Travel Journal: Brisbane

Having really struggled to get a place to sleep in Brisbane, with hostels refusing to let me book in advance or even at all unless I was there in person, I finally got a bed at Base Central Hostel which is not particularly nice or that cheap but it was all I could get. Thankfully its not for long as I move into my student accommodation flat, where I will be spending Christmas and New Year, on Friday.

Knowing all too well how crazy busy and expensive hostels get around the festive season I thought ahead and organised some very cheap accommodation for myself while I was stay in Brisbane. After moving in I’m looking forward to actually doing some of the volunteer work I had planned to do. Having been let down by Blackbutt Reserve in Newcastle and finding it really difficult to find Conservation Volunteer projects that I can get to by public transport I’m excited to be doing at least 2 weeks volunteering at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I start Monday so that doesn’t give me much time to settle in to my new home but hopefully everything will go smoothly and to plan.

As for sightseeing, I’m quite happy to be back in a big city and on first impressions I prefer Brisbane to Sydney. And amazingly, there is sun but I guess I am in ‘The Sunshine Capital’. Brisbane is very colourful and has a good mix of older and ultra modern buildings.

Odd mix of Architecture

Its quite easy to to know which direction your pointing in the city centre as all the streets going North to South are named after Kings and all the streets going East to West are Queens. I thought this was quite cool but I’m a little sad. So far I have explored some of the many shops and a little of the Botanic Gardens so plenty more to do before I move out to the suburbs.