Brisbane

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia by population, and somehow I've managed to completely miss visiting it so far. I've transited through a few times. I even slept there before without actually visiting Brisbane proper. But with some extra new years days off work and the offer from a friend to show me around, I made the over 1,000km journey to the north.

I have a fair amount of experience with the other two major cities of Melbourne and Sydney, each having their pros and cons and being their own cities in different ways (though I definitely have a favorite). Brisbane however, I've always kind of joked about as being in the State that refused to adopt daylight savings due to the fact that it fades the curtains (me being a huge fan of the additional daylight in the evening given that it's an absolute waste on me at the current sunrise time of 5am).

That aside, I am aware of the less extreme temperatures as you head towards the equator. And Brisbane certainly showed a far nicer climate in their forecasts for me (when they're not 6 feet under water). Though I've discovered that spot showers (with real rain, not this mist stuff my home city calls rain) seem to just occur on a practically hourly basis.

After initially arriving at my friends, the first thing we did was catch the train into the city. And oh boy, is this place a dream for a night urban photographer.

So much stuff in the inner city is illuminated. And very beautifully so. You hardly have to aim the camera. And on top of that, the place was alive.

There's an artificial beach with gorgeous looking water, with lifeguards that are on duty till midnight. Outdoor little Badminton spots, open air sports screening with bean bags, a sky deck view over the city from the Casino, all completely open, free, and bustling.

On top of that, paying 50 cents for public transportation is certainly making it feel like the "public" part of that is being taken back into considerations, including for the Ferries. The Ferry we took, just for the fun of it, even turned out to be completely free in the end. (Also, I can't get over the ferry route names. Most of the larger Ferry routes are called the CityCat due to the boat type. So what do you call the little ferries? KittyCat 😄)

The next day I drove to a little local pond where the entire neighborhood had turned up to go for a swim. Found some fun twisty scenic roads through the mountain, purely by going "where does this go". And then headed for the botanical gardens, which had an absolutely hilarious array of different climates sprinkled throughout. Including the Japanese garden above, and the desolate flowers below.

It's definitely not all peaches and flowers, but I have to admit that I should have come to visit much earlier. The focus on public, accessible, and lively infrastructure is really noticeable and incredible. Even if the number of adult entertainment clubs sprinkled between ice cream and fast food shops always feels slightly ... odd.

I may need to drag some other people here to introduce them (after my tour guide has managed to bootstrap my local knowledge). It's definitely not close, but certainly a lot more interesting than I expected. Unfortunately I will need to head back soon to make my 1'000km journey back south and get ready for the new year of work to begin.