Friday 16 October 2009

The glistening city


The Pacific Highway takes you all the way to Brisbane and, after taking you through long stretches of suburbia, the Freeway turns and you see the shimmering heart of the city - a Manhatton of the southern hemisphere. The CBD is built as on a peninsula, for the Brisbane river bends and coils, offering the traveller some magnificent views. Brisbane is a magnificent city and next time I come I shall take the CityCat all the way. (The CityCat is a bus, by way of a boat, that takes you from one end of the city to the other, and back, whilst making convenient stops along the way.) The river was lined with blossoming Jacaranda trees and there is a pervading sense that here is a city that knows how to live and work in a relaxed sort of way. I visited the University of Queensland, built in a quiet suburb of the city next to a bend in the river; its main golden sandstone buildings, majestic, colonnaded and set in their own parkland - what a place to study in - possibly the finest University Campus I have ever seen.
It is shame that after visiting Brisbane twice, I do not know the city better - but hopefully that will be resolved on my next visit.

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