Brizzie
All along my trip, people have hated on Brisbane, saying how there is nothing to do and I should just skip it. They're all liars. The city is great!
My favorite part of town (other than the free public wifi 🙌🏻) was Southbank. It was across the Brisbane River that winds through the city and has tons of restaurants, museums, galleries, and even a swimming lagoon.
We sure loved these letters
Southbank lagoon at sunset with the river in the background.
All of Southbank has a walkway tunneled with a pretty pink vine that I just couldn't get enough of.
Ann-Marie and I stopped for Mexican our first night and just as you'd expect, it wasn't the greatest. But the rest of Southbank was awesome with liquid nitrogen ice cream, an Epicurious public garden where anyone can come sample plants and herbs, and a Ferris wheel.
Meh margs. Take me back to Texas!
These are NOT jalapeño poppers. Silly Aussies.
Cool community garden where they encourage people to learn about and try herbs, vegetables, and other plants.
Liquid nitrogen ice cream
There were other areas we explored, like Queen Street Mall which was insanely packed full of people, restaurants, and shopping.
The first kangaroos I'd seen so far...
The next day, we walked through the City Botanic Gardens, over to Kangaroo Point, and finished with a nice ride around the river on the free ferry.
Kangaroo Point Cliffs. You can rock climb these! I didn't but am regretting a little now...
View of the city from Kangaroo Point
Free ferry for the win
Sadly, Ann-Marie had to quickly get going with her travels so we said our goodbyes and I explored the rest of the city on my own. I went up the Brisbane City Hall clock tower, to the Gallery of Modern Art, and the Queensland Museum which was really just 3 floors of taxidermy *cringe*.
Brisbane City Hall. I went on a tour to the top and saw the inner workings of the clocks and a view of the city.
Behind the clock tower.
The modern art museum had a slide. Obviously it was my favorite piece.
For my last day, I put on my hiking shoes and caught a bus over to the Mt Coot-tha Summit Lookout. From its peak, I could see the city skyline, the river winding through, and the ocean in the distance. Pictures don't do it justice- it was quite a view.
Brisbane with the ocean in the distance to the left.
Then I hiked down the mountain on one of the trails that lead to the pretty Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
They even had a bunch of cacti!
And I can't pretend any longer- huge spiders are EVERYWHERE. Especially when you go hiking and to gardens and to the bathroom. ..and even just your hostel...
When you see it
Australia has a lot of fun wildlife- kangaroos, koalas, wombats- but one of my favorites is the bush turkey. These guys are everywhere! And they're so darn ugly. Brisbane had more wildlife too - bats. And these things are giant, with around a 3 ft wingspan and all over the city.
Bush turkey
Thanks Brizzie! You were fun!
That time I fell off the letters...