Brisbane & Beyond
After quick stops in Cairns and the Gold Coast, I was looking forward to a monthlong stay in Brisbane. Australians kept telling me that it was the jewel of the east coast and where Australians love to vacation, but no one could tell me any "must see” or “must do’s.” I didn’t get the address of my sit until the day before arrival, so it came as a bit of shock to learn that I’d be living on the peninsula about an hour north of the city. I made frequent field trips into town, and while I found it charming and had some fun, Brisbane wasn’t at all what I expected. I’ve pulled together some highlights for you.
I stayed in Margate/Redcliffe, which was actually the original site of European settlers in Queensland. They eventually resettled and renamed farther south in what is now Brisbane. The shoreline is quite pretty, you have several jetties and coastal walks, your usual line up of junk shops and fish and chips with a few cafes and restaurants sprinkled in. My sweet pup had a doggy door and only needed a short walk each day, so I was pretty free to explore. The bus stop right out front was nice, but bus service was really limited, especially on the weekend. It made for some pretty long (2-4 hours each way) commutes to most site seeing, but I made it work. The days I didn’t venture far, I just wandered along the esplanade with Tilly and enjoyed the nice empty beaches. The big attraction is the Bee Gees monument celebrating the hometown heroes.
The food in Melbourne was outstanding. I stopped checking reviews and just wandered into restaurants and I was regularly blown away by the food I was finding. That wasn’t really the case in Brisbane. I got a little nervous when all of the food options on the peninsula had 2 star reviews. A new friend brought me to a TexMex place, and even with my purposefully low expectations, I was seriously underwhelmed. I didn’t fare much better when I tried fish & chips, shawarma, or Chinese. It improved marginally when I made it into the city. I had a couple of decent bowls of pho, but I didn’t eat anything that I’d insist you seek out yourself. My best food experience was a field trip to Eat Street North Shore, a shipping container food truck park with TONS of murals and neon street art, string lights, and several stages playing different types of live music. They opened at 4, and I realized I had to be out the door by 5:45 to make it to the last bus back to the peninsula. I finally got hungry in time to grab a very unique Hungarian fry bread pizza on the way out the door, but I had so much fun wandering around the various vendors and checking out the sights (and smells!) These are the types of places that are fine for a solo visit, but much more fun with friends so you can share the spoils and really taste your way around the global cuisines. It is absolutely worth the $5 cost of admission, and arriving on a ferry is a fun way to sightsee. The 4 transfers and two hours to get home were another story.
I found myself repeatedly drawn across the river to the South Bank, a lively neighborhood with a weekend street market, hundreds of shops and restaurants, home to the Brisbane (Art) Festival, and all of the museums. They even have an amazing public pool with manmade beach/lagoon. I decided late in the game that I wanted to go to high tea, and the best ones all seem to be along the river. I couldn’t get reservations for “Eat Your Art Out,” an art themed tea at the W Hotel, but I did visit and enjoyed the incredible views from their dry deck. I’d also read great reviews for the Belle Epoque at the Emporium hotel. I couldn’t snag a reservation there either, but still wanted to visit the space. I’m glad I went because I absolutely loved their cheese fondue and the beautiful bistro.
Evening activities were pretty tough for me between the pup and the limited buses. Most of the Brisbane Festival took place at night, ruling out public transport home. But I did manage to catch the Fairy Trees at the south end of QUT campus. It’s a GORGEOUS walk from city hall, through the Royal Botanic Garden, and down to the Fairy Trees, then over the bridge to the South Bank for a bite and excellent people watching. Google says the Fairy Trees opens at 7, but it’s just a couple of trees lit up at the base of the bridge, and they illuminate as soon as it gets dark. Score one for winter and early sunsets. I wish the lights had extended beyond the upper branches and illuminated the beautiful Banyan trunks, but it was worth the logistics to see them after a lovely afternoon on the South Bank.
I hadn’t planned on a trip to the Queensland Museum, but I saw a sign for a Disney Magic of Animation exhibit and snuck in for a quick tour. There are excellent exhibits on Australian animals and the Great Barrier Reef for free, and I paid my $20 for the visiting exhibition. I wasn’t sure what to expect after my visit to the Disney Family Museum, which was more varied and elaborate, but this was a wonderful collection of artifacts and inspiration for a wide assortment of beloved Disney films. I’d highly recommend checking it out if you’re a fan.
MOMA is New York and San Francisco are the only Modern Art Museums that I’ve ever actively sought out. I wasn’t planning to prioritize the modern art museum, but the QAGOMA was hosting an exhibit by Chiharu Shiota called “The Soul Trembles,” and the glimpse I caught online made it a must see for me. I left a HUGE fan. I found her work evocative, inspiring, transportive, and truly beautiful. I absolutely LOVED wandering her exhibits and contemplating the themes.
One rainy day, I was at a loss for what to do. I wanted to explore Fortitude Valley/Chinatown and found the Brisbane Opal Museum on the way. My $5 self-guided tour was done through a series of videos on an ipad, well curated exhibits/signs, and the very kind owner of the museum/jewelry shop. I learned a lot about opals, mining, polishing, and shaping. I was really pleasantly surprised by the experience, and at the risk of a hokey pun- call it one of Brisbane’s hidden gems.
The most famous opals come from Australia, followed by Ethiopia and Mexico. The Australian Black opals are rare, expensive and STUNNING. Brisbane’s City Hall is an absolutely gorgeous building and home to the Museum of Brisbane. The entire museum is really quite interesting and features many pieces depicting local attractions and wonders by local artists. It’s free to wander the museum, city hall, and take a tour of the clock tower for scenic views of Brisbane, but it also hosts a rotating paid exhibit on notable hometown heroes. I paid the $15 to see the World of Wonder Margot McKinney exhibit, which happened to be showcasing unbelievably beautiful baubles of precious Australian pearls and opals. The constellation necklace (89 cts) and starry night ring are two prime examples of black opals, and two of the most gorgeous (and gaudy) pieces of jewelry that I’ve ever seen in person. Word to the wise-it took me three tries to make it up the clocktower. The website said to go to the museum and request a time slot to go up, but they were sold out for the day. Turns out you can pre-book a 15 minute tour (max 4 guests at a time) online. I arrived on time, checked in, and was somehow accidentally sent to the City Hall Walking Tour. We happened to be in the auditorium as someone was playing the organ, and we were treated to a wonderful performance. They offer organ specific tours on Tuesdays, and listening to ethereal music under the LED light show on the largest dome in the southern hemisphere is pretty enchanting. If organ music is your thing, I’d highly recommend it. The tour was excellent and informative, but I was a little surprised when it ended and was told to be sure to make arrangements to go up into the clock tower ;) They helped rebook me for later that afternoon. Maybe it all happened for a reason because the other attendees were no shows, so I got a private tour with an excellent guide and had a fabulous time.
There are plenty of beautiful buildings, churches, murals, unique neon and art installations to enjoy as you meander through town.
Brisbane is quite beautiful. The Brisbane river runs right through downtown and there is so much green space! My favorite find was Roma Street Parkland. Filled with carefully curated gardens, fountains, Banyan trees, and birds, it’s hard to believe you’re in the heart of the city.
I really enjoyed my time in downtown Brisbane, but I wanted to wander wider. My biggest adventure was out towards the Glass House Mountains. I love animals, but I usually have a hard time with zoos. Most of them are just depressing to me, but everyone told me that the late great Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo was a MUST see in the area. It took me almost 6 hours of commuting on buses and trains to get to enjoy the park for about 3 hours, but it was a wonderful space and worth the effort. These animals are clearly adored and well taken care of. They have sizable enclosures, attentive keepers, and interesting encounters and shows to get to know them better. Across the parking lot from the zoo is the animal hospital, and for a token donation you can watch the medical staff hard at work. I got to see a tiny little koala with an IV and a cast. It was adorable! The family is doing amazing work on conservation and education, so you should feel good about your visit. I was so excited to get to pet Kangaroos and Koalas. I was really hoping to cuddle a Koala but between the crazy numbers of Koalas with chlamydia and the price tag, I stuck to a quick free pat. There’s a HUGE amount of animal experiences available for sale, so if you want to walk with tigers for $400, train and feed otters for $100, or cuddle a Koala for $50… book them in advance.
People also suggested field trips out the neighboring islands. $80 for ferry service to commute 4 hours each way to sit on a beach for 2 hours ruled Tangalooma out for me. If you have a car and enjoyed the Matthew McConaughey movie Fool’s Gold, it would probably be worth a trip. I’m told many Australian films use their beaches as backdrops. It took 3 and a half hours to bus out to Bribie Island, and I decided to trek out to see the Butterfly Sanctuary and Sunday street market along the jetty. It was a lovely afternoon and I’m glad I went, but it’s totally ok if you can’t carve out a day to explore out there.
Brisbane was pretty lonely and isolating for me, though I still wouldn’t call Margate Brisbane. I would have been satisfied with a 4 day visit versus the 4 weeks I booked to housesit. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been homesick as I no longer really have a sense of home in Nashville or Austin, but it was the worst I’ve felt about this entire soul sabbatical experience. My Sydney sits kept canceling, and I had family coming to join me for specific dates which made finding a replacement sit extra stressful. Time seems to pass twice as slowly for me here since I live a day in Australia, take a nap, work a partial day in America, take another nap, and wake up and do it all over again. It’s exhausting, leaves a limited window for overlapping times for virtual connects with family and friends back “home,” and I was anxious about a lot of logistics. In America, I have friends and family in practically every state, if I get stuck, there is somewhere to go or a flight/car elsewhere is easy to manage. Australia is so far from everything and everyone, and adding visa limitations and almost no American Airlines rewards travel available- I was pretty freaked out about things falling apart. I happened to meet a new friend who really helped me maintain my sanity and offered excellent suggestions for Brisbane and for Sydney. We were able to plan a couple fun outings, and it was so nice to have someone to talk to.
Perspective has made me feel better about Brisbane, but I was very ready to leave. I was paranoid Sydney was going to fall through until I was standing inside my apartment. I can’t wait to share the shenanigans there with you.
