“Let’s head down to Park Road for our coffee this morning”. Dave wanted to expand our experiences beyond our local favourites, just 2 kilometers from our Airbnb in Paddington and guaranteed a great brew. A popular cafe district since the early 1980’s, the rest of Brisbane has since caught up with Park Road, though the facade here may be fading a bit.
Coffee and people watching finished, we wandered down to the river. Why not, we had no other commitments until later in the afternoon so we’d see how the day would unfold. Loitering around the ferry terminal we waited to jump on the next CityCat.
In Brisbane we use the “GoCard”, which is valid on all buses, trains and ferries. We’ve usually found Brisbane public transort to be really effective and reliable, though city workers living in the outer suburbs might feel differently.
GoCards are sold at newsagents and can be topped up at various machines around town, or online. You have to tag on as you enter and then tag off as you exit. The fare is then charged against your card according to the zones covered in the trip.
We spent the next few hours cruising along the magnificent Brisbane River in glorious Brisbane Winter sunshine and it cost us only $3.14 each. Everyone visiting Brisbane really should factor in a CityCat cruise on the Brisbane River to get a true sense of this fabulous city.
It takes around 2 hours to travel end to end on the City Cats. You can take all day if you like, to hop off and on at several ferry terminals along the way. Morning tea at Milton, lunch at South Bank, a refreshing afternoon beer at Teneriffe, then dinner back at one of the many fantastic restaurants along Eagle St Pier and Riverside.
Sometimes you can meet the most interesting people when you take the time to chat to random strangers. On our CityCat experience we met an elderly Sydney couple who had arrived that morning on the Sun Princess, docked up at Hamilton. The gentleman told us that they do the CityCat trip every time they come to Brisbane. Then a younger couple (around our own age ;)) who had traveled from the outer southern suburbs for lunch in the city. Nice people are everywhere.
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What a lovely day on the river in beautiful Brisbane.
That sounds great Sue, we’re going to do it next time we head ‘down’ to Brissie 🙂 . Your photos are lovely. Can you tell me what camera you use? I meant to ask when you came for lunch and forgot. With love, Ken.
Hi Ken, glad you enjoyed the post about our great Brisbane river experience. It is always a fun thing to do. Our photography is actually pretty non-professional, I use my iPhone 6S and Dave has his iPhone 6. Generally no filters but sometimes we muck around with stuff for fun.
Hi Ken, thanks for following. I use only my iPhone 6s and Dave has his iPhone 6. We’ve been talking about getting proper cameras again but that’s just another thing to carry around.
Hi Sue, I will be going to Brisbane soon and will then definitely take a little tour along the river – thanks for the inspiration. Also, the pictures look amazing!
Hi kairam, thanks for stopping by and your kind words. Hope you enjoy Brisbane and the beautiful river, there are so many lovely places to visit there.