Another day in Australia is officially in the books, and it was a busy one.
I stepped out of the hotel just after 9:30 this morning, and already it was hot. I had decided to spent the first half of the day exploring New Farm and Tenerife, adjacent districts that are just south of my location. You can walk Brunswick Street from Fortitude Valley all the way through New Farm (it only takes about 10-15 minutes of walking to hit the district limits), so I did just that.
New Farm and Tenerife are primarily residential, with a host of eateries spread throughout. As I cut through the heart of New Farm along Brunswick street, I passed long rows of quaint homes and an eclectic mix of food choices. I am pretty sure I saw Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Indian, and Nepalese all in one block. The area is not very built up, most buildings didn't surpass a single story, but the style and architecture of New Farm are reminiscent of the Arts District along South Alamo Street in San Antonio. I walked all the way down to the edge of the Brisbane River (aptly named), but before reaching passed through New Farm park. Being a weekday morning, there weren't many people. My friend Ed (some of you may remember, an Aussie I met at the Dead Sea while in Israel), told me that New Farm Park can get busy on the weekends. Unfortunately I missed this, but it is a pretty green space, and pleasant to walk through.
Walking along the river I came to Brisbane Powerhouse. Now, I found this to be very cool. The Powerhouse used to serve as the power station for the trams that once ran in the city. For some reason, the city phased out the tram system years ago, leaving the Powerhouse redundant. However, it has since been converted into an art gallery/performance center, complete with a large stage for musical performances set up inside. From the outside, its looks like you might expect: like a condemned building waiting to be bulldozed, but the interior now boasts, along with the stage, ad-hoc gallery space, a bar, and sitting areas. Really well done. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos of the inside, but I was a bit lucky, since there was free photography exhibition of local (as in Australian) professional photographers.
From there I walked along the river-side promenade. What could be better in gorgeous weather? Along the promenade there are modern looking apartment blocks, but leaving the promenade and into Tenerife (remember, New Farm and Tenerife are adjacent, and can probably be considered one district) you come into a residential area dotted with compact homes and tree-lined streets. Being so close to the river, Tenerife has a very beach-side-town feel to it, something like you might find in Hawaii. I eventually made my way back into New Farm for a bit to eat, where I decided upon Turkish kebab. I checked out one of the cafe's recommended by the guide book, but the menu didn't interest me much, but neither did the prices.
After a rest and a grocery-store stop, I ventured out again. I finally plunked down some cash for a transit card (which actually reduces the fares). Being that there are a number of districts to explore, walking to all of them just isn't feasible, so I figured it a good investment. I caught the train to central station, from where I again walked the CBD (much busier this time, no more quiet streets), and checked-out some areas I missed yesterday. Near the city's botanical gardens (which are just behind the state parliament building, and near the city's technical university), some hard-core skate-boarders were trying to perform some (I think) death-defying (maybe not death...but limb-break-defying) tricks off of a set of stairs. Some stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, videotaping the antics. They were just finishing up as I got there, but I did get to see one of the them land a really nice one, flying off the banister and landing upright on the board, maintaining his balance.
From there I crossed the Brisbane River via the Victoria Bridge to another district known as South Bank. Immediately as you come to the other side, you come to a cluster of art galleries and museums, along with the state library. Leaving those for later, I set off down the street and into South Bank. The area doesn't really offer much, its main attraction is a large artificial beach, apparently Australia's only inland beach. The beach abuts South Bank's riverside promenade, which I walked along (ok, ok, I am a sucker for walkways along the water, what can I say? I like them). By now the weather had cooled just a touch to about perfect, with a nice light breeze coming off the water. The beach seemed pretty busy, with the work-day having come to an end probably for most. Walking from the promenade and past the beach you come to a neat little pedestrian area known as Stanley Street, which hosts some bars and cafes. Across the street from that is Little Stanley Street, a long block of just restaurants and bars. I duly strolled through both areas. It wasn't busy just yet, probably too early, but I could imagine these places really livening up in the later hours.
Before crossing back over to catch a train back to Fortitude Valley I did a quick walk-through of the aforementioned galleries, which are clustered together, nearly forming one single building. By walk-through I don't mean I actually went in, but stayed on the walkways that pass the center of the area. I did check out the state library, which was really neat. Multiple stories high, the library has a nice, sleek, modern design to it. What I found really cool was its open-air (covered, but no doorways, allowing air to flow through) entrance hall, which basically serves as a common area. From there you can pass through sliding doors into the main parts of the building. Never seen something like this before, hats off to the architect.
After resting my dogs back at the room for a while, I figured it was sufficiently dark to see what was going on along Brunswick Street. The crowds were light (too early I guess), but I did catch some live music. I listened for a while to a duet (dude and a woman) playing outside a bar. Sadly for them, they didn't have many people to play for, but I thought they were good. They did a nice cover of Matchbox 20's "3 AM". After walking around for a while and grabbing a quick bit to eat at a tiny Mexican joint, I listened for a few moments to this heavy rock band jamming out in another establishment, next to where the duet had been playing. Their music wasn't really my style, so I left them to it and came back, calling it a wrap.
I got some things planned for the third day in Brissy tomorrow, come back for the low-down.
Photos: New Farm, with a glimpse of the CBD in the background; Brisbane Powerhouse, now an art gallery; sleepy Tenerife; Brisbane CBD, as viewed from the South Bank river promenade; South Bank's artificial beach; Stanley Street pedestrian area; exterior of the Queensland State Libary; the library's neat open-air foyer.
I stepped out of the hotel just after 9:30 this morning, and already it was hot. I had decided to spent the first half of the day exploring New Farm and Tenerife, adjacent districts that are just south of my location. You can walk Brunswick Street from Fortitude Valley all the way through New Farm (it only takes about 10-15 minutes of walking to hit the district limits), so I did just that.
New Farm and Tenerife are primarily residential, with a host of eateries spread throughout. As I cut through the heart of New Farm along Brunswick street, I passed long rows of quaint homes and an eclectic mix of food choices. I am pretty sure I saw Italian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Indian, and Nepalese all in one block. The area is not very built up, most buildings didn't surpass a single story, but the style and architecture of New Farm are reminiscent of the Arts District along South Alamo Street in San Antonio. I walked all the way down to the edge of the Brisbane River (aptly named), but before reaching passed through New Farm park. Being a weekday morning, there weren't many people. My friend Ed (some of you may remember, an Aussie I met at the Dead Sea while in Israel), told me that New Farm Park can get busy on the weekends. Unfortunately I missed this, but it is a pretty green space, and pleasant to walk through.
Walking along the river I came to Brisbane Powerhouse. Now, I found this to be very cool. The Powerhouse used to serve as the power station for the trams that once ran in the city. For some reason, the city phased out the tram system years ago, leaving the Powerhouse redundant. However, it has since been converted into an art gallery/performance center, complete with a large stage for musical performances set up inside. From the outside, its looks like you might expect: like a condemned building waiting to be bulldozed, but the interior now boasts, along with the stage, ad-hoc gallery space, a bar, and sitting areas. Really well done. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos of the inside, but I was a bit lucky, since there was free photography exhibition of local (as in Australian) professional photographers.
From there I walked along the river-side promenade. What could be better in gorgeous weather? Along the promenade there are modern looking apartment blocks, but leaving the promenade and into Tenerife (remember, New Farm and Tenerife are adjacent, and can probably be considered one district) you come into a residential area dotted with compact homes and tree-lined streets. Being so close to the river, Tenerife has a very beach-side-town feel to it, something like you might find in Hawaii. I eventually made my way back into New Farm for a bit to eat, where I decided upon Turkish kebab. I checked out one of the cafe's recommended by the guide book, but the menu didn't interest me much, but neither did the prices.
After a rest and a grocery-store stop, I ventured out again. I finally plunked down some cash for a transit card (which actually reduces the fares). Being that there are a number of districts to explore, walking to all of them just isn't feasible, so I figured it a good investment. I caught the train to central station, from where I again walked the CBD (much busier this time, no more quiet streets), and checked-out some areas I missed yesterday. Near the city's botanical gardens (which are just behind the state parliament building, and near the city's technical university), some hard-core skate-boarders were trying to perform some (I think) death-defying (maybe not death...but limb-break-defying) tricks off of a set of stairs. Some stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, videotaping the antics. They were just finishing up as I got there, but I did get to see one of the them land a really nice one, flying off the banister and landing upright on the board, maintaining his balance.
From there I crossed the Brisbane River via the Victoria Bridge to another district known as South Bank. Immediately as you come to the other side, you come to a cluster of art galleries and museums, along with the state library. Leaving those for later, I set off down the street and into South Bank. The area doesn't really offer much, its main attraction is a large artificial beach, apparently Australia's only inland beach. The beach abuts South Bank's riverside promenade, which I walked along (ok, ok, I am a sucker for walkways along the water, what can I say? I like them). By now the weather had cooled just a touch to about perfect, with a nice light breeze coming off the water. The beach seemed pretty busy, with the work-day having come to an end probably for most. Walking from the promenade and past the beach you come to a neat little pedestrian area known as Stanley Street, which hosts some bars and cafes. Across the street from that is Little Stanley Street, a long block of just restaurants and bars. I duly strolled through both areas. It wasn't busy just yet, probably too early, but I could imagine these places really livening up in the later hours.
Before crossing back over to catch a train back to Fortitude Valley I did a quick walk-through of the aforementioned galleries, which are clustered together, nearly forming one single building. By walk-through I don't mean I actually went in, but stayed on the walkways that pass the center of the area. I did check out the state library, which was really neat. Multiple stories high, the library has a nice, sleek, modern design to it. What I found really cool was its open-air (covered, but no doorways, allowing air to flow through) entrance hall, which basically serves as a common area. From there you can pass through sliding doors into the main parts of the building. Never seen something like this before, hats off to the architect.
After resting my dogs back at the room for a while, I figured it was sufficiently dark to see what was going on along Brunswick Street. The crowds were light (too early I guess), but I did catch some live music. I listened for a while to a duet (dude and a woman) playing outside a bar. Sadly for them, they didn't have many people to play for, but I thought they were good. They did a nice cover of Matchbox 20's "3 AM". After walking around for a while and grabbing a quick bit to eat at a tiny Mexican joint, I listened for a few moments to this heavy rock band jamming out in another establishment, next to where the duet had been playing. Their music wasn't really my style, so I left them to it and came back, calling it a wrap.
I got some things planned for the third day in Brissy tomorrow, come back for the low-down.
Photos: New Farm, with a glimpse of the CBD in the background; Brisbane Powerhouse, now an art gallery; sleepy Tenerife; Brisbane CBD, as viewed from the South Bank river promenade; South Bank's artificial beach; Stanley Street pedestrian area; exterior of the Queensland State Libary; the library's neat open-air foyer.
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