Christmas in Brisbane

The flight to Brisbane on Christmas Eve was uneventful, if forty-five minutes late. For the first time in my memory of many flights into Brisbane we landed from the south-west rather than from the east. This photo was taken as the plane banked to the right swinging over the Gateway Bridge and aiming towards the runway which can be seen upper left.

(Click all photos to enlarge)


Rather than stay at Ll and Fd's home, where Mt had already made arrangements to stay, I was booked into Brisbane's Hilton Hotel where I had also stayed for Christmas last year. The rooms are comfortable and the hotel's CBD location places it in easy walking distance for many of the attractions and activities. This photo was taken in the hotel's atrium. My room was on the eighteenth floor.


Predictably the days were set around food and eating. Even more predictably I indulged heartily in every meal and now face a new year with the usual intention of eating more sensibly in the future.

For Christmas Eve, Fd prepared a seafood meal continuing the tradition of his native Austria.

On Christmas Day, we had morning drinks at Ml's place, followed by light lunch at Ll and Fd's and later a full Christmas Night buffet and get together at Rs and Gg's.

Boxing Day was a casual dinner and DVD night at Ll and Fd's clearing up what food remained from Christmas Eve and Day.

On Saturday Mt and I had lunch by the bay at Scarborough and at night we joined the others and Mg and family for a birthday dinner at a bustling Indian restaurant in Toowong followed by coffee and delicious cake at Mg's home.

Then on Sunday it was lunch at the Paddington Tavern with a fish and chips dinner in the open at Wynnum.

That was a whole heap of dining.

I did manage to fit in some touristy activities between all those meals. I visited Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art to see its Contemporary Australia: Optimism exhibition. It was a quite a diverse exhibition and I especially enjoyed the various video items. A sign of modern times, I suppose.


Brisbane is no longer the big town almost city of my visits in my youth. It is thriving and growing at a bewildering rate. There are four high rise buildings well advanced in construction just in the space of this photograph.


I did quite a bit of walking, perhaps not enough to balance the heavy food intake, but some activity nonetheless. This photo was taken as I walked riverside on Boxing Day. I must try out the ferry service, seen here dropping off passengers at Eagle Street, on my next visit.


The flight home yesterday was smooth and on time and within half an hour of returning to my apartment I was into the mundane task of doing my laundry.

Life goes on.