Brisbane, QLD: Meanderings

A day of cruising the Coral Sea yesterday brought us from New South Wales to Queensland … specifically, to the state capital … Brisbane.

When we called on Brisbane on our 2017 world cruise, Insignia sailed up the Brisbane River to dock much closer to the city than Regatta did today at the Brisbane Cruise Terminal in Pinkemba … 12 miles from the CBD [central business district]. The good news? There was a complimentary shuttle, running every 30 minutes, to take independents like us to ANZAC Square for our Brisbane meanderings.

In 2017, we spent our day in Brisbane at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This time, the plan was to explore the city itself. Turns out that today being Saturday — and Christmas Eve to boot — many places were closed. In fact, the entire CBD had a deserted vibe. No worries. We will be returning to Brisbane during the overland portion of our itinerary. We will visit then what we missed today.

Our go-with-the-flow stroll first took us to City Hall where our hopes for checking out the city views from the tower observation terrace were dashed … no reservations available for the elevator. So, we continued onto the Roma Street Parkland … a highlight of today that I’ll post about in the next footprint.

A mid-day lunch break at the historic Shingle Inn Café — re-created at City Hall — gave us a respite from the humid heat. Tasty food to sate our tummies did not go amiss, of course. And then it was onto the Birrunga Gallery to see some Aboriginal art … sorry, closed. Instead, we headed to the Anglican Cathedral of St John, where Mui had read that there are beautiful stained glass windows … it did not disappoint.

By mid-afternoon, the heat was getting to be uncomfortable. When our plans to peek into the exhibit gallery at ANZAC Square fell through (you guessed it … closed), we opted to hop on the next shuttle back to the ship. Cooling breezes wafting over the Deck 5 Promenade made for a comfy spot to do a bit of reading and writing.

Tonight we were hosted for dinner in Toscana by GM Dimitris. Our table mates were a couple from Austria, and a couple from Hawaii who, as it turns out, was on this year’s world cruise with us. A lovely way to wrap up our day in Brisbane.もっと詳しく