Brisbane (Queensland, Australia)

Brisbane Reviews

Brisbane Photos

Property Rentals in Queensland

Brisbane Information

Overview

Things to do

Country Info (Australia)

Slideshow of Photos

Australia's Queensland is renowned nationally and internationally for it's idyllic weather and predominantly outdoor lifestyle and the capital of the sunshine state, Brisbane is no exception.

Brisbane has a wide, undulating cityscape that combines nature's beauty, Brisbane's interesting heritage and the unique cosmopolitan lifestyle that is continuously evolving. The city is now the third largest in Australia with a population of over 898,000. The city centre straddles the river and is a fairly compact 2 mls from N to S and 1 ml from E to W, but it has no great architecture or natural sights to attract the international tourist.

The old Expo '88 site on the S bank of the river has left a pleasant parkland area (South Bank Parklands), but there are no iconic city sites worth flying halfway round the world to see, especially when compared with its rival, Sydney.

It is often used as a transit point for tourists arriving or leaving Australia and is the gateway to the Gold Coast resorts to the S and the Sunshine Coast to the N. The hilly suburb of Spring Hill to the N has various parks and views over the city and river but little else. Fortitude Valley to the NE offers a Chinatown district and downmarket shopping by day but is probably best avoided at night unless you go prepared for a seedy red-light district which may not be entirely safe for unwary tourists.

Locality:

Brisbane is situated halfway down the E coast of Australia, in the SE corner of the state of Queensland, of which it is the capital. It is 470 mls NE of Sydney, 58 mls N of Surfers Paradise, 12 mls SW of the airport. The city centre sits on a flat N-shore promontory in a tight loop in the Brisbane River, which at this point is about 250 yds wide. The open sea at Moreton Bay is 10 mls downstream. The surrounding plain is flat as far as a small range of hills dominated by Mt Coot-tha, 5 mls to the W.

Suggest a change to the Brisbane Overview section (click to dropdown)

Brisbane's visitors are mostly corporate people on business, those visiting friends and relatives, backpackers, Gold Coast visitors and those on transit to other areas of Australia.

Brisbane's accommodation consists of 4- and 5-star chain hotels catering almost exclusively for business people along with 2- and 3-star accommodation for short-stay transit passengers, hostels, self catering apartments etc.

Brisbane's biggest disadvantage is it's lack of real beach, something that its rival cities all tend to boast over. However, the artificial beach by the swimming "lagoon" in the South Bank Parkland satisfies any urge to build sand castles (albeit killing off any cultural credibility the area has to offer).

Those after a shopping experience have the Queen Street Mall and Myer Centre department store which offer all the things that could be bought in any shopping mall or department store in the UK, plus bush hats and toy koalas. A weekend market operates in South Bank. Attractions to the city consist of a visit to the botanic gardens, Government House, art gallery, river cruises. Street entertainers seem to abound, especially at weekends in South Bank and Queen Street Mall. South Bank also offers a re-creation of a rainforest and various other attractions to pass the time.

By night there are a number of discos, some jazz clubs, a casino, cinemas, occasional concerts.

Local excursions consist of a catamaran trip to Moreton Bay Island National Park for dolphin feeding, sand tobogganing and whale-watching (June to Oct). Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to see Aussie animals. Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, rainforest and planetarium.

Suggest a change to the Brisbane Things to do section (click to dropdown)

Population: 20.090.400
Languages: English 79%, native and other languages
Currency: Australian dollar
Currency code: AUD
Local Times:
Australia - Australian Capital Territory - Canberra

Australia - New South Wales - Sydney

Australia - Tasmania - Hobart

Australia - Western Australia - Perth

Country Dialling Code: +61
Voltage: 240V 50Hz
Electrical plugs:
Flat prongs, inverted 'V' positioned with earth connector

Flat prongs, inverted 'V' positioned with earth connector

Australia, officially called the Commonweath of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the continental mainland (the smallest of the World\'s continents).

The continent of Australia, with the island state of Tasmania, is approximately equal in area to the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). Mountain ranges run from north to south along the east coast, reaching their highest point in Mount Kosciusko (7,308 ft; 2,228 m). The western half of the continent is occupied by a desert plateau that rises into barren, rolling hills near the west coast. The Great Barrier Reef, extending about 1,245 mi (2,000 km), lies along the northeast coast. The island of Tasmania (26,178 sq mi; 67,800 sq km) is off the southeast coast.

It may be one of the world's most ancient lands with its mystical red centre and brooding rock formations, but Australia is also characterised by its youthful energy, its freshness and its \'no worries\' philosophy.

Most of the population lives within a few miles of the beach and with the working day beginning and ending early, it\'s not uncommon to see city slickers out of their suits and into the surf come 4.30pm.

In high summer many families will enjoy a simple backyard barbecue several times a week.

The 22-hour journey means most European people visit for at least a couple of weeks, allowing time for all that the country has to offer, including its chic cities, terracotta desert, lush bush and magical ocean reefs.

But the sheer size of Australia means that one visit is unlikely to be enough.

The most popular attractions are undoubtedly Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, but there are now more subtle incentives for a visit.

The wonderful fusion cuisine, the café society, the burgeoning art, culture and fashion scene, and the very real possibility of being the only person for miles around all conspire to make it a wholly alluring experience.

Australia is politically divided into six states and two territories, each one offering a different experience for the traveller. There is the drama of the remote \'Outback\', the colourful spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef and its coral islands, the excitement of the cosmopolitan cities, the sun and surf at some of the best beaches in the world, and the tropical rainforests of Western Australia. The list is endless in this diverse land of adventure, which boasts 2,000 national parks and 14 World Heritage-listed areas, along with more than 7,000 beaches.

Australia is a land of character too, with its melting pot of cultures. For more than 50,000 years the Aboriginal people lived and thrived in the continent\'s unique environment. It is believed the Aboriginals are the world\'s oldest civilisation, and in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in keeping the Aboriginal culture alive and flourishing.

The vast continent at the bottom of the world was the last landmass to be discovered by European explorers. Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay in 1770 and sparked off generations of emigration to Australia, which for some time served as a penal colony. It was not until 1860 that two explorers - Robert Burke and William Wills - became the first Europeans to cross Australia from south to north. The country remains a magnet for modern explorers and adventurers and has a great deal to offer tourists and holidaymakers.