February 19, 2016 – Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane surprised us with its size and exploding modern growth. We had no idea the city was so large. With a population of 2.3 million people, Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city (after Sydney and Melbourne). It has a unique location 20 miles from the ocean, straddling both sides of the Brisbane River which flows in a meandering W-shaped pattern through the city.

It took us two days to reach Brisbane, which is 600 miles north of Sydney. When the ship entered the river this morning, Jim was outdoors doing his 3-mile walk around the promenade deck of the ship at 6:00 am. We cruised up the river for another two hours, docking at 8:00 am at the Portside Wharf and Cruise Terminal – a very nice location adjacent to modern apartment buildings, as well as convenient shops and stores. Once again, our travel agent and Signature Travel Network had arranged a private car and guide for a half-day guided sightseeing tour for us. The tour was to begin at 10:00, so we left the ship at about 9:45. Our guide, Tamara, and driver, Chris, were already there waiting for us in the terminal.

A quick history: As you may recall, Australia was first colonized by the British in Sydney with convicts shipped from England starting back in 1788. By 1823, a surveyor named John Oxley was sent by the Governor of New South Wales to locate a suitable site for a penal colony to house the worst of the criminals who were causing problems in Sydney. He discovered the freshwater Brisbane River, and a town with prison was established. After finishing their sentences, many of the convicts remained and settled in the area. By 1842 Brisbane was opened to other (non-criminal) settlers, and the area has been growing ever since. Today Brisbane is the capital of Queensland, one of the six states in Australia. 

We started the tour by visiting Newstead House, the city’s oldest surviving house (dating back to 1846). During World War II, the U.S. Army occupied the house and used it as a communications hub. 

We also drove past the location downtown where General Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief, South West Pacific, directed forces assigned to him from July 1942 through August 1944. According to Australian sources, “Brisbane was home to fewer than 350,000 people in 1941. Over the next three years, many times that number of troops passed through the city
. . . . By mid-1943, nearly 100,000 US troops were stationed around the city.” There is an Australian-American War Memorial on the grounds of Newstead House in memory of this.

Tamara and Chris drove us by many of the historical highlights downtown, including the Parliament House (shown below), Treasury Building, City Hall, and the old Customs House. Exteriors of these old sandstone buildings still look impressive and interiors are still in use today, although some have been re-purposed in new roles. 

We stopped for a while at the top of the Kangaroo Point Cliffs, just across the Brisbane River from the central business district for a photo opportunity. Tamara is with us in the first photo below. Note all the skyscrapers across the river in the second photo.

Most attractive to us was the site of the very successful World Expo held in Brisbane in 1988. Almost all the temporary exhibit sites were torn down after the expo, and the area along the river was transformed into South Bank Parklands with a riverfront promenade, plazas, a giant Ferris wheel (Wheel of Brisbane), fountains, cafes, picnic tables, a large (free) municipal swimming pool, and downtown sandy beach. We’ve read that 11 million people visit South Bank Parklands each year, and we can see why – it’s a beautiful, functional public park. The only remaining trace of the Exposition on the former site is the Nepal Peace Pagoda. Adjacent to the park is the Queensland Cultural Center – housing an art gallery, concert hall, and museum.

We ended our tour by going to the top of Mount Coot-tha – the highest peak in Brisbane. Here we stopped to admire the view and sit for a few minutes while enjoying a cool drink and a Lammington (sponge cake rolled in chocolate and coconut) – a well-known treat in Australia and New Zealand.

                         

Brisbane also makes good use of the river as a transportation artery, with passenger ferries and City Cat catamarans similar to what we rode in Sydney. The city is also close to some of Australia’s best beaches – Gold Coast (where Tamara lives) is one hour to the south, and the Sunshine Coast is two hours to the north.

We returned to the ship by 2:00 pm and weren’t scheduled to depart Brisbane until 10:00 pm. We could have gone back into this wonderful city and explore some more on our own, but we decided to hang it up for the day as we were pretty tired by that point.

Thursday evening (Feb 18), after dinner in the dining room, we attended a great concert in the Galaxy Lounge by Patrick McMahon, billed as “The Superman of Entertainment.” This guy was wild – perhaps electrifying and energetic are better words to describe him. He’s an outstanding entertainer who holds nothing back, to say the least. His show included hits by Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers and more. If you close your eyes, you would think that these entertainers were on stage themselves. As always, the Galaxy Orchestra did a flawless job accompanying him. We were so impressed that we bought one of Patrick’s CDs after the show.

Tonight in Brisbane, we skipped the entertainment, titled “Swingin’ in the Stardust – A Celebration of the Big Bands.” This was yet another “Bring your dancing shoes” event for the 10 Ambassador Hosts to dance with all the ladies who have spent a fortune on dance lessons but don’t have a partner with whom to dance. For almost everyone else on the cruise this is just a spectator sport.

We continue north with a stop on Sunday (Feb 21) at Hamilton Island – one of the Whitsunday Islands between the mainland of NE Australia and the Coral Sea.

Jim & Ginny