Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia,
but it is certainly friendlier and more laid-back than Sydney and
Melbourne.
It's known for its Story Bridge, but there are also the Roma Street
Parklands and Brisbane museums, Bretts Wharf and Newstead House, Mount
Cootha, and some great islands like Moreton Island and North
Stradbroke. North of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast and south is Gold
Coast. Here is some Brisbane
travel information, and in the end of this page is a map
of Brisbane.
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Roma Street Station - Brisbane Tourism Information
Although Brisbane’s suburbs cover large areas, Brisbane city center is
pretty compact. A few blocks from the central station, Roma Street
Station is the King George Square and the beautiful City Hall. Inside
is the free Brisbane City Gallery on the ground floor; and upstairs
there is an observation deck with some good views over the city.
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Central Shopping Mall - Brisbane Tourism Information
The City Hall and a few other older buildings stand right among the
modern skyscrapers in the Brisbane city center. One block south-east of
the City Hall and King George Square is the central shopping mall –
Queen Street Mall, with shops and arcades, and some very nice outdoors
restaurants and bars.
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Eagle Street Pier and Riverside Markets Brisbane Tourism
Information
In the eastern end of Queen Street is the Eagle Street Pier with the
Riverside Centre and Customs House. Eagle Street Pier is a lively
dining area and the Riverside Centre gets even livelier during the
Sunday Riverside Markets. Customs House
used to be where the ships had to pay tax, now it is a nice historical
building with a free Art Gallery on the lower floor, and a good
Brasserie.
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Brisbane Botanical Gardens - Brisbane Tourism Information
South of here is the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, a lovely green park
with lots of grasslands and impressive trees like Moreton Bay Figs.
It is a great place to walk or jog, or have a picnic. West of the
Brisbane Botanical
Gardens is the Queensland University of Technology where there are a
Gardens Theatre and the QUT Art Museum. Between the two is the Old
Government House, and north of it is the new Queensland
Parliament House, where
there is a public balcony where you can watch politicians in action.
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Brisbane Casino - Brisbane Tourism Information
From here, you can walk back to the southern end of Queen Street Mall,
where there is the Brisbane Casino,
in a beautiful Renaissance style building. It is open 24 hours a day
and is packed with poky machines, roulettes, and gaming tables so you
can loose your money in a variety of ways. There are bars and eateries
inside so you don’t even have to go out to the real world to have a
meal, and there is a hotel so you can stay here too. South of the
casino is Victoria Bridge which takes you to the South Bank.
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South Bank Parklands - Brisbane Tourism Information
In the South Bank Parklands, there are South
Bank Parklands - an
impressive landscaped leisure area with walking tracks, cafes and
restaurants, and the only sandy Brisbane beach, but a very enjoyable
one. Further south is a Nepali Pagoda, the IMAX Theatre, and the
Stanley Street Plaza, where there are Weekend Markets selling arts,
crafts and clothing. On South Bank Piazza there is an Outdoor Cinema on
Saturday nights between October and March.
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South Bank Brisbane Tourism Information
South Bank is also the place to go if you like Brisbane museums – the
Queensland Cultural Centre contains the Queensland
Museum with exhibitions
about the history of Queensland,
a large skeleton of a
dinosaur found in inland
Queensland, and other
displays related to Queensland. The Queensland Art Gallery
has displays and artworks of many Australian artists. In the complex,
there is also the Queensland State
Library, Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Conservatorium
and Convention and Exhibition Centre. In the south-eastern end of the
South Bank is the interesting Maritime
Museum.
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Newstead House - Brisbane Tourism Information
If that is not enough Brisbane museums, back on the North Bank there is
the QUT Museum of Art.
Talking art, around the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane
Fortitude Valley, there are the Craft on Brunswick, Jan Murphy Gallery
and Philip Bacon Gallery. South of the city centre there is the Hart’s
Flying Fighter Museum with a collection of fighter planes, and the
Charles Kingsford Smith Memorial. North of the city centre is the
Newstead
House – a historic
Victorian-style homestead from 1846 with antique furniture.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - Inner Suburbs
West from the Brisbane city centre there are nice walkways along the
river that you can also cycle on your way to the western suburbs such
as Milton with some nice restaurants along Park Road, and the
Castlemaine
Perkins XXXX Brewery
where you can go sampling the famous Fourex beer. North-east from here
is Paddington with Caxton Street, known for its pubs, restaurants and
night-life; and east of it is the Petrie Terrace with the beautiful
Roma
Street Parklands. Across the
river is the bohemian West End, a colourful suburb with hippie shops
and lovely cafes and restaurants along Boundary Street and Hardgrave
Road. Further south-west is the University of Queensland where you can
visit the Anthropology, Geology and Zoology museums by appointment. You
can get to the UQ by Brisbane City Cat
from Victoria Bridge.
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Newstead House, Breakfast Creek Hotel and Story Bridge Brisbane Tourism
Information
East of Victoria Bridge, the City Cat has several stops to the
different suburbs along the Brisbane River. You can get off at the
South Bank Parklands, Eagle Street Pier, next to Story Bridge Brisbane
where there is a nice hotel to have a few beers with views. Further
City Cat stops are Dockside on the eastern side of Kangaroo Point
Brisbane, New Farm, Newstead House, the famous Breakfast Creek Hotel
and Bretts Wharf. Kangaroo Point is popular with rock climbers but
there is also a lovely walk along the river. South of Kangaroo Point is
Brisbane Cricket Ground The Gabba.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - New Farm and Fortitude Valley
North-east of Kangaroo Point are New Farm and Brisbane Fortitude
Valley. Both got changed from sleepy suburbs only a decade ago and
today their streets are lined with nice wine bars and restaurants. In
the southern tip of New Farm is a lovely park with picnic tables and
barbeques, Brisbane Powerhouse Museum,
and the Summerhouse – a nice restaurant. North from here the Brunswick
Street with many hotels and backpacker hostels takes you to Brisbane
Fortitude Valley with Brisbane’s Chinatown, the Brunswick Street Mall,
and on Saturday mornings, McWhirter’s Markets. North from here are the
City Cat stops to Newstead House,
and the famous Breakfast Creek Hotel
that I warmly recommend for a cold beer.
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Mount Cootha - Brisbane Tourism Information
West of the city centre is Mount Cootha – a bush parkland with Brisbane
Botanic Gardens (not to be confused with City Botanic Gardens) a Summit
Restaurant and a lookout platform where there are good views of
Brisbane city centre. Near the lookout is the J C Slaughter Falls, and
a short Aboriginal
Art Trail. In the outer Brisbane
Botanic Gardens there are free guided walks amongst the
20,000 species of both arid and rainforest plants and there is also the
Sir
Thomas Brisbane Planetarium –
the largest planetarium in Australia.
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Lone Pine Koala
Sanctuary - Brisbane Tourism Information
South of Brisbane Botanic Gardens is the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary with
its 130 koalas,
but also other Australian
animals such as kangaroos,
wombats,
echidnas
and platypus.
You can buy a bag of
kangaroo food and get really close to them, and you can get your photo
taken with a koala.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - Accommodation There is a wide range of
accommodation in Brisbane:
* hotels such as Base
Embassy Hotel, Carindale
Hotel, Chesters
Hotel, Chifley
at Lennons Hotel, Colmslie
Hotel, Diana
Plaza Hotel, Emporium
Hotel, George
Williams Hotel, Grand
Chancellor Hotel, Hilton
Hotel, Hotel
Chino, Ibis
Hotel, Il
Mondo Hotel, Mantra
South Bank Hotel, Medina
Executive Hotel, Mercure
Hotel, Oaks
Aurora Hotel, Oaks
Charlotte Towers Hotel, Oaks
Felix Hotel, Park
Regis North Quay Hotel, Rendezvous
Hotel, Royal
Albert Hotel, Royal
on the Park Hotel, Sebel
King George Square Hotel, The
Marque Hotel, The
Point Hotel, The
Waterloo Bay Hotel, Treasury
Casino Hotel, Urban
Hotel and Watermark
Hotel.
* motels such as Airolodge
International Motel, Airport
Clayfield Motel, Airport
Inn, Airport
Motel, Airway
Motel, Ambassador
Motor Inn, Annerley
Motor Inn, Aspley
Motor Inn, Best
Western Airport 85 Motel, Best
Western Airport Hacienda Motel, Best
Western Astor Metropole, Best
Western Gregory Terrace, Best
Western Sunnybank Star, Brisbane
International Rocklea Motel, Camelot
Inn, Chermside
Court Motel, City
Palms Motel, Comfort
Inn Suites Northgate Airport, Comfort
Inn Suites Robertson Gardens, Comfort
Inn Airport Admiralty, Edmondstone
Motel, Explorers
Inn, Formule
1 Windsor, Formule
1 Airport, Hamilton
Motor Inn, Kingsford
Smith Motel, Manly
Marina Cove Motel, Metropolitan
Motor Inn, Novena
Palms Motel, Quality
Inn Airport Heritage, Quay
West Suites, Queensland
Motel, Soho
Motel, Southern
Cross Motel and Apartments and Spring
Hill Terraces Motel.
* resorts such as Nestle
Inn Tourist Village, Q
Resorts Abbey Apartments, Q
Resorts Tribeca Apartments, and Sapphire
Resort.
* bed and breakfast accommodation such as Carinya
Highgate Hill B&B and Kirkland
House B&B.
* apartments and villas such as Allender
Apartments, Bonapartes
Serviced Apartments, Central
Cosmo Apartments, Central
Dockside Apartments, Chasely
Apartment Hotel, Kangaroo
Point Holiday Apartments, Kirribilli
Riverfront Apartments, Meriton
Serviced Apartments, Oaks
Casino Towers Apartments, Parkview
Apartments, Quest
Bridgewater Apartments, Quest
on Story Bridge Apartments, Skyline
Apartments, The
Dock on Goondwin Apartments and The
Sedgebrook on Leichhardt Apartments.
Some areas with good pubs and restaurants are New Farm, Fortitude
Valley, South Bank and Caxton Street.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - Tours and Getting Around
If you like touring, there are organised tours offered by City Sights
Bus Tour
(a very handy hop-on-hop-off sightseeing trip that takes you between
Brisbane's attractions), City Lights Tour, Brisbackpacker
Tours and River City Cruises
which take you around in the city. Brisbane Day Tours takes you to whale
watching between June and
November; and Araucaria Ecotours and Allstate Scenic Tours take you to
the surrounding national parks. If you want to rent a
car or campervan to get around on your own, a handy site
to compare different companies such as Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz
and Thrifty, and book them for no additional cost is Discovery
Carhire.
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St Helena Island - Brisbane Tourism Information
Brisbane’s outer suburbs that cover large areas are not boring at all.
Just south of the city centre is Manly with the second largest marina
in the southern hemisphere after Fremantle in Western
Australia. There are
once-weekly yacht races; and Solo, Manly Eco Cruises and Bay Dolphin
Sailing Tours will take you for a ride. You can stay at Manly Hotel or
Moreton Bay Lodge. From Manly, you
can reach St Helena Island National Park
where you can discover the ruins of an old prison with AB Sea Cruises.
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North Stradbroke Island - Brisbane Tourism Information
South of Manly is Cleveland, a nice seaside suburb with access to North
Stradbroke Island. The
southern half of the “Straddie” island is used for sand mining but the
northern side is accessible. Fast Cat Service (run by Stradbroke Flyer)
takes you to One Mile Jetty, while Stradbroke Ferries and vehicle
ferries take you to the town of Dunwich, where there is the North
Stradbroke Historical Museum. From here, there is bus service to the
northern towns Amity Point and Point
Lookout, where there are some lovely beaches and walking tracks with
views over the ocean.
With a 4WD you can reach the Blue Lake and the
Brown Lake, or drive all the way along the island’s eastern coast down
to Jumpinpin. You can hire gear for
watersports from Stradbroke Island Guesthouse and Straddie Adventures;
go diving with
Stradbroke Island
Scuba Centre; or touring with Stradbroke Island Tours. There
are a few cheap camping sites in the bush, or you can stay at
Stradbroke Island
Beach Hotel, Stradbroke Island Guesthouse or Stradbroke
Island Tourist Park.
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Moreton Island Brisbane Tourism Information
North of Brisbane city centre are the beautiful suburbs Sandgate,
Brighton, Margate and Redcliff, where I have always seen dolphins
swimming from the beaches.
North from Redcliffe is Scarborough where vehicle ferries leave for Moreton
Island, and take you to the island’s northernmost
township Bulwer, around which are many 4WD and walking tracks (there
are no paved roads or bus service on the island) and camping sites at
Blue Lagoon and Eagers Creek on the east coast of the island.
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Further
south are Cowan Cowan (another township), the 280m Mt Tempest (worth
hiking), and Tangalooma. Tangalooma
Wild
Dolphin Resort runs
boat service to mainland from a dock north of Wynnum off Kingsford
Smith Drive. Off the coast of Tangalooma there are the Tangalooma
Wrecks but the resort is most famous for its wild dolphin
feeding similar to this in Monkey Mia in Shark
Bay in Western
Australia. The resort is
also the only place to stay on the island unless you camp in the bush.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - Darling Downs
Inland from Brisbane is Darling Downs, - an area of rolling hills of
agricultural land, historical towns and the only grape-wine region in
Queensland. The first town west of Brisbane is Ipswich,
where there are some nice old buildings, the Global Arts Link, and the
nearby Main Range National
Park.
Places to stay
in Ipswich include Best
Western Heritage Motor Inn, Country
Comfort Hotel, Metro
Hotel International, Niche
Small Luxury Hotel, Oaks
Aspire Apartments, and Quest
Hotel Apartments.
South-east from Ipswich is Warwick,
another historic town known for its Rodeo
in the end of October but
there is also the Pringle Cottage and Museum worth having a look. There
are many places to stay in town but recommended is the Talgai Homestead
40km north-west of Warwick.
Places to stay
in Warwick include Abbey
of the Roses Guesthouse, Cherrabah
Homestead Resort, Coachmans
Inn Hotel, Comfort
Inn, Country
Rose Motel, Golden
Harvest Hotel, and McNevin's
Gunyah Motel.
Near the border of NSW is Stanthorpe
– the gateway to Sundown and Girraween National
Parks. In town, there are the Stanthorpe Heritage Museum and
the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Places to stay
in Stanthorpe include 31
The Rocks Hotel, Alure
Villas, Apple
Blossom Cottage, Granite
Court Motel, Happy
Valley Retreat Hotel, High
Street Motor Inn, Honeysuckle
Cottages B&B, Murray
Gardens Motel Cottages, Olive
Grove Estate Apartments, and Sommerville
Valley Tourist Park and Resort.
South of Stanthorpe is the Granite Belt –
Queensland’s
only wine district in
an area cool enough for grapes to grow (the wineries of northern
Queensland grow tropical
fruit wines instead). The
wineries in the Granite Belt
include Mountview, Bungawarra, Ballandean Estate, Felsberg Winery, Bald
Mountain Winery, Kominos Wines and Rumbalara Vineyards. You can stay at
Vineyard Cottages & Cafe, and tour the area with Filippo’s
Tours or Granite Highlands Maxi Tours.
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Brisbane Tourism Information - Toowoomba, Miles and Roma
North from Stanthorpe and Warwick is Toowoomba – the largest town in
the area with Toowoomba’s Botanic Gardens, Cobb & Co Museum,
and plenty of places to stay.
Places to stay in
Toowoomba include Allan
Cunningham Motel, Best
Western Ambassador on Ruthven Motor Inn, Best
Western Applegum Inn, Best
Western Tuscany on Tor Inn, Blue
Violet Motor Inn, Bridge
Street Motor Inn, Burke
and Wills Hotel, Central
Plaza Apartments, City
Motor Inn, Clifford
Park Holiday Motor Inn, Comfort
Inn Glenfield, Downs
Motel, Eastgate
Motel on the Range, Garden
City Motel, Grammar
View Motel, Great
Divide Motor Inn, James
Street Motor Inn, Leichhardt
Motor Inn, Riviera
on Ruthven Motel, Sunray
Motor Inn, The
Coachman Motel, The
Shamrock Hotel Motel, Toowoomba
Motel, Tudor
Lodge Motel, and Vacy
Hall Historic Guesthouse.
Inland from Toowoomba on the way to Miles
there is the turnoff to Bunya Mountains
National Park; and Jondaryan
Woolshed
Complex where the famous shearers’ strike started in 1890
which lead to formation of the Australian Labour Party. Today it is an
excellent tourist complex with old buildings, shearers gear and even a
dining shelter and accommodation.
Brisbane Tourism Information - Inland from Brisbane
In Miles, there is the interesting Miles
Historical Village. One of the places to stay is Starline
Motor Inn.
West from
Miles is Roma, a town worth visiting
during the Easter weekend when there are rodeo, markets, horse races
and country music happening in the Eastern in the Country Festival.
There is also the Big Rig Complex
interesting with a museum of oil and gas exploration. North of Roma is
the Carnarvon
National Park – one of
the best national parks in Australia.
Places to stay
in Roma include Best
Western Bungil Creek Motel, Motel
Carnarvon, Quality
Inn Overlander Homestead, Roma
Explorers Inn, and Starlight
Motor Inn.
Here's a map of
Brisbane, where I have tagged the places that I
mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what
places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and
see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to
see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top
right hand corner.
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Stradbroke Island Not rated yet Stradbroke Island was a nice day trip. The ferries depart from Cleveland and take you to the island, there are a few eateries, and a nice walk with some …
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