Brisbane, QLD


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

OVER THE (HILL) BRIDGE

After strolling through South Bank Parklands, we continued our walk over the Goodwill Bridge to the north bank. The bridge passes over the Brisbane Maritime Museum.
HMAS Diamantina
The HMAS Diamantina is open for inspection after the dry dock was flooded last January. Volunteer US sailors cleaned up the old frigate. The sailors were from a US submarine visiting Brisbane for some R&R. The HMAS Diamantina is a River Class Frigate built in 1945 and she went to war in the Pacific Ocean. After the war she was an Oceanographic Survey ship in WA. By 1980 she was the last war time frigate still sailing, but her time was up and she was given to the Brisbane Maritime Museum.

Ella's Pink Lady
Ella's Pink Lady is also in the museum. She is the tiny yacht, in which 16 year old Jessica Watson sailed solo, non stop, around the world last year.

The City Cats are back.
A City Cat ferry passed underneath us and it is good to see them back on the river after they evacuated during the flood. They sailed out of the river and sheltered in a marina on the bay. Many of the ferry terminals were washed away. Many have been rebuilt. It was quite a sight seeing  all 20 of them come back up river together.

Brisbane City-north bank of Brisbane River.
These clouds are a familiar sight these days. They come rolling in every afternoon and drop a tropical downpour and they hang around until the next morning when we have blue sky and warm sun again. Typical tropical weather but it has usually gone by this time of the year. We were lucky it didn't rain until after we got home.
Looking back across The Goodwill Bridge for pedestrians and cyclists only.

Captain Cook Bridge
One of the many road bridges over the Brisbane River, which is still a revolting colour from the floods.
The pedestrian bridge passes under the motorway.

CityCycle station
At the end of the bridge there is a CityCycle station. It is a council, sustainable, public transport scheme aimed at reducing traffic congestion and parking problems. It also encourages fitness exercise. Patrons must pay a subscription on line and wear your own or hired helmet. (This could be a bit off putting for casual trips and tourists.) I'm not sure how it works but I think you have to punch in a pin number to release the locks. You don't have to return the bike to the same station you can drop it off at any one of the 150 stations for the 2000 bikes. Then we walked into the Old Botanical Gardens.

22 comments:

  1. Lovely reminder of the few days we spent in Brisbane two years' ago when we visited my sister and parents. I'm looking forward to seeing the Botanical Garden as we sadly didn't make it there in the limited time we had. It was on my wish list of things to do, though!

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  2. Beautiful photos of the old vessels, bridges and the city cycles. Were you in a boat taking the photo under the bridge? I like the idea of the cycles which reduce traffic and increase fitness. Have a great week. Jo

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  3. Jo: No we were on the pedestrian bridge, which goes under the road bridge due to the bend in the river.

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  4. What an interesting place Brisbane is they have that idea with the bikes in Copenhagen but you just put money in.

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  5. Diane, nice post and tour. I think the pink yacht is cute, it is amazing a 16 year old sailed around the world. The cat ferry looks like it would be fun just to go on a ride. The sky looks beautiful, what a great day.

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  6. Diane I am delighted to see these beautiful photos and 'near perfect' weather.
    We sat, eyes glued to the television, earlier in the year watching the rain and floods.
    It is good to be back...

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  7. I want to walk the pedestrian bridge. I love all these photos. Brisbane really looks like a wonderful place to live. 'Twould that I could do that.

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  8. The boat reminds of of one of my fave films - Father Goose (with the gorgeous Mr Cary Grant). Great to see things getting back to normal.

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  9. Thanks for the sight-seeing in Brisbane. I have seen a lot now. The flood damage is hardly to see anymore. A quick cleaning.

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  10. I like the brisbane skyline, the bikes and the underneath of the walkway. beautiful shots

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  11. Interesting architecture of the bridge. The clouds look very familiar to me and the bikes too !

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  12. What a beautiful photo-journal.

    Just marvelous! ...Marsha

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  13. Hi Diane
    Brisbane looks so beautiful...I'm sorry I did not get a chance to visit it. I'm glad the city is recovering from the flood damage. The clouds in your photos are so gorgeous.

    It has been such a busy three weeks for me and I am trying to catch up with all my blog friends. We have a few more upcoming trips planned, but all domestic so far! :)

    I hope you had a joyful Easter!

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  14. It's good to see the beautiful pictures and that things are recovering and getting back to normal from the floods.

    The skies look like home -- we're having tropical weather like that here this month -- dark skies in the afternoon, brief rainstorm and then nice again. (But it is spring here of course.)

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  15. What a beautiful city, and your photos are wonderful today! Looking forward to more. The bicycles are a great idea, and I've heard of other places using a similar system; I've always wondered how successful they are.

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  16. I very much enjoyed your pictures of the frigate and yacht. I'm glad US sailors were able to help with the cleanup of the frigate.
    Miami, Florida, has recently started a similar program using bicycles in the city. It's too new to tell how well it is working out.

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  17. Teh City Cycle station is sure a terrific idea. Thanks for the tour of the bridges of Brisbane. I love seeing what the rest of the world is like. Blogging is so interesting...

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  18. Thing seem to have recovered quickly from those terible floods. What an interesting area to walk around.

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  19. Diane, your photography just amazes me. I think you should start your own photography business from your home.

    Marketing travel agencies would be great.

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  20. Gorgeous. It's been a long time since I was in Brisbane.

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  21. Based on the Paris 'velibs" and looking very similar. How about the hills in the city? Are there many? Only some parts of Sydney would be amenable to this sort of scheme. I would like to see the usage stats because I think the helmet requirement would make them an unsustainable proposition here in SYdney.

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