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Although a rented car would be handy for long ventures, I comfortably explored the city and many suburbs on Brisbane's ferries, trains and buses. Taxis, reliable and reasonable, have meters and don't expect tips. Most times, however, I preferred walking.
Brisbane Tourism's brochure "Walking for Pleasure" maps regional walkways. My favorite, with public art and picnic huts, follows the river from Kangaroo Point under Story Bridge (the steel cantilever) to South Bank Parklands.
A longer trail on the opposite bank skirts the Botanic Gardens. The city also publishes free maps for some 200 miles of bikeways.
The City Street Directory locates boat ramps and a city brochure, "Boat Trails," maps waterways and lists canoe rentals.
For my river travel, other than the efficient ferries, I chose three passenger boats: a historic cruiser upstream to a koala sanctuary, a more modern boat downstream to Moreton Bay and a dinner paddle wheeler for night scenes.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
M.V. Miramar, the oldest wooden ferry still sailing in Australia, has been carrying passengers up the Brisbane to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary since 1934 - except during its government service in World War II. Immaculate, she offers inside or outside seating.
Her captain provided commentary as we chugged past mansions and cottages nestled amongst trees along the banks.
"This tidal river with saltwater flowing through the city has no crocodiles, but 2-meter sharks used to come upstream. The last attack was in 1952."
We passed the University of Queensland, where some 26,000 students presumably study on their park-like campus of nearly 300 acres along the river.
"Coming up on our right, the hotel where Brisbane women chained themselves to the bar to abolish male-only taverns."
The Miramar paused by the island home of several hundred thousand flying foxes. These mammals, commonly called fruit bats, hung from branches like rows of large, deflated leather bags.
The captain continued: "Here comes one of the 13 dredge-barges that haul gravel from the river-bottom to a cement plant. Their digging stirs up sediment that muddies our chemically clean river, but after April they'll be illegal."
For 70 years Lone Pine has provided sanctuary for koalas. It now protects some 130 of these marsupials in enclosures that simulate the tops of eucalyptus trees.
As they lounged on branches just an arm's length away, they seemed like artistically arranged stuffed toys. In the cuddling area, laws require strict clocking so that no animal is handled more than 30 minutes a day - with every third day off!
I watched children feeding kangaroos while flightless emus towered above them. As I strolled past naturalized pens of wallabies, wombats, dingoes and Tasmanian devils, I abandoned my preconceived idea of a tourist-trap zoo.
Lone Pine's large botanic garden, with native plants neatly labeled, offers animals a peaceful home. It also cooperates with universities in koala research.
In the cafe I bought a curried-vegetable pastie (like a large empanada) and took it to a terrace table overlooking the river. Some families had brought baskets of food to a grassy picnic area.
The entire adventure, including hotel pickup and a beer on the turn cruise, cost just over $20.
Afternoon cruise
Sunday afternoons, another 2-decker, Brisbane Star, leaves Edward Street Wharf for a 4-hour cruise ($8) to the mouth of the river with a stop at Newstead House on the return.
Our captain explained how new port facilities downstream had left warehouses abandoned nearer the city center.
"Now they're being gutted for modern apartments. Those rotting wharves will soon become boat slips for expensive condos."
As we went under graceful Gateway Bridge, he described it as "the longest concrete span in the world."
At Fisherman's Island Terminal he pointed out overhead sprays that keep coal "clean."
Avant-garde loading docks for fertilizer, beef, containers and such impressed me less than the feeling of space. Each facility stands alone with its freighters, the land around it covered with green scrub. And dolphins played alongside our boat
Paddle wheeler cruise
When I boarded Kookaburra Queen II for a dinner cruise, I expected impressive lights from Brisbane's modern skyscrapers, but I didn't anticipate their mobility. Brightly lit towers that had been outside the port windows would soon appear in the distance from the starboard windows.
As we ate traditional pork and lamb roasts, the paddle wheeler plowed the meandering river under floodlit bridges.
Strong lights on Kangaroo Cliffs showed climbers abseiling down the rocks in the middle of the city - at night.
The buffet cruise, complete with a pianist and dance floor, was well worth the $32. Seafood platters cost more, lunch cruises less; alcohol is extra.
Room with a river view
In spite of the extensive land bordering the Brisbane, a river-view hotel room is not inexpensive. At the luxurious riverside Heritage Beauford Hotel, doubles start at over $250. River-view rooms at North Quay, Rydges and Mercure hotels run somewhat less.
Most of the units at Dockside, a deluxe apartment hotel on Kangaroo Point, have river-view balconies. A spacious 2-room apartment with an equipped kitchen costs $168 per night. Olims, also on Kangaroo Point, has some basic compact rooms with river views and closet microwaves at $68.
At Kamayan Inn River Plaza, adjacent to South Banks Park-lands, hotel rooms ($106) and 2-room suites with kitchen look upriver toward the city's tall buildings. Certainly adequate, these units lack the richer decor and amenities of those at Dockside.
(Most hotels offer lower corporate rates and special packages.)
Mid-city accommodations without river views range from the 5-star Sheraton to a backpackers' hostel in the historic Salvation Army building. In the suburbs, many low-cost motels have easy bus or Citytrain access.
Markets, pubs and all that jazz
Much as the river dominates, nonriver attractions abound. A Citytrain goes to the historic village of Caboolture. Another goes to the Australian Woolshed, where I saw working dogs and sheepshearing.
Fortitude Valley's Chinatown has all sorts of ethnic restaurants as well as Oriental markets.
From the viewpoint at Mt. Coottha, a city park with botanic gardens and a planetarium, I looked across the vast area of low buildings that surrounds the city's central highrises.
In 1825 the river's first non-Aboriginal settlers had begun all this as a penal colony for British convicts who failed to reform after release from Sydney's jails. Now two million people live here.
Convivial people, they support countless pubs that welcome visitors with food, drink and talk. Jazz lovers should check the program at the Travelodge on Roma Street. Serious jazz enthusiasts like the weekend music at the Brisbane Jazz Club, a clapboard cottage on Kangaroo Point.
Spectator sports include lots of races: horses, greyhounds, cars - even cockroaches. There's cricket in summer, rugby in winter.
Trendy boutiques and huge malls offered little to lure me. Well-stocked duty-free outlets, with camera and alcohol prices lower than in retail stores but generally higher than in the U.S., merit a visit for toy koalas or opal rings or sheepskin seat covers. (Take your departure ticket.)
Even a nonshopper likes to browse Brisbane's craft markets. At South Bank Parklands, lantern markets on Friday evenings and craft markets Saturdays and Sundays display local wares from belts and bowls to puppets and marmalades.
Similar products appear Sundays from Riverside Centre to Eagle Street Pier.
Excursions from Brisbane
Brisbane makes a good headquarters for excursions in all directions.
A friend drove me to the west for a delightful park lunch by Lake Wivenhoe at one of the river's dams. Probably I should have accepted that friend's invitation to ride a hot-air balloon on westward over the Great Dividing Range and the Lockyer Valley's farms.
For a long weekend I drove north along the Sunshine Coast to Noosa Heads. At this upmarket resort, my kitchen-equipped, ocean-view deluxe room at the Sheraton cost about $340. In contrast, the River Palms Motel along the Noosa River collected $54 for my basic unit, also with kitchen.
Many visitors prefer to go south to the Gold Coast's highrises, popular beaches and multiple "worlds": Dreamworld, Movie World, Sea World, etc.
East of the city, Brisbaners sail, fish and dive among more than 300 islands in Moreton Bay.
From the suburb of Cleveland I boarded a ferry for the hour's ride across the bay to North Stradbroke Island. This large sand island has high dunes, broad forests and clear lakes best seen with a 4-wheel-drive vehicle.
Maybe next time
Next time I hope to take AB Sea Cruises' night catamaran to the one-time penal colony on St. Helena Island for a realistic visit to its prison. The voyage, including dinner and reenactment, costs about $55.
