So almost a month ago now I took a flight to Brisbane in the great sunny state of Queensland, for a relaxing time spent with family, making  friends and seeing a few sights in between. I didn’t do anything greatly ‘tourist-y’ and I didn’t even carry my camera (though I packed it!).

Having said that, I couldn’t help myself from taking a few rather bad phone snaps. Also, to be honest, I haven’t blogged in such a long time, I think it’s high time to get back into it, PLUS I thought all these odd photos would do much better here, rather than floating around on my phone storage.

 

So here’s some of the things I got up to…

Surviving on three hours sleep from the red-eye flight the night before, I visited the lovely University of Queensland (UQ as the locals call it), where my dad graduated from back in the ‘old days’. It’s one of the six ‘sandstone universities’ of the country – meaning one of the oldest founding Australian universities.

It was great to walk the grounds and see the architecture he often mentioned.

On my ‘spare day’, which meant I was not spending time with family, I explored the city centre by foot.

This wonderful building was at the end of Queen’s Street Mall and overlooks the winding Brisbane River.

Queen’s Street Mall is your place for shopping. It’s a wide pedestrian only access street filled to the brim with shops, eateries in the centre and buzzing with people.

I made a peculiar, but very special find there though, just as I was popping into the information office.

Within its walls and behind the desks of friendly staff willing to help any tourist in need, was the glimpse of something old and rather opulent…

Walking through I beheld the entrance of a fabulous old theatre, the Regal Theatre.

While it was very small, it came as a  special find to me and quite literally made my day.

I LOVE making unexpected discoveries, whether in my own city, or somewhere else.

I was quite happy to stop and set up shop there for the rest of the day.

But alas, no.

The rest of the day was spent walking, walking and more…

…That’s right, you guessed it, WALKING!

Popped into St John’s Anglican Cathedral.

And also meandered South Bank and popped into the Art Gallery.

To top off a day like that I highly recommend finding a quay along the river and jump on a CityHopper, for a free trip along the Brisbane river at sunset.

It’s a modest ferry,  nevertheless, if you get a seat on the top deck, it’s just sublime all the same!

After a long day on foot, relaxing and watching the city pass by was one of the highlights of my trip.

But the most important part about my five days spent in Brisbane, was spending time with my family, playing with my nephews, talking to my sister about bits and bobs, visiting grandparents and flipping through old photo albums with them, getting rather full at a family dinner, playing XBox with my brother, Mason, meeting his great friends, helping him cook Sunday brunch for ‘da boyz’ and maybe having a bit of a night out with him and another fine fellow in my life, my cousin Michael.

They’re pretty charming chaps, but I’m warning you….

They’re crazy!

I miss them, but I’ll be back seeing them soon, don’t you worry.