Brisbane

Sorry about the slight hiatus, but Jet Lag has been a bit of a bitch, I’ve been coming back from work, cooking and pretty much wanting to go straight to bed. I’m about an hour out of sync now, which I can live with. This section is being written with a certain tristesse as after the events of the last few days Brisbane won’t be the same.

There are no photos in this section, there were some, but many of them are in areas that are now badly flooded and unrecognisable. It feels a bit strange to be posting photos of them as they were. I do hope that the New Farm Riverwalk is restored, that Southside is repaired, that Eagle Pier is again a thriving dining venue and the Brekky Creek Hotel resumes its former glory.

After unpacking and having a small afternoon tea in the lounge, I went to get my bearings and to do the usual room shopping for small items.  I then settled down to finish “The Slap”, I’d managed about 250 pages on the flight up and was rather desperate to finish it – this took a couple of hours. After that with it being early evening,  I decided I was peckish – a resto on the Queen Street Mall sorted this out with a delicious dinner salad of scallop, king prawn and squid with a tomato based sauce and a glass of Australian Riesling. I amused myself by watching some truly terrible A-League football at the same time. After that, a quiet stroll around the CBD enjoying the balmy evening air until driven back in by the rain.

The next morning was bright and sunny, so after a slip, slap, slop I ventured out for the day, a swift walk up to Spring Hill, then down to Fortitude Valley and back towards the CBD, pausing for a quick burger at Grill’d on Eagle Pier, I then took the RiverCat up to New Farm and explored there for an hour or so before realising I was really rather tired.  I went back via River Cat and happily noticed a open barbers where I got my hair trimmed. I was just back in time for the last bit of afternoon tea and a rest before heading out for a simple pasta dinner (not brilliant) at a place on the corner of Albert and Charlotte St.

New Years Eve was a bit of a rainy day with sunny periods. I met a friend who took me on a nice tour of the cultural quarter and Southside and then we had what seemed to be a pleasant lunch, mine was grilled fish with Greek salad, the fish didn’t taste quite right. I then went for a disco nap to prepare for the night ahead, this was a bit of a failure and I whilst I rested, I didn’t sleep. Unfortunately, just after an early dinner, there were unpleasant sensations down below and I ended up having two immodium and a litre of water as my NYE’s party, I suspect the fish from lunch time. I ended up watching the fireworks first from the lounge and then from my room.

New Years Day was fairly quiet as well, I woke up late, it was pissing down, but I felt OK again. After a Japanese curry fast food lunch, I went and found some indoor activities for the afternoon including a visit to the Queensland Museum.

I spent much of my final day in Brisbane riding around on buses, or actually exploring the new BRT schemes that Brisbane has put in. I was quite impressed with the bus mall and the various busways, but I suspect the project is too rich for Birmingham. I also spent some time window shopping in the various stores, mainly looking for suitable gifts for back home, By the evening I was jonesing for a steak, so I went to have my last full on meat meal of the holiday, which consisted of a lovely Darling Downs steak with shiraz jus, portabello mushrooms and crushed spuds. I then had a quiet drink in the hotel bar before packing for departure.