I wanted to do it since I moved to Brisbane and last night we finally found a good opportunity to do a night cruise on the Brisbane River. Travelling on water is undoubtedly the best way to soak in the city skyline and doing it at night when all the buildings are colourfully shining makes it even more beautiful. Also most of Brisbane’s sights can be seen from the river, such as the Story and the Kurilpa- Bridge, the Brisbane Wheel, the Treasury Casino and the impressive Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Another good news is, that there are ferries run by the Brisbane City Council called CityHopper that are going every 30 minutes and are absolutely for free. The ideal stops for a fun cruise on the river are in my opinion the Eagle Street Pier at Fortitude Valley and Southbank.

We got on the ferry at Sydney Street last night and disembarked about 40 minutes later at South Bank, which is a beautiful location to get dinner at one of the plenty international restaurants or just go for a romantic walk.

Show me the CityHopper departure times!

Yay! I’ve seen my first live AFL match at the Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium today!

Australian Rules Football is Australia’s national sport. It’s very different to any other sport in the world with 4 big posts at each end of an oval field with the aim to score as many points kicking the ball through the middle two posts. It’s very unusual to watch for the first time but despite not knowing much it is very entertaining to watch live. With 18 teams all across Australia its the most popular sport in the country and it requires a combination of fitness, skill and strength.

We watched a game at Metricon stadium which is Gold Coasts home ground and only an hour from Brisbane. They were playing against the Fremantle Dockers a team from Perth who are Jared’s favourite team and he didn’t want to miss the chance to see them live considering they don’t come to Brisbane very often. There is not much parking available near the stadium so its important to get public transport to the there or come early to give yourself plenty of time to find a park, we found this out the hard way!

Unfortunately it was a cold and rainy day for the game so Jared and I were forced to huddle in our seats to stay warm, dressed as if we were preparing for a summer day at Gold Coasts sunny beaches. However we forgot about this as the game went on and the energy in the stadium began to grow with the scores being really close for the whole game, looking like either team could win. In the rain players were throwing themselves at the ball to get it for their team and it came down to the last minute for Fremantle to kick a final goal and secure the win (much to Jared’s excitement).

Fortunately the rain had settled by the end of the game for us to make our way back to the car. For only $35 it’s an extremely fun way to spend an afternoon and I have heard watching a game in Melbourne is a must!

What AFL games are on during my stay?

 

The Riverstage, situated in the City Botanic Gardens of Brisbane is one of the main entertainment venues of the city. Surrounded by nature it is a beautiful place and it hosts many local, national and international concerts and events each year. And the awesome thing is, besides the paid shows Riverstage also hosts a big number of free events, of which some are real gems. Like the one we have been to today. The Australian Ballet has performed Giselle. The area around the stage was pretty crowded during the show, but it didn’t bother me too much. We managed to get a good space and enjoyed the performance, which was absolutely awesome.

To see what’s coming on at the Riverstage click here!

We spend a very nice day at Kings Beach/ Caloundra at the Sunshine Coast today. Only about 40 minutes from Brisbane it’s a beautiful beach that is usually not too crowded. Today we ended up having a long stretch of  it pretty much for ourselves. 

Jared even tried to teach me surfing. But despite all the optimism I had on the drive there, I soon had to realise that it just doesn’t quite seem to be my thing. It was just so exhausting. For everyone who has never tried it before, imagine it like sledding. It’s fun and good times while you are sliding down the hill, but it get’s nasty when you have to pull your sled up the hill afterwards, at least if you’re just starting to learn. And well, what should I say.. in that case i just prefer relaxing on the beach and watching Jared doing it.

We have arrived in the capital of Queensland this morning and for the next 3 days we have pre-booked our accommodation through Airbnb again. It’s our second time using it and last time in Hong Kong we were absolutely satisfied. This time we are staying at the apartment of a lovely Australian surf teacher that seems to life a pretty alternative lifestyle and does not quite like to wear clothes. This could be interesting. Apart from that his apartment is in a perfect spot, right in Fortitude Valley, a very central area of the city were most of the nightlife is going on.

Anyway, back to Brisbane. The impressions we have heard from other backpackers that have been staying here have not been sounding too exciting. Many of them described Brisbane as boring and “not worth a stay” but just from what we could see on our drive in it is a beautiful city and we really liked it already. So we were looking forward to go exploring the city today and were even more surprised. We discovered a beautiful walk along the Brisbane river, leading from Fortitude Valley, through the Botanic Gardens, past the city center to a place called Southbank. The whole walk was pretty awesome, with great views of the river, the skyline and big cliffs and Southbank, which is a huge park with a Lagoon (a public pool with sand beaches) overlooking the river, has been the perfect place to chill out on a hot summer day like it was today. And in case you should forget where you are for a moment, all the huge birds and lizards constantly crossing your paths will make sure to remind you.

We are back at the apartment now, getting ready for a night out.