To get the true sense of a modern city it is often the surrounding suburbs that will provide greater depth and insights for the visitor. Since becoming slow travelers a year ago we took every opportunity whilst back in Brisbane to explore areas we had for years been too busy and distracted to fully appreciate.
We connected with our family and friends in all corners of the Brisbane region and on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, but it was around Paddington that we spent a lot of our time.
For our recent 2 month stay in Brisbane we chose this Paddington Airbnb, a charming self-contained apartment tucked privately under a beautifully renovated 100 year old “Queenslander” style home. We stayed in this place last year, just as we were about to embark on our adventure of house sitting and traveling with no set agenda, and we loved it so much we were keen to return. Hosts Roxanne and Tony are the loveliest people and we felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to rent their place again.
Typically for Brisbane in Autumn & Winter most days were gloriously sunny and warm, my favourite time of year here with an average daytime temperature of around 25°C. When we weren’t busy catching up with people or at appointments, Dave and I would walk all around Paddington and much of Brisbane City. Taking our time, we were able to admire the classic architecture, the streetscapes and the shops.
Paddington’s main streets are lined with interesting, fashionable boutiques and vintage stores as well as lots of fabulous cafes.
We tried almost every cafe in Paddington and settled on “Brown Cardigan” as our favourite. The place had a warm, friendly vibe that is often lacking in the uber trendy places. And the coffee is great.
Daughter Elissa and her family live in Paddington, not far from where we were staying and that meant we were able to spend precious time with our 2 bright and funny grand daughters Maya and Samara. Although we had been communicating via Skype and Facetime while away for the past year, there is nothing like the real thing. We all had such a great time together and Dave & I especially enjoyed just being with them.
Being with Dave’s Dad is something we really missed when we were traveling away from home, and we took every opportunity to be with Sam in Brisbane. Sam is in pretty good shape and continues to enjoy independent living in a managed retirement community.
We packed a lot of visiting and exploring into our 2 months in Brisbane and I think I’ll have just one more blog post about our time there.
Thanks for following along so far, would love to hear your thoughts.
This Post Has 2 Comments
Wonderful and what a lovely city and I know you had such a good time with your family. It is nice to meet them so to speak. Gus would have come and stayed with you, as obviously they are welcome in many places. Pity I could not get him an air ticket. The weather makes me envious, we are having such a miserable summer here. The architecture is fantastic old and new. I love to see such character in buildings.
Please keep on blogging you write so well, thank you for such a lovely early morning read and this morning the sun is actually shinning, hurrah.
Hi Sue, so lovely to read your wonderful comments, thank you. Hopefully the Brittany weather improves for you all there. It was indeed a great time with family and to be in the old home town for a while. Our best wishes to you and Gus. xS