First Taste of Brisbane

First day in Brisbane and it is raining and overcast. We have been out for breakfast and had a look at the main commercial area of the city. Very impressive!

There are large, wide pedestrian areas with plenty of eateries. Just around the corner from the hotel is a small oasis in the city; a restaurant with lots of trees and greenery named Java Coast. It was recommended by a friend of Joans. We’ll try it out for lunch. Pic from our room on the 12th shows the rear of the Java Coast.













Departing from Perth yesterday was easy, but unfortunately we were given seats in the centre of the aircraft. The foot room was adequate but elbow room for the centre passenger; me, was very cramped when eating. We were in flight for over an hour and a half before being served lunch . The aircraft, a Boeing 767, was full and it seemed like there were only four stewards serving. We were placated with a second bottle of wine.

Four hours and fifty-two minutes is a long time with a screaming and nasty two year old performing non-stop Perth to Brisbane.. This lovely young boy continually slapped, punched and head-butted his young mother. It made us remember how good our two kids were on the many flights we had to make within Papua New Guinea and to and from annual leave to Perth.

Arriving at Brisbane we collected our bags and went to collect the hire car we had booked. When the insurance cover was explained to us we decided to take out the extra $34 dollars a day insurance to avoid massive charges if we had any sort of accident. Car rental in the U.S. is cheaper, less restrictive and more relaxed. That $34 was more than the daily car hire!

You can see that I am a bit of a TA and when we drove to our hotel, was a little peed off to find it cost $20. per day for parking. Joan soon told me to cool it, and today I have tried and seem to have calmed down a bit. I wont mention the small snack we had in the hotel dining room last night…the cost and the 15% surcharge.

First impressions of Brisbane. Very modern with a retention of lovely old buildings. People-friendly malls. Plenty of smokers…many more than seen in Perth. Perth has smokers out on the street at smoko and lunch times, but here it seems they are out at all times. This afternoon we are off to South Bank, culture central, museums etc etc..













Recycling: The Treasury Building is now Treasury Casino.



















The old among the new