15th January 2010
Today we decided to buy a day ticket on the Brisbane transport network which would allow us unlimited travel on all the cities ferries, trains and buses.
When we arrived in the city, we started our exploration by jumping on one of the CityCats. The CityCat service runs along the Brisbane River between Apollo Road in the suburb of Bulimba in the east and the University of Queensland at St Lucia, via South Bank and the Brisbane CBD. This is a pleasant way to travel past such Brisbane icons as the Story Bridge and South Bank Parklands and would give us a good opportunity to see a good portion of the city.
We caught the upriver CityCat at the Southbank Parklands, smoothly sailing up past the Brisbane CBD, then the Eagle Street Pier and on towards Kangaroo Point and under the Story Bridge. We had some great views of the city during the ride. We were on the boat for a good hour and a half before we got back to the Riverside stop where we got off to visit St John’s Cathedral and find some lunch.
St John’s Cathedral is unique in Australia as completion of the building design was achieved through collaboration between clergy, stonemasons and architects over a period of almost one hundred years. It was designed in 1888 by John Loughborough Pearson, and is still under construction. It also has the only stone vaulted ceiling in Australia.
Next, we took the bus up to Mount Cootha for some spectacular views over Brisbane and the surrounding area, right across to Moreton and Stradbroke Islands on the coast. From here we could also see Mount Tamborine and Lamington National Park where we spent time last week. A great finish to our day out.
