye view of Brisbane and the surrounding areas, restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, playgrounds, waterparks, exercise areas etc. On Sunday there is a market, which we enjoyed browsing through, and afternoon live music on The Green. There are bikes for hire for $2 an hour which could be ridden over the different pedestrian bridges to the other side of town. The Goodwill Bridge leads to the Botanical Gardens and the Victoria Bridge to the shopping district. Another alternative is to hop on a free ferry to different spots along the river, take a ferry cruise with commentary or a river-cat. 

The Griffith University also has its campus' for the arts, and performing arts here along the river and had an open day the day we were there. What a beautiful place for creative minds to study, in amongst Southbank and the South Brisbane theatre, museum and arts district as well.

We checked out the markets, strolled along the waterway, had a ride on the Brisbane Wheel and took aerial photos, had lunch on the river's edge, watched people enjoying the beach pool, dodged cyclists, and walked halfway across the bridge and promised ourselves we'd come back another time !!

Photos taken while on the Wheel of Brisbane, looking along the Brisbane River

Top right corner shows Victoria Bridge, connecting Southbank and CBD

Bottom left corner is looking back over Southbank toward Goodwill Bridge, the beach pool can be seen in the middle.( if you have good eyes)

Top photo: taken from the Goodwill Bridge looking back up the river towards Southbank.

Middle photo: looking towardsthe CBD

Bottom photo: taken southward

 

    The only disappointment was the cost of public transport and no easy access to the free ferry with my scooter. Unlike Sydney's Sunday $2.50 transport deal we found catching a train was an expensive mistake.  After asking the cashier about the best deal and enquiring about their Go Card we were told it wouldn't suit our one day travel and were charged $21 one way for the both of us. Surprised we asked about return tickets ... there were no return tickets. Coming home that afternoon we complained to the next cashier about the costly tickets and she explained that we would have been better with a Go Card, start up cost $10 each, which we could have relinquished and gained our deposit back costing us all up $26 return. We had asked about this in the morning ! Note to self ... next time drive in. The tourist information guide told us that parking at the Cultural Centre would cost us $15 for the day.

By Lynne