A Weekend in Brisbane

Brisbane is not nearly as famous as Sydney or Melbourne, but we loved Australia’s third largest city. Known as Brissie for short (Aussies love nicknames), it has a great climate and lots to do. With amazing outdoor spaces, and a huge selection of restaurants, we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in Brisbane. We want to go back!

About Brisbane

The capital of Queensland, Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia. It’s the biggest city we’ve sailed to in our five plus years living aboard, and we loved being anchored in such a cosmopolitan place. The population is more than 2.5 million, way more than Auckland’s 1.6m, our previous biggest port.

Brisbane has everything a city should have. It’s got tall buildings and bridges, lots of public art, great dining, and outdoor parks. The population is big, but compared to North American cities, didn’t feel crowded. In fact, everything feels spacious and spread out. Even the bars and restaurants have loads of space.

We visited Brissie at the perfect time for liveaboards, the beginning of winter when it’s too cold for watersports. In Brisbane, we appreciated the big city amenities, good shopping, restaurants, and entertainment.

Anchored in the River

We first visited Brisbane by train from our anchorage in Raby Bay, and liked it so much, we decided to venture there by boat a few days later. The river is full of mooring balls, so we did have to coordinate an anchorage in relation to the balls, and other boats using them. We anchored close to a convenient dinghy dock in the suburb of Teneriffe, but we didn’t completely avoid the moorings. Unfortunately, we got a mooring line wrapped around our prop and Brian had to strap on the scuba gear to remove it. Other than that, our time in Brisbane was great. Maybe next time we’ll find out who to pay to use a mooring and avoid the trouble.

Getting Around Brisbane

A river city, Brisbane has frequent ferries that drive back and forth across and up and down the river. We rode the ferry a few times, and on a nice day, the views are great! However, we soon realized we could get around much quicker by bus, so we switched between the two during our weekend in Brisbane.

Fares were reasonable and we quickly purchased cards to use the system seamlesslt. The Translink system is manageable, but not as easy as expected. We had to fill out a lot of online information to refill the cards, and needed an Australian address to do so. We used our friend’s address, but probably could have used a marina or hotel address. And while there may be terminals where you can add money to the card, we couldn’t find one. Not at the ferry stations, at least. The good news was that once we finished the onerous initial online setup, it was easy to use.

A City of Neighborhoods

We found that similar to Toronto, Brisbane is a city of neighborhoods. Only here they call anything outside of downtown suburbs. Not like in North America where the suburbs are an hour away by train, here they’re a 20 minute bus. The suburbs are a more desirable place to live in Brisbane!

We walked a lot during our weekend in Brisbane. We crossed bridges and into the downtown replete with highrises and high end shops, and through many different neighborhoods. Brisbane is a great city for walking. It’s a riverfront city, with pedestrian bridges crossing the river onto multi-use riverfront paths on all sides.

south bank

On Friday afternoon, we strolled the South Bank, soaking up the sun in the parks and gardens alongside the Brisbane River. South Bank is busy on the weekends, with live music, parks, and lots of excellent restaurants.

newstead and teneriffe

On Saturday, we explored the upscale suburbs near our anchorage, Newstead and Teneriffe, where there’s a well-used waterfront walking and cycling trail. We timed our weekend in Brisbane right, and got to the annual Teneriffe Music festival, which was jamming.

west end

Our last day of our weekend in Brisbane, Sunday, we explored the West End, easily the best place for street art. West End also has busy cafes and breweries, our kind of neighborhood.

The weather was so good, we spent our time in the streets and on the river. We have to return to visit some of the many museums, and eat some more delicious meals in Brisbane.

Teneriffe Fest

Our anchorage was perfectly placed a quick walk to the suburb of Teneriffe, hosting an annual music fest while we were there. We bought tickets to see all the great Aussie bands playing on 3 different stages and had a blast at the fest. It was a long day, and the party was raging when we left.

Eating and Drinking in Brisbane

Another reason we loved Brisbane was all the excellent bars and restaurants. Every neighborhood has at least one brewery or brewpub, and the range of restaurants gave us choices we hadn’t seen in years. We shared sangria and snacks at a busy Spanish tapas space, sampled some New York bagels (only okay), and hit up a few breweries.

olé

When I saw there was a Spanish tapas bar in Brisbane, I made a point to go. The huge patio was hopping on Sunday afternoon, and we joined the locals sipping sangria al fresco. The food was as good as we hoped, and the most traditional Spanish we’ve eaten in years. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to find Spanish tapas in French Polynesia or Fiji.

longtime dining diM sum

Brisbane’s restaurant scene fed us the cuisines we’ve missed, including high end dim sum at Longtime Dining in the CBD. We were both a little hesitant when we had to go upstairs in a shopping mall, but ended up being wowed. Longtime Dining impressed us with both service and food quality, and we ordered well. We savored this meal of duck pancakes, foie gras prawn toast, and tempura cauliflower.

working title brewery

Brisbane is full of good breweries, the best we’ve tried since arriving in Australia. We visited a few, most memorably Working Title near our anchorage in Teneriffe. It made us a little nostalgic for Toronto, with a laid back vibe, arcade games, and various beer styles. New Zealand was a little too heavy on the hazies for me. We only got to a couple, another reason to return.

If you can’t tell, we loved spending a weekend in Brisbane. It makes us even more excited to go back and to explore more of Australia. We’ve got time! Let us know you’re Australia tips in the comments.