We stopped at Bulimba for lunch. We stepped off the ferry & wondered whether mum had given us a bum steer. I called her to find out how to get to the cafe' district. Our instincts proved to be correct in the end but we could so easily have ended in a very frustrating walk in the wrong direction. As it turned out we were headed in the right direction & managed to find a cafe/pub that served excellent food for a very reasonable price. We were well impressed. Brisbane has come a long way from the sleepy big town that I grew up in. Its a step in the right direction in my opinion. Brisbane always had the warm weather (too warm in summer for this little black duck) but now there's another level of interest.
After lunch we headed back to the ferry. This pelican was watching over proceedings.We stopped at South Bank briefly because one of the staff on the Cat had told us there were a couple of F-111s were doing a dry run at 2.30 for the Riverfire show the next night. It bought back memories of dad taking us to RAAF air shows at the Amberly air base when I was young. The whole see the plane then hear the noise seconds later thing. I tried with no success to take photos of these aging warplanes, but they were hooking it. All very exciting for me, and surprisingly, Kerri. My camera wouldn't focus quick enough to take the shot. More on the F-111s later.
We finally made it back to the Regatta stop & after a phone call to mum, dad came & found us at the bottle shop. After stocking up on "supplies", he gave us a lift back "Up the Hill" to their place (which used to be called home many a year ago).
The photo below is Breakfast Creek. Its a serious restaurant district including the famous Brecky Creek Hotel. Legendary Sunday sessions, steaks & beer on the wood.
The Hamilton wharves in the photo are about as far upstream as major shipping comes these days. Now that the cement plant is now located 600kms north in Gladstone & ships don't need to come upstream, the dredging of the river no longer happens. This would appear to be the major contributer to the river no longer being brown & silty. Go figure.
Around the next bend from South Bank is the main city reach of the river that runs from the gardens, past the Riverside centre all the way to the story bridge.
Below is a government (or Ex-government) building that I've never noticed in my years of living in Brisbane. I think it much have undergone a restoration in recent times. I should know what it is because dad used to work in it or near is some decaded ago when he was an accountant, but I don't. Sorry.
The bridge below is the Storey Bridge. It's been there since I can remember. It looks much more impressive at night when it's lit up.
The next bridge along is the rail bridge.
This horrible thing below is the new foot bridge. It is so ugly! Stupid arty architect students. The question is who let them get away with it? Remember contemporary doesn't need to mean ugly peoples.
Adjacent to the CBD is South Bank. It's come such a long way since it original development for Expo '88. The new ornament, as is the case in many world cities now that "Big Pricks" are out of fashion, is the big Ferris wheel. The world went mad while we were in Canada starting with the London Eye. When we got back, Perth & Brisbane both had one. Weird.
