Brisbane

Last weekend we were in Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. It is situated around the Brisbane River near the mouth into Moreton Bay.

This is a panorama from the lookout at Mount Coot-tha.

The river acts as an artery and has fast ferry services plying their way back and forth.

There is also a pedestrian and cycle-way that follows the river from the upstream suburbs

down to the CBD where some impressive building is going on.

I spent the last morning at the Maritime Museum which is located in an old dry dock on the side of the river.

This is HMAS Diamantina the sole remaining example of the second world war British River class frigates. The Penguin, a north Queensland pearl lugger is to the right of the picture.

Diamantina shares the dry dock with the Carpenteria Light Ship.

We were staying with my cousin and his wife in the suburb of Toowong. One of its most famous landmarks is the Regatta Hotel. The area is subject to major floods and there are markers on the structure indicating the level to which the waters rose in various years. In the nineteenth century it got to half way up the first floor. The latest floods were in 2011. These did a lot of damage to infrastructure on and adjacent to the river. Repair work is still going on at some of the ferry stations.

Here we are having lunch in the Regatta.

I'll put up another post soon with some of the Aussie fauna we encountered.