On Brisbane's South Bank

Taken against a green-screen on the way in.

In Brisbane, "South Bank" is an area of downtown along one of the southern river banks developed for tourism and local culture.  I suppose the most immediately identifiable landmark is The Wheel of Brisbane, a 60 meter tall modern ferris wheel.  It has 42 enclosed gondolas which could seat six, but they will give you by yourself, which take you on a narrated 15 minute windshield tour of everything within sight, which is most of downtown Brisbane.

While definitely the most blatantly touristy thing I did my entire trip, it was also one of the most enjoyable.  On this particular day, it was particularly attractive because each of the enclosed gondolas is individually air conditioned.  It also gave me a chance to get the pictures in this post.

Kurilpa Bridge over the Brisbane River

On the east end of South Bank is a footbridge that runs over to the Courthouses in that area of Brisbane called the Kurilpa Bridge.  I walked over this bridge frequently, not knowing it is the world's largest hybrid tensegrity bridge.  That's a fascinating rabbit hole of it's own, if you're an engineering nerd like I, follow this linkage.

I walked over it frequently because it was the most direct route from where I was staying to the South Bank.  The South Bank has the Art Museum, the Performing Arts Center, a botanical garden with a rainforest boardwalk, and an actual beach.  It's a great place to walk around and take in the local plants and watch the traffic on the river.

Kurilpa is an aboriginal word which means "place of large river rats."  It is thought now they were probably referring to possums, which are common in Australia, and of course, marsupials like wallabies and kangaroos.   I didn't see any.

What one did see was a lot of these very strange looking birds, the Australian White Ibis.  They are tame around people.  The behave like pigeons do in NYC.  Human scraps are a major part of their diet.  Their favorite meals are crayfish and mussels which they dig with that long beak.

Just as with NYC pigeons, they would fly close enough to you to fan you with their wings.  I'm guessing they aren't very good to eat.  They're big, this one is the size of a large chicken or small turkey.  I wasn't quick enough to get a shot with something in it for scale.

I shot this picture in the park outside the Queensland Art Museum.  A woman about my age was nearby with her camera.  We tripped our shutters at the same time.  I commented "I think we got the same picture" playfully in her direction.

She sat down on the bench next to me and told me she was a watercolorist visiting the museum for inspiration.  She complained of not finding inspiration inside but said she thought she would paint this bird, which she called a Pelican.  We talked for a few more minutes about painting.  I told her about my mother's painting.  She reminded me of her.

This post will be the last in my series about Brisbane.  This video below is from my ride in the Wheel of Brisbane, near the top.  Thanks for reading along.  Thanks for your patience with my decision to do this at the same time I was shifting technology.