to the city! - Blogabond

After the peace, greenery and rustic feel of KinKin Souls, Brisbane was a jolt, though not necessarily a completely negative one! We arrived on greyhound (ahh, faithful greyhound, I won't miss it at all when I'm home!), caught a quick-train ride across the city and arrived in the alternative-and-slightly-seedy area of Forititude Valley. Although organisational commitments got in the way (as they often do) of our first day of metropolitan (well, Brisbane's hardly London... or even Liverpool, but still) freedom, but on our second day we explored more, stumbling across an international farmers market on the riverside, and checking out the Queensland art gallery on SouthBank, which had some great modern art and an exhibition by Aboriginal Artist Jim Rootsey. In the afternoon we had a picnic on the riverside, near Brisbane's artificial beach area. It sounds pretty naff, but actually was really pretty, with the real palms, sunshine, and lots of grass around the water and sand on the riverside. We also explored the West End, a studenty place crammed with cafes, bars, ethnic grocers and thrift shops. There we found the Three Monkeys cafe, something of a legend in Brisbane, a softly-lit maze of a place, the kind of place to spend hours in, where we got milkshakes, chai and cake (clearly we had a sugar-deficit after KinKin!) and sat in the garden for a while.
That night we went out for a meal at Tibetan/Nepalese restaurant, The Tibetan Kitchen on Brunswick St in Forititude Valley, a packed, noisy, BYO place with beautiful decorations and even better food!

We didn't do anything too crazy in Brisbane; plans to go out were slightly stumped by Nik not having any 'proper' shoes (they're big on 'proper' shoes here), and it being mid-week. Still it was good to be back in a city for a while, in the buzz and the noise and with so many options of things to do. Our few days there went past very fast, and then we found ourselves back on the greyhound on our way to the hippie-mecca of Byron Bay.

written by

LizIsHere on September 10, 2010 from Brisbane, Australia

from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010

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