This morning we awoke to broken clouds and when we checked the forecast it reported potential showers. So this meant that we needed to plan for rain as we prepared to head off for our day of exploration in Brisbane.
We had checked and if we travelled on the metro system (called Translink) on off peak times (after 9 am and before 3:30 pm or after 7 pm) we could get a 4 zone all day pass for $8.60 each. This gave us on and off privileges for any of the systems buses, trains or boats. What a great deal that is. Another note, we discovered that the buses run on their own highway system so it is very quick and efficient to get into the downtown core – no traffic except for buses.
While we waited for the bus at the bus stop we started to chat with a local who told us that our watches were wrong by one hour. Apparently we are in a different time zone here in Brisbane and did not even know it. So we thought we were leaving at 10 but really it was 9 – still good for the ticket we wanted to buy. (I checked online to see where the time zones change in Australia and it really is not easy to understand.) We quickly adjusted our watches and realized we had an additional hour today.
The local lady we were talking with asked us all kinds of questions about Canada – housing for families, costs for living, etc. She is very interested in visiting one day and I think she must be thinking about comparing the living there with here. It was very informative from the point of view of learning more about the average citizen’s life here and we learned that it really is very similar to Canada – but cost of living is a bit higher. Salaries for the professions are similar.
When we got to downtown we found the local Visitor’s Center in the middle of a street mall. The downtown core seems to have been turned over to street malls in the center blocks and this makes it a very easy place to wander around and explore. The Visitor’s Center was very helpful with suggestions which we took to heart.
The first thing we wanted to do was to explore the city by taking the river boats that run from one end of the city along the Brisbane River. The heart of the city seems to have grown along the river and it still has the city CBD on both sides. Since our all day bus pass included riding on the river boats for free we simply got on and rode them from one end to the other. What a great way to see Brisbane. 
I noticed that there were a few places along the river with private homes and private docks. If you look at this next picture see the place I mean? Wonder what it must be like to have a 2 car garage on the street and 2 large boats on the river. How would you ever manage the decision about what to take to work each day?
After we finished the river explorations of the city (took about 2 hours) we went back into the center of town and found lunch. This also gave us a chance to stop in at some shops to explore and do some shopping. Wes found a hat he liked and I found a small backpack to carry my camera in. We checked out the T-Shirts but found nothing suitable so we will keep looking.
We had wanted to go to Mount Coot-tha which is accessible with our bus passes. Mount Coot-tha is a mountain as well as suburb of Brisbane. The mountain is 287 metres above sea level and forms the eastern extent of the Taylor Range. It is a prominent landmark approximately 6 km to the west of the Brisbane central business district and is visible from much of the city. It is the most northern part of Australia to record snow. We had been instructed to ride the bus up to the top and quickly snap your pictures and catch the same bus back down. The bus usually stops for about 10 minutes which is not much time but better to hurry and do the pictures to catch the same bus than to sit there with nothing to do for an hour when the next bus arrives. This was good advice and by the time we got there it was after 3 so if we missed the bus we got there on we would have had to wait to 7 or pay for a new ticket. Having said that the views of the city were worth the trip and we noted that there were some trails we could have hiked, so next time we would likely plan on staying up on the mountain for a bit of time to explore.
We returned to the center of the city by 3:45 which means we were not going anywhere else on the bus until 7. We decided that the 4 pm movie that was playing called “Due Date” would be fun to see and then we could have dinner. It was either this or shop for 3 hours – which we should do – but did not appeal so the movie won out.
We finished the movie and found some dinner and were ready for the 7 pm bus back to the campsite. Brisbane is an interesting city but I think that Sydney was more interesting. Other than shopping or spending time at the Botanical Gardens I think we covered all the interesting things in one day. Maybe we missed something but tomorrow we head northward again.
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