Brisbane and Beyond

After leaving the Gold Coast, we decided to venture south of the Queensland border to Byron Bay in New South Wales. It was an interesting place, very popular with young people and backpackers, with a kind of alternative culture to other places we've visited in Australia. It was very busy on account of the fact that the Splendour in the Grass music festival was on on the weekend we visited and we saw hundreds of festival goers being bussed to the venue from the town and beyond. LB was very jealous, as there were some very good bands playing there.

We had some lunch in a local bar and visited a few vintage shops before heading back to my sister's house on the outskirts of Brisbane.  We managed a quick stop at a proper Op Shop or Charity Shop on the way out of town, which we enjoyed.  The ladies working in it were very chatty and friendly and even offered me a glass of champagne, but I couldn't stop as OH and LB were waiting outside for me. I bought a few small things, spending about £6-£7.  It was our first chance to thrift shop on this trip.

The following day on Sunday, we ventured into the centre of Brisbane for the day, via the new local railway station that had been built since our last visit. It took about an hour to get into Brisbane Central Station, but cost only about $5 AUS which equates to about £3 each way.

On arriving in Brisbane, we first of all visited a Suitcase Sale, (LB's choice) which was essentially a car boot sale, but everyone sold their items out of a suitcase. LB and I had a good wander around the 40 or so stalls, but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy.  LB did, of course, which was probably be to expected.  It was mainly students selling surplus clothing, shoes, etc., but was a great concept, well attended and also had live music playing.

From here, we walked across the Victoria Bridge to Brisbane's South Bank, which, similar to the South Bank in London, is one of the main cultural quarters of the city.  Here you will find the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), the Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland Centre for Performing Arts and the Queensland Museum and Science Centre, to name a few.  On this visit, we decided to explore GOMA and the Queensland Art Gallery.

I have to say that I just loved the indigenous art works in the Queensland Art Gallery. They totally reflected the artists' love of their country's flora and fauna and their respective cultural beliefs, customs and life experiences. The colours were so vibrant and the painting styles very unique and interesting. Totally refreshing. I absolutely loved wandering around these galleries.

GOMA was also very interesting.  Here we saw a free exhibition of Australian still life artist Margaret Olley. The most fascinating part of this exhibition was the film about her life as an artist and national treasure. The other free exhibition we saw was by an artist called Ben Quilty who amongst other works, including a fabulous self portrait, painted a prize winning portrait of Margaret Olley shortly before she died.

After leaving the Art Galleries, we continued down the South Bank, enjoying a drink in front of the Lagoon, a man made beach and swimming area, created on the banks of the Brisbane river. A genius idea, complete with it's own life guard station. Here are a couple of pictures of this area. 

We were also fascinated to watch numerous people playing Pokémon Go, as they walked along the South Bank, some using as many as 7 or 8 different mobile phones simultaneously. Completely bonkers, but each to their own.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Brisbane, a beautiful city with a very chilled vibe. Definitely worth a visit if you're travelling Down Under.