Olympic Games host city Brisbane
What makes the Queensland capital a gold-medal destination.
Brisbane was home for my formative years. To me, it always seemed like a big country town – until Expo 88 came along. Seemingly overnight, Brisbane grew wings and turned into a sophisticated butterfly. Perhaps it was also because Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, state premier since I was a baby, was finally no longer ruling the roost.
Most of my family lives in and around Brisbane so I visit regularly. The things that have always charmed me are still there: its river (as curly as my hair in the humidity), the timber houses hoiked up on stumps to catch the slightest of breezes, the build-up to an afternoon thunderstorm, the annual purple pop of jacarandas.
Having hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and Expo 88, Brisbane is now preparing for its next spin on the world stage with the 2032 Olympics. There’s much that makes it a worthy backdrop to this global sporting showcase. Shine on, Brisvegas.
CITY STAYS
Brisbane’s city hotels run the gamut from fun and funky to all grown up. Grab a river-view room at the high-energy W Brisbane, home to a striking pool and an outlet of Three Blue Ducks. The Adina Apartment Hotel Brisbane occupies a heritage Queensland Government Savings Bank sandstone edifice (and a modern five-storey rooftop addition). On the ground floor is the popular modern Chinese eatery Donna Chang. The nearby Treasury Brisbane will become a Ritz-Carlton hotel as part of the Queen’s Wharf development opening in 2022.
VALLEY WAYS
Fortitude Valley, nuzzling Brisbane’s CBD, was once the seediest (some would say the most fun) place around. Now it’s gentrified and a slew of hip hotels have opened in what locals simply call The Valley. One of the most striking is The Calile, a tropical modernist delight with its outdoor pool, towering palms, architectural curves and custom breezeblocks on trendy James Street. Ovolo The Valley features Rockstar Suites with avant-garde art, and the all-vegetarian restaurant Za Za Ta, its interior blending the Victorian-era conservatory with Queenslander style. Hotel X features a diagonal aesthetic inside and out, a rooftop pool offering a spectacular angle on the Story Bridge and the city, and drawcard brasserie Bisou Bisou.
THERE BE DRAGONS
As Roma Street station continues its redevelopment, the adjoining 16ha parkland is an entrancing oasis. The former railway yard unveiled its botanical makeover in 2001. Encircling a man-made lake are gardens, water features and lawns where you can while away the hours and spot intriguing wildlife. More than 600 eastern water dragons live here, primarily in the Spectacle Garden (it’s the world’s highest density of this subspecies). An encounter with these scampering reptiles can take you by surprise but once you’ve recovered, take note of their unusual proportions. Queensland scientists studying the dragons’ astonishingly rapid evolution at various sites say the heads of the Roma Street inhabitants are larger than usual. In nearby Emma Miller Place is artist Luke Roberts’s Poinsettia Riverfire, an exuberant sculpture celebrating the city’s floral emblem.
CULTURE HUB
The poinsettia might seem a strange floral emblem when jacarandas so thoroughly paint Brisbane purple in October and November. Visitors to Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art demonstrate their love for the trees by placing fallen flowers beneath R. Godfrey Rivers’ 1903 oil painting Under the Jacaranda. The featured tree was planted in Brisbane in 1864 but blew over in a 1979 cyclone. The galleries are part of the South Bank cultural precinct, a row of monolithic riverfront buildings that include the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Museum and State Library of Queensland.
TABLE TALK
Brisbane’s vibrant food scene includes an eye-popping number of neighbourhood precincts. Ada Lane off James Street in the Valley is home to Bianca, an Italian eatery that’s both fun (hello soft-serve gelato) and serious (a wine list stretching to 350 bottles). Award-winning French brasserie Montrachet in Bowen Hills leads the charge in that neck of the woods. Among the culinary temptations in nearby Teneriffe is Siffredi’s Spaghetti Bar, where the compact menu might include baked Noosa scallops. Bulimba’s Oxford Street is home to Melrose, a rooftop restaurant serving haute Indonesian and Thai, while on West End’s Boundary Street you can BYO vino and vinyl to Pasta Club.
BANK ON IT
An intricate Nepalese peace pagoda, carved over two years by 160 families, is one of the few traces left of Expo 88. It stands within a lush rainforest grove at South Bank, the 17ha precinct developed on the former event site. Wander the riverbank, home to a much-snapped Brisbane sign, take refuge from the sun in tunnels of pink bougainvillea, splash at the man-made beach and refuel at nearby Fish Lane.
SO THE STORY GOES
The historic Howard Smith Wharves, tucked between the river and a cliff beneath the Story Bridge’s northern pylon, have become one of Brisbane’s coolest hangouts. Strike out along the City Reach boardwalk from the CBD or stroll the Brisbane Riverwalk, a path suspended over the water. Pull up a riverside stool for brews with a view or lounge on the lawns with snacks from pop-up eateries. The onsite hotel, formerly the Fantauzzo, is now the Crystalbrook Vincent (a nod to artist Vincent Fantauzzo).
THE RIVER RUN
Make like a commuter and whiz around the occasionally temperamental waterway on a ferry (using double-decker CityCats, express SpeedyCats or mini KittyCats). Ferries ply the river between St Lucia and Hamilton, passing beneath several bridges, including the Go Between Bridge (named after an acclaimed Brisbane band). See the epic Queen’s Wharf project (a new entertainment and lifestyle precinct) taking shape opposite South Bank. For a different angle, head to Kangaroo Point Cliffs to abseil or climb the rock face with Riverlife Adventure Centre, which also hires out kayaks. Mount Coot-Tha lookout offers distant river glimpses.
GO GREEN
Brisbane does good foliage. In the northern suburbs, swoon over tropical monstera and palms at Eden Gardens in Carseldine (also home to the Dragonfly Cafe, where you can extend the green theme with kale and spinach smoothies and smashed avo on toast). Nundah’s The Plant Lounge can help create an urban jungle in your home while in the leafy western suburbs is Brookfield Gardens. This multifaceted enterprise includes a nursery, greenhouse, potting shed, kitchen garden and botanical bistro Wild Canary, which serves up the prettiest of dishes.
A CUT ABOVE
Classic Queenslander architecture was developed in response to the state’s steamy, subtropical climate. These quintessential homes, dating from the mid-19th century, are typically made of timber, topped with a corrugated-iron roof and wrapped in wide verandas. They sit on stumps to better catch cooling breezes and are sometimes decorated with fancy timber screens, fretwork and balustrades. Stroll the streets of northern suburbs such as Ashgrove, Ascot, Hamilton and Paddington to see some fine examples. On the south side, wander around West End, Hawthorne and Bulimba.
BAY OF ISLANDS
Bayside Brisbane isn’t known for glittering beaches but it’s a quick hop to two world-class islands. My heart lies with Moreton Island (my family had a timeshare unit at Tangalooma). It seems extraordinary that such a place – with soaring sand dunes, wild dolphins that’ll take fish from your hand, a windswept ocean side and a constellation of wrecks that provide excellent snorkelling – sits within sight of a state capital. North Stradbroke Island, or Straddie, is more civilised. Head there for land-based whale-watching or to laze on the sunshine-soaked, north-facing Cylinder Beach.
POT LUCK
The Breakfast Creek Hotel, nicknamed the Brekkie Creek, is famous for oversized steaks. In the Private Bar, you can also witness the daily spiking of the wooden beer keg at noon. The pub is one of the few to still serve beer from wooden kegs, after local wharfies petitioned for the tradition to stay. It’s not the only watering hole that inspired grassroots activism. Toowong’s Regatta Hotel, trimmed with three tiers of lace-like balustrade, is home to Merle’s Bar, named after Merle Thornton (mother of actress Sigrid Thornton), who protested for women’s rights with Rosalie Bognor. The pair chained themselves to the public bar’s foot rail, and the ensuing publicity is believed to have opened public bars to women nationwide.
HOT SHOPS
If same-same shopping centres and malls aren’t your style, browse the city’s elegant Brisbane Arcade, home to high-end fashion designers and jewellers. James Street in the Valley incorporates a hip boutique strip. Here Assembly Label and Auguste The Label both stock hot-to-trot Queensland hatters Lack of Color. Dive further into the fashion scene via the Valley’s laneways. Recently joining Winn and Bakery lanes is California Lane, home to creatives such as Alice Nightingale, who makes human fashion and dog-wear from recycled and vintage fabrics.
JIVE TALKIN’
As a child, I was shocked to learn the Gibb brothers – who found fame as the Bee Gees – grew up in Redcliffe after moving to Australia. It seemed impossible they had lived on the working-class peninsula, connected to Brisbane by bridge, road and, since 2016, rail. Nowadays, the suburb has smartened up and it’s a delight to wander the foreshore with distant views of Moreton Island and see what anglers are hooking from Woody Point or Redcliffe jetties. Take a swim in Settlement Cove lagoon, tuck into fish and chips, or explore murals, music and memories on Bee Gees Way.
