Gold Coast | Brisbane Journal – Part 2

Brisbane, capital of Queensland, is a big, modern city set on the Brisbane River. Clustered in its South Bank cultural precinct are institutions including Queensland Museum and Sciencentre, with noted interactive exhibitions, and Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, among Australia’s major contemporary art museums. Looming over the city is Mt. Coot-tha, site of sprawling Brisbane Botanic Gardens, with panoramic views from its summit.

You can read more about Brisbane over in Wikipedia.

We booked Riverside Hotel Brisbane located at South Bank through Agoda. We chose this hotel as it is accessible to many attractions which were part of our itinerary. Although it is rated as a 4 star hotel, it does not really give us a “WOW” experience. Nonetheless, we would say it is a decent place to stay.

This is the hotel lobby. The staff was knowledgeable and made our check-in seamless. It offers free secured parking but we need to pay AUD $6 for 2 hours of wifi. You can log out after accessing the internet and log in again when you need it. The network will inform you how much time you have left for the 2 hours you paid for.

I would like to point out the best thing about our stay in this hotel. I estimated the distance from our hotel room to carpark is LESS THAN 20m. Sounds too good to be true?

After accessing into the secured carpark, we drove near to the lift. I parked our car right in front of the lift.

As it was a secured parking, we had to use our hotel room key to activate the lift.

We took the lift to the 3rd level where we were staying and walk just between 10m to 15m and voila, reached our hotel room! Such stays are very useful if you are carrying heavy or multiple luggages. Just one trip is enough 🙂

Our first stop was to visit Brisbane Chinatown.

Situated in Fortitude Valley, this hive of activity draws in as many locals as it does visitors. Maybe it’s the hustle and bustle of the Chinese supermarkets, the exotic ingredients, or the steaming Yum Cha breakfast shared with friends that bring people back time and time again. Maybe it’s the smells and sounds of fresh ingredients meeting a wok, or green tea poured over and over. Whatever the case, Chinatown is celebrated as an ever-changing feast.

Parking can be a hassle over there.

The instructions said we could only park for 1 hour and the fee was AUD $2.70. That means we need to return before the hour is up to renew for another hour.

We had lunch at Red Rooster. As it was a weekday, we did not see many people along the streets.

Try their Gelato…

We strolled along the streets. We were surprised Brisbane offers free wifi there as well for a limited time.

I am a fan of coffee. I love the aroma of coffee.  🙂

We tried their roasted duck as well. Yummy!

Fortitude Valley was basically quiet and not a lot of places to explore. We returned to our car before the hour was up and drove to explore Brisbane’s CBD and Queen Street Mall.

It was difficult to find a parking spot. After turning a few rounds, we found a shopping mall to park at its basement. It cost a flat rate of about AUD $12 for overnight parking. We were in for a great treat as we chanced upon their Farmers Market during the weekday. The night was looming but our day had just begun.

The Jan Power’s Farmers Markets, located by the Brisbane River in New Farm, is also known as the Powerhouse Farmers Markets due to its location in Lamington Street next to the Powerhouse Museum. In September 2006, the markets trialled a new location in Blackwood Street, Michelton – it was a raving success.

Both markets pride themselves on selling quality, including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry, bread and flowers. Organic produce is also available. Despite being a farmers market, Jan Powers stresses that the markets are not run by, or are only for, farmers. The markets boast a mix of city and country with an emphasis on selling the best.

This is what we love – to visit their local markets. It is just authentic. That is what a vacation is for.

Look that the beautiful backdrop of Brisbane.

We couldn’t resist the attempt to try out their sausages.

We actually sat down on a bench in the street to ate the sausages and roasted duck we bought earlier at Fortitude Valley. It was getting cold as night came. The experience was surreal as we ate and watched people passed by.

Good night, Ms. Brisbane.

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