The Look and Feel of Brisbane

When I pictured Australia, I envisioned the outback—a dry desert like climate, few trees, and heat. Other than the picture of the Sydney Opera House that most are familiar with, I had no sense of what the bigger cities would be like. I was pleasantly surprised by the look and feel of Brisbane. It’s the third largest city in Australia and is the capitol of the state of Queensland. While it isn’t the size of a large city from an American perspective, it is not small. They also label parts of the city differently. So the downtown area, or central business district (CBD) have an address in Brisbane, anything outside of the business district have address of their suburb. So areas that are less than a 10-minute walk from the heart of will be labeled as a different city, but still socially considered part of Brisbane.

The architecture is fantastic. A little bit of background here – its seems as if Brisbane has been growing significantly in the past 5-10 years, and so a large portion of the buildings built in the recent years have an ultra-modern feel to them and are often accented with bright happy upbeat colors – bright oranges, blues, reds. Mo- you would love it here. In contrast, the original buildings have a very old historical feel to them and are spattered throughout the city. So you end up getting pockets where you have the two right next to each other living in contrast of two very different economic and social eras of this one unique city. Its beautiful. This is true of both business and residential buildings. And because Brisbane is situated on a winding river, you have bridges all over bringing you from one distinct neighborhood to the next. Each bridge looks quite distinctive in style. Our new apartment and work over look the Story bridge.

It also seems as if they don’t plan their communities here as we do in the states. While the CBD is on an identifiable grid, as soon as you get out to the first layer of neighborhoods you notice that the plots seem to be fairly random and on no distinguishable grid. You don’t see rows of homes or streets, you see houses and yards scattered about in no particular line or order. We have also heard a lot about the traditional “queenslander” style home which has a very deep south feel to me. They tend to have intricate woodwork around doors and windows, wrap around porches, and often have tin roofs.

Apparently one of the biggest downfalls of this traditional style is the frequent infestation of opossums. Yep, you read that right. Apparently, they walk along the power lines into the tin roofs and attics of these houses and scurry about at night. Now consider the sound dynamics of a tin roof – it magnifies and echoes sound throughout the entire house. So a small rodent scurrying through at night (they are nocturnal after all) sounds like rapid fire weapons attacking the home. 

Finally layered on top of the beautiful architecture, you have the natural features. The river for one is a lovely site that the city seems to be purposely built around. Each neighborhood is lined along it and has its own view and park along it. Generally on each bank you will find cafes, restaurants, shops, and parks. Throughout the city you have an array of tropical plants-palms, palm trees, fig trees. The most distinctive of this spring season is the jacaranda – a bright purple tree that is everywhere. Apparently, as the seasons change equally colorful red trees take over the city in summer, followed by yellow trees in the fall.

Peculiarities

Random Sculptures—throughout the city there seem to be randomly placed sculptures with no apparent them or explanation. They just pop up in front of you as you explore the city.

Sugar free—the city seems to be particularly health conscious with gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan options labeled on most menus. There also appears to be a lot of nonfat/low fat and soy options. But oddly, very little comes in a sugar free variety. Splenda is also hard to find. Likely this is due to high import taxes and the fact that sugar cane grows naturally here and is readily available.           

To City—As you travel along the highways here you will notice signs directing you to “City.” They don’t mention which city, they just assume you know where you are going. So if you travel to Oz, be sure to get a navigation system.

Things I Miss

Unlimited Internet – You pay by your usage here. And it goes fast. After 4 days of only using it at night to write emails and Skype, we exceed our allotted 1500 MB, which cost $40. So we may not be online as much as we used to L            

Phrase-ology

Partner – there is no reference to boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife. Your significant other is referred to as your partner across the board.

            Made Redundant—let go/laid off

Pot-Scooner-Pint—these are the three sizes of beer and they change depending on which city you are in. In Brisbane, you can order a pot of Gold and receive a small XXXX Gold (pronounced Four-Ex) beer which is brewed locally.

            GFC—Global Financial Crisis. It comes up a lot in everyday conversation so they have taken  
            to abbreviating it.