Today I explore Brisbane’s riverside walks by foot. After a simple breakfast of oats and fruit in my room, I headed out at around 0830. It was still cool in the shade but lovely in the sunshine.
I crossed the river on the pedestrian bridge to South Bank. The area was a very delightful public facility of walks (of which some were boardwalks), landscaped areas, a palm garden, a Nepalese pagoda, swimming pool with sand beach, ferry stops and restaurants.
At the far end, the walk continued into less sophisticated but still a rather nice walk to Kangaroo Point. There was a cliff area where the public could practice climbing. Part of this walk looked across to the Botanical Gardens on the other side of the river.
I finished up my walk around 1015 at Holman Street where I took a free ferry across to Riverside where I walked back to the hostel. I could have taken the free ferry back to near my part of town, but it probably wouldn’t have saved me much time. The straight route on land is much shorter than the meandering route of the Brisbane River.
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- View from the pedestrian bridge crossing the river to South Bank.
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- Tropical palm garden at South Bank.
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- Nepalese pagoda at South Bank left over from Brisbane Expo 88.
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- Streets Beach at South Bank; a public pool with artificial sandy beach.
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- Streets Beach at South Bank; a public pool with artificial sandy beach.
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- Brisbane’s skyline with the Botanical Gardens in front.
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- Story Bridge viewed from Kangaroo Point.
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- Paddle steamers at Riverside complex.
After a lunch of Vietnamese sandwich roll, I relaxed for the rest of the day. I took the train to Fortitude Valley to explore Chinatown and in search of dinner. To my surprise, the place was dead in the evening. A few restaurants were either closed or closed down. I made my way by foot back to my part of town. There was surprisingly little available in the CBD that was open for dinner and even less that was economic and appealed to me.
I ended up at last night’s restaurant where I had 45% discount. But tonight, I paid full price. While it wasn’t expensive, my meal was bad value. It was a takeaway-style kebab at eat-in pricing. It was only when I reached the hostel afterwards I realised I could have eaten at the pub under the hostel. Not only that, they offer 20% discount to hostel guests. Damn!