Brisbane, Australia

December 29th - December 31st 2011

Our first day in Brisbane we decided to drive in and try and find a place to park so that we could explore. Unfortunately we found that parking was very expensive at $4 an hour so we drove back to the campsite and took the bus in instead. We found an information centre and did a historical walking route which took us past lots of interesting buildings and landmarks as well as interesting statues in Anzac Square. We walked past the Treasury Building and through the Botanical Gardens. In the gardens we saw ducks and lizards and relaxed in the colourful grounds before walking back up Queen Street and catching a bus back to our campsite. Our first impressions of the city were of how clean and well laid out it is. While we stopped to have a look at our walking tour map a lovely elderly gentleman approached us to point us in the right direction and give us some useful information about the city too.

Juxtaposition of old and new architecture

The following day we caught the bus to the South Bank to visit the art galleries. We saw European paintings, religious paintings as well as landscapes and still life's in the Queensland Art Gallery. I found a beautiful Degas on display and also loved some photographs of priests in India doing penance, including the man who has his arm permanently raised above his head. There were also wonderful Japanese drawings as well as contemporary paintings by American painters of the Abstract Expressionist movement. We saw an exhibition full of old historic landscape paintings which including some sketchbooks which were wonderful and very inspiring.



Richard Long

After lunch outside by the river we wandered to the library where we managed to take advantage of free 30 minutes of internet before moving on to the Gallery of Modern Art or GOMA as it's known. We went to the top and worked our way down. The gallery houses Aboriginal art as well as contemporary art. Most of the work was Australian however I did notice a 'I Never Stopped Loving You' pink neon sign by British artist Tracey Emin. After the gallery we went for a walk along the bank and got a good look at the Brisbane Wheel.

Tracey Emin

Christmas Eve we decided to relax and spent the day by the campervan not doing very much at all! We had dinner and watched Back To The Future 3 in the little kitchen on site. At 10 we decided to head into the city on the bus to watch the midnight fireworks. The bus was free to get in to town and back which was a bonus. There were loads of rowdy people on the bus, mostly drunk teenagers being annoying! We absorbed the atmosphere on the South Bank which was filled with crowds of people, the smell of donuts and the sparkling Brisbane Wheel. We picked a spot and after the countdown watched the fireworks over the Brisbane River which had a beautiful Brisbane skyline backdrop.