A Morning Beside the Brisbane River

Wednesday 1st March

The official first day of autumn in Australia. The previous few days the temperature had dropped to 29 C, but summer was not going to play fair and quietly fade away, so our choice of walk by the river was far hotter than expected. There was no breeze and the heat of the pavement reflected upwards.

We met at the Southbank train station at close to 9am, having all commuted rather than taking cars through the deadly peak hour traffic. Our plan was to have coffee on the Goodwill Bridge and then walk beside the river all the way to Teneriffe ferry terminal, to cross to Oxford Street and its very popular eateries - a good 10kms before lunch and a movie.

Crossing the Goodwill Bridge

The Goodwill Bridge, so named after the Goodwill Games of 2001, is, I have just discovered, only one of three bridges in the world to have a cafe. It's owner, Brendan, offers an experience not expected from a humble coffee cart. The spectacular river and city view is already in place, but Brendan adds a warm welcome, efficient service, conversation, music, locally roasted Merlo Coffee, and home baked muffins, cakes and slices. It would be quite easy not to continue walking.

 

Low tide in the mangroves beside the Botanical Gardens.

The view down river, as we walked along the riverbank of the Botanical Gardens, after crossing the Goodwill Bridge.

The city skyline from the Botanical Gardens riverside.

Prior to walking under the bridge to towards the Riverside walkway, we had this view.

View from the Riverside Walkway to the city skyline.

The Brisbane Riverwalk, a water highway for pedestrians and cyclists, juts out along a cliff section of the river. This permanent fixture was built to replace Brisbane's first floating riverwalk, that was all but swept away in the catastrophic flood of 2011.

A fantastic shot of the cliffs beside the walkway, taken by Laurel.

Further along the river we were much amused by this offical looking sign.

A marble car sculpture in one of many riverside parks.

Growing up, every garden had at least one frangipani tree. Its heady romantic fragrance, is synonymous with the best things of summer. It was named, after the creator of a 16th C Italian perfume used to scent gloves - Marquis Frangipani.

It was lovely to find them growing prolifically, along his section of the river shoreline.

Lovely view, but the seats did not tempt us on this hot day.

About a kilometre further downstream from the above photo is the Teneriffe Ferry Terminal, our end destination for this side of the river. Here we crossed to the opposite terminal of Oxford Street, Bulimba. With over a 100 metres left to walk, we spotted the CityCat coming up river. A very impressive dash from us all, and fortunately many passengers waiting to board, saw us covering the distance in time.

View from the Oxford Street Terminal, as our ferry continues back to Brisbane City.

From the tranquility of the river, we walked along the lovely tree lined Oxford Street, to its vibrant collection of cafes, bars and boutiques, to its original [then open air] early 19th C, cinema. We bought tickets to 'Hidden Figures', before finding the highly recommended Greek Cafe - My Greek Cuzina'. The prices were low and the food was simply superb. I will be returning.

I found 'Hidden Figures' a deeply moving story of these remarkable women working for NASA, given the prejudice and bias of that time. I've since learnt through googling, that these women went on to have respected and valued careers. 

It may have been hot and sweaty, but hiking down under always lifts ones spirits and makes one glad to be out and about.

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