Brisbane, the city by the river and the first big city since 3 months. A very nice change. The capital of Queensland, the state where we got married 4 years ago. Most of you probably remember the floods of 2011, though there are no significant signs of it anymore. Still the river is a great way to experience the city! Just hop on and off the free tourist ferry that brings you everywhere you want downtown.
After a few months of nature, it was very pleasant to soak up some culture again!
The Parliament House is the only state parliament in Australia with one legislative chamber and is the ‘new’ parliament. It was build around the 1860’s, the ‘old’ Parliament House was build around 
1827. Another city with two parliament houses … The Customs House is another impressive building, and is now used as location for wedding ceremonies (amongst other fancy matters). An interesting building, because there is a lot to see, is the City Hall. It houses the Museum of Brisbane and the Clock Tower. Easy to visit 🙂 The Museum gives you a good insight on how Brisbane developed to the city it is today, but they also have special exhibitions. The Clock Tower is okay, but the elevator is the most special thing about it (one of us doesn’t like elevators but it was well worth the fear 😉 ). It operates like in the old days, which is amazing to see (and yes, mechanical elevators are far more reliable than the electronic hip elevators).
Although we like a lot of culture, we do believe a city needs a lot of green and open spaces as well. We’ve walked along South Bank, with great museums (such as the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (must be the museum with the longest name ever)), and nice places to eat! The Botanic Gardens in the city (there is another at Mt Coot-Tha) is very spacious, with a nice herb garden and the path ways are flanked by bamboo. The park around the University of Queensland is also a nice place to relax.
It’s a very modern city with many walkways, bikepaths, and special bridges only for walkers and bikers. If you want to have a great view over Brisbane and the region, just go to Mt Coot-Tha. And a nice surprise was the farmers market in the middle of town, fresh produce every where you can see! All the things we’ve done are free!
Off course you cannot blame us, we paid a visit to the Belgian Beer Cafe 🙂
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