Fairfield

A slightly more overcast morning made it perfect weather for the walking tour today. The tour didn't leave until midday so we popped into town to top up our bus cards and have a mooch around before it started.

Meeting Terry our volunteer host for the tour at the visitor centre, we made our way with around 8 others from around the globe. We first learnt that Brisbane was named after Thomas Brisbane and that the city was first used to house European convicts. Our first stop on the tour was the Brisbane Arcade which was built by the youngest two children of a European free settler, after the city was opened up for non convicts to come and live. It's always funny when they talk about 'history' over here as nothing is ever older than about 300 years. This is due to the fact a lot of Australians don't acknowledge the aboriginal history, although Terry always made a point to mention them.

After seeing City Hall, the Botanic Gardens and some of the older sandstone buildings, we ended up at Old Government House. Inside was a room with a old map projected on the wall and a glass floor where you could see the footings under the building which were made of stone and wood in a traditional style. After the tour it started to rain so we popped into a university building called The Cube, where they had interactive walls where you could play games which were pretty cool. For the rest of the day we opted to take a ride on the City Hopper ferry boat. This free boat drove up and down the river giving us a different view of the city and various piers that came out over the river. We also saw the man made cliff faces which were made from where the prisoners quarried the rock to build the city.

In the evening we went to the Brooklyn Standard, a really trendy music venue to catch up with Alina who we met in Fiji. The venue was really cool although we couldn't really hear each other over the blues band that was playing. Ironically in neon lights they had 'if you think the music is too loud, you're too old' written on the wall. After we finished our drinks we opted for a quieter bar for a nice catch up. Alina is studying in Brisbane and had just finished a 3 hour exam which finished at 8pm, before coming to meet us! Rather her than me.Read more