Brisbane, Australia 11/27/25

 

Brisbane is Australia's third largest city and the capital of Queensland. 

My sister and I were both doing the Panoramic Brisbane bus tour.  This was the included tour for this port.

The Brisbane International Cruise Terminal is next to the Brisbane Airport and just across the Brisbane River from the cargo port on Fisherman Island.  Primarily funded by Carnival Cruises and finished in 2020, it didn't see its first cruise ship docking until 2022 due to Covid.  It was used as a Covid immunization site.  

The Port Security boat was keeping an eye on our suspicious ship.

The following are photos from around our ship.

Europeans first sailed this river in 1823 and the penal colony at Redcliffe was moved to Brisbane due to its more favorable geography. The settlement was initially intended for convicts, but by 1838, it was opened to free settlers.

Brisbane is the home of many mining company headquarters. 

Australia was originally composed of six separate British colonies: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Each colony operated independently with its own government, laws, and tariffs.  They decided to unify and accomplished that on January 1, 1901.

Don't know this boat's purpose but it was tied up against the Venus. 

This photo gives you an idea of how far we had to walk to go from ship to bus. The ship docks out on the far right side of the photo, then we had to zig down a covered walkway to reach the level of the permanently fixed walkway.  After that we continued to walk over the water then through the building to catch the bus by the covered walkway on the lower left of the photo.  

See the little black and white specks on the beach?  They are Australian Pelicans but more on them later. 

From the Cruise Port (yellow spot on top right of map) to Mount Coot-tha Summit is about a 1/2-hour drive when the traffic isn't bad, but we were on a tour that started around 9 am so it took us 2 1/2 hours.

The cruise port was built on reclaimed land so it is very low and can be soggy.  There was a bad storm with 135 km/h (84 m/h) a couple nights before we arrived.  I expected to see more damage.

Pretty poinciana tree

Some of our route followed the Brisbane River.  Before the Brisbane International Cruise Port was completed in 2022, the cruise ships would sail quite a way up the river to Portside Wharf

The Australian-American Memorial at Lyndon B. Johnson Place in Newstead Park commemorates the contribution of people of the United States of America to the defense of Australia during World War II. 

The Yowoggera Green Bridge over Breakfast Creek opened in 2024

I didn't find information on the Campbell House, but I found information on James Campbell, a Scottish merchant who established a timber business in Brisbane.  Eventually his company grew and played a significant role in the local economy and infrastructure. The company produced a catalogue of woodwork and house designs from the 1920s to 1930s.  You could order a house from this catalogue. 

BYD (Build Your Dreams) is a Chinese company that started out manufacturing batteries but evolved into a leading electric vehicle (EV) producer. They are working toward selling cars in the US but already sells electric buses and heavy-duty trucks in the U.S and Canada.  As we drove along, I saw dealerships for Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, Porsche and Volvo.

 

This interesting building is the Newstead Retirement Residences.

Built in the Queensland 19th century style, the Empire Hotel was constructed in the boom times of the late 1880’s.  You might notice the two light lines through many of my photos for Brisbane.  These are the reflection of the lights inside the tour bus.  It wasn't a coach.  It was more like a transit bus, and it was almost impossible to hear the guide. 

This interesting building is a hotel with a range of rooms along with one- and two-bedroom apartments and conference facilities. 

The Hotel Orient, originally known as the Excelsior Hotel, is a wedge-shaped building built in 1875.  

All Hallows is a Catholic school for girls.  

From 1879, the Mooney Memorial Fountain honors James Mooney, a volunteer fireman who died in a fire in March 1877.  

Featuring a neoclassical architectural style, the 1880's Custom House is a Heritage-listed building.

It really is a pretty building, as you could see if you look at photos on the internet.  I just didn't find any .jpg files I could use. 

The Queensland Parliament House was built between 1865 and 1889.

This artwork, called Being Swallowed By The Milky Way, is located on Queen's Wharf.  

The Old Treasury Building, an example of Italian Renaissance architecture built between 1886 and 1928, was purchased by Griffith University in 2024.

Can't tell you anything about the artwork on this building but I wanted to tell you about the Battle of Brisbane.  This battle happened during WWII between Australian and U.S. forces.  Wikipedia tells us, "The Battle of Brisbane was a riot with United States military personnel on one side and Australian servicemen and civilians on the other, in Brisbane, Queensland's capital city, on 26 and 27 November 1942, during which time the two nations were allies. By the time the violence had been quelled, one Australian soldier was dead and hundreds of Australians and U.S. servicemen were injured. News reports of the incident were suppressed in the United States and subject to wartime censorship in Australia, with local and interstate newspapers prohibited from mentioning the reasons behind the riot in their reports of the event."  The conflict arose over differences in food rations, housing, preferential treatment and pay. 

St Stephen's Cathedral

I looked at different mural/street art websites but didn't find information on any of the murals I had seen.

St. John's

I originally thought this was a person acting like a statue, but it is a real statue.  It is called The Guardian.  

Brisbane has four railway stations with this, Central Station, being the primary. 

Anzac Square contains memorials to various wars and service members.    There are least five memorials containing symbolism. 
 The 18 columns of the Shrine represent the year of peace after World War 1—1918.
 Also symbolizing the year (1918) are the number of stairs leading up to the shrine—19 stairs in the first row and 18 stairs in the second row.
The bottle trees commemorate the Queensland Light Horse Regiments, which served in South Africa's Boer War (1899–1902).
The palm trees are Middle East date palms and they represent Australia's success in the Middle East during both World Wars. Palms are also a biblical symbol of victory.
The three paths from the bottom of the stairs represent the three services (Army, Navy, Airforce).

Albert Street Uniting Church

Monument to King George V

Fanciful touch on the bottom of this building

Statue of Lady Justice (Themis) in front of Eyes Are Singing Out public art work by law courts.

Interesting fact:  In Australia, there is only state police, no city or county.  The Federal Police deal with immigration. 

Fountain at E.E. McCormick Place on Roma Street.  This lights up at night. 

Before the Europeans moved into this area, Mount Coot-tha was the home of the Yugara Aboriginal people. They came to this area to collect ku-ta, the Yugarabul word for honey that was produced by the native stingless bee.

A bit of water was still covering the road on the way up to
Mt Coot-tha. This and a few branches that had been collected in piles by the side of the road was all the evidence I saw of the major storm that had come through this area two days before we got there. 

From the summit lookout, we could see a large part of Brisbane

Beautiful poinciana trees

The building containing the restrooms was built on stilts off to the side. 

Dang, they hold trials at the picnic areas?!

This tree got my attention.

Or should I say the leaves did.  I think this is a Ficus Benjamina.  I cared for a lot of these in homes and businesses in one of my past occupations as a Plant Maintenance Technician.  Highfalutin name for someone who takes care of plants, 

What are the chances we would see an Australian turkey on the day that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day?  100%, I guess.

The Bunya Pine is a native of Australia that frequently get 100' tall and can live for a 1,000 years.  

It has prickly foliage and holds deep cultural significance for Aboriginal communities throughout Australia.  The female cones are huge!  They can weigh up to 15 pounds and be as large as a foot tall by 8" wide.  

Looks like someone is starting a sneaker line.

The original Regatta Hotel in this location was built in 1874 but this rendition was built in 1886.  The tour guide told us that, back in 1965, some women chained themselves to the bar in protest against laws prohibiting women from drinking in public bars. This stunt actually worked, becoming a pivotal moment in the Australian women's liberation movement, and leading to changes in legislation. 

This Gas Stripping Tower was built in 1912.  Don't ask me what a gas stripping tower is, go look it up. 

What??  They couldn't think of a better name for the bridge?

Artwork on underside of overpass. 

Merivale Bridge in front with the Go Between Bridge showing underneath.

The tour guide said this pedestrian bridge looked like pick-up sticks.  I see the resemblance.  It's called the Kurilpa Bridge.

We watched the dinosaurs fight as we passed by the natural history and science museum.  

Buses only on S.E. Busway

Pretty bus station.

Some of these aboriginal place names are looooonnng.

South Brisbane Memorial Park in bloom.

South Brisbane Town Hall

Best photo we got of the Wheel of Brisbane.  It was erected in 2008 as part of the 20th anniversary of the World Expo 88 and the 150th anniversary of the State of Queensland.  It is 197' tall and has 42 air-conditioned capsules. 

Too bad we didn't stop at this lookout at Kangaroo Cliffs.   It overlooks the river.

Kangaroo Point Bridge is a pedestrian bridge.  We drove across Story Bridge, which holds the shortest highway in Australia.  Bradfield Highway only runs the length of the bridge.  Story Bridge is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia.

Sculpture entitled "Venus Rising" located on Kangaroo Point

Ok, so this photo has the buildings leaning a little.... we can't all be perfect. 

I'd say most of the females in my family have one of these plants.  Its common name is purple heart plant.  We all got some from our great grandmother's plants. 

Brisbane's Chinatown is mostly a tourist area as Chinese-Australians prefer a different area. 

Another mural

Ok, so now I finally know what the XXXX is about that we have seen on a few hotels. It's a beer brand made in Queensland Australia.  

Breakfast Creek

Breakfast Creek Hotel

So first on the list for fueling up your car is E10.  That's 10% ethanol at a price of $5.50 a gallon in US dollars.  Next is Unleaded petrol at $5.50 per gallon.  And you thought fuel was expensive in the US.  

I'm sure this is little compared to the road trains that travel the outback. 

Walking back through the terminal we saw this fan.  It is sitting beside a vending machine and towers over the trash can.  That's a big fan... As the emblem in the middle tells us, it's a Big Ass Fan.

Disembarkation day is coming.

There was a downpour just after we got back on the ship.  There was a partial rainbow.

Australian pelicans

Hard to see due to the angle of the sun, but this is the series of walkways used to get onshore from the ship. 

There is a landing displaying tapestries between each deck level on the ship.

One of the things my group was laughing at was the number of women that carried their purses to dinner.  Come on... you are just going down a few decks from your cabin. 

Thanksgiving dinner on the ship

Ok, I didn't get the pumpkin pie.