Earlier this week Bruiser & I had to go to Brisbane in Queensland, over 200kms north of where we live in NSW, for a couple of days. It is the capital of Queensland, with a population of over 2 million, the third largest city in Australia, situated in the SE corner of the state. A busy, subtropical city, it tends to have a very modern feel about it. At least the parts we saw were. There were no obvious signs of the devastating floods which occurred in mid-January of this year & we were in areas which had been affected badly by these awful floods. All we saw were three huge mobile generators, which had been used to provide electricity to some of the buildings, parked in a street in the CBD. Everything was all sparkling clean. No doubt, the infrastructure along the Brisbane River, which was torn away during the floods, is still to be replaced, but, as we never went down to the river, I cannot be sure about that. The river is a major presence in the centre of the city.

Unfortunately, due to a stupid quirk of Windows, we lost some of my pics taken of the CBD area during our first day there, but pics taken the next day are ok. Do not know where on earth these pics could have gone to but they are probably out there somewhere, floating around in the cyberspace ether.

The first three pics are meant for Dawn's DH. They are of glimpses of the renowned 'Gabba Stadium which is the Queensland home of test cricket & rugby union. Other images of The 'Gabba were in the lost pics. Shall replace them when we return for another visit within the next few weeks.

All these pics were taken from inside the car, travelling at 60kph (38mph) through very busy traffic.

A glimpse of The 'Gabba's light towers & the top of the stadium roof. It is over to the mid left.

Two of the light towers.

The modern part of The 'Gabba stadium.

This was taken in a side street of the CBD & is of beautiful mature poinciana trees with outdoors cafes beneath. These are a common street tree in the CBD of Brisbane & are planted everywhere along the streets adding to the subtropical ambience. There are even plantings of rather young trees so the tradition continues.

One of the many streets we became lost in.

Part of the skyline of Brisbane's CBD. There are many cranes around here signifying much building activity. The place seems to be booming. There was a cloud obscuring the sun from these building hence their darkness.

Some more of the CBD. Had taken a few pics of the streets of the CBD the day before, so wasn't going to take more of the same, but, they were among te lost pics.

There is this wonderful, & fascinating, pedestrian bridge crossing the Brisbane River. The design is terrific. As you can see I was enthralled by it.

Brisbane has many bridges crossing the river in a relatively small area of the city centre.

And last but not least. On the other side of the river can be seen a large white ferris wheel & one of the pics, which were lost, was quite a good one of this ferris wheel. Shall try & take a replacement pic the next time we are there.

A quaint old wooden shingle-clad two storeyed cottage on the outskirts of the CBD.

A-a-a-a-h, a famous icon of Queensland. The Castlemaine Perkins brewery, makers of that fine beverage, XXXX beer. Like most city breweries, this one was built many, many years ago & is situated in, what is now, the outskirts of the CBD. When these breweries were first built they were a distance away from the city centres.

This building has a 1930's look about it.

A brightly coloured police car. These are, usually, highway patrol cars. At least police cars painted in such bright colours are in NSW.

The clouds here look rather ominous but did not amount to anything. This rooftop garden, on an apartment building, attracted my eye. There are many, many new apartment building within the CBD & along the river.

Here is an unique building, which caught my eye. It is situated at Woolloongabba near the "Gabba stadium & not far from where we were staying. Unfortunately, I could not get the whole building as it is situated below the level of the road we were on & a parking bay wall obscured some of it. Still, there is enough of it to get an idea of what it looks like. Do not know who or what is housed inside of it.

This is a fine, & very well maintained, example of old Aussie pub architecture, combined with patriotism. The building is painted in the Queensland state colours of maroon which is used by all their representative sporting teams. These beautiful old pubs were common everywhere but many have, since, disappeared.

This pub is not far from where we were staying.

Lovely set of photos Joy simply wonderful .
It is great to see Brisbane, some of my sisters in laws live in Brisbane somewhere!. So even more interesting to see basically where they come from. It does look really big and bustley Joy! and yes so much building going on there I see with those cranes ! I love that Aussie Pub so neat and olde worlde, very nice to see! red brick and white goes so well together doesn't it ! loved that one . That roof top garden looks cool and all tropical with the Palm trees, was that residence on the river Joy? looking at that reminds me of the scenes from Hawaii Five O do you remember the serial on TV about a zillion years ago

The pedestrian bridge I think is really cool, love it. Just googles it it is the worlds largest solar powered footbridge! is this the same bridge looks like it ?
here is the link : Bridge

I will show DH the picture you put up to show him of the Stadium thanks very much and I know he will be interested in the brewery photo, as when we were in England, him and son used to have a can of that now and again. They liked it, I know, as I had to go and buy them more Joy! thanks for the photos sorry to hear you lost some, but these were great I so enjoyed them

Oh I see now you did mention this rooftop garden was along the river sorry never read it properly

Thanks for the link, Dawn. Didn't know the name of the pedestrian bridge nor its claim to fame. You are, most definitely, a Googler par excellence. Do not know whether the old pub is brick or wood. I have a feeling that it is wood as most old Queensland homes & buildings, such as pubs, were usually made from wood. Anyway, it is painted in patriotic Queensland maroon. Looks quite striking. Shall have to have a good look at the pub if/when we drive past it again.

The apartment complex with the palm trees & gardens on top, also had another garden, minus palm trees, on the other end. It was called, imaginatively , Riverside Gardens, if my memory serves me.

Glad to hear DH & your son both enjoyed the odd drop of XXXX. Bruiser has been known to partake of a few cans of it, also, while we were living in Qld.

Today we drove to Brisbane again. It is actually 227kms from our home to the hospital, where Bruiser had his Dr's appointment. We didn't go to the Brisbane CBD or surrounding area as the hospital is just south of there, which is very convenient for us. This means we do not have to drive through the CBD traffic to get there. Also it is just off the Pacific Motorway. Very handy indeed.

This is a couple of images I took of the parts of the Brisbane CBD skyline which are visible, while we were travelling at 110kph along the pacific Motorway, only a few kms from the hospital.

It was very hazy this morning.