Travel // Going Around // Australasia // Welcome to Brisbane!
Finally, after the long voyage from the secluded and serene French Polynesia islands to the sparkling city of Brisbane, Australia, the M/S Paul Gauguin is off from sailing the seas and presently undergoing maintenance at Forgacs Cairncross Dockyard. The time framed 10-day drydock of the ship allows its crew members to have the opportunity for an indulging and exiting moments to visit Brisbane.
I haven’t been out to downtown Brisbane since the first day of the drydock until yesterday. With 6 other off duty crew, together we went out to downtown yesterday but we do our separate ways the moment we reached the city. With myself alone, I did some window shopping looking for some stuff which I don’t actually know what it was, except for one thing which was already in my plan well ahead - a present for my wife’s birthday. It did not took me long to find that stuff since it is a very popular and almost everyone are desperate to have it. I am not sure if my wife will find my present that I bought for her appealing enough to meet her likings. Anyway, I already bought it so perhaps she will learn to like it…LOL… Anybody have a clue what is it? Definitely it’s not a Loius Vuitton signature bag; the price is too exhausting for a person like me. I just had to pass by Louis Vuitton shop in order to get into the entrance of the mall.
There are several things that make Brisbane unique from the cities that I have traveled but closely in parallel with Singapore or Hong Kong. Despite being a highly industrialized city, I still find Brisbane an ideal place to visit. The traffic is so smooth and one doesn’t need to fall in long queues to get a taxi. The sidewalks are clean and no vendors get in the way along the sidewalks. Yesterday was a holiday so probably that could be one of the reasons why there were not much people in the city - it was Australia Day – but still I believe the city is still not likely to have a congested traffic even if it is not a holiday. Here is a brief info about Brisbane I obtained from Wikipedia. Brisbane is the state capital of Queensland. When it comes to population, Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia, following Sydney and Melbourne. The city is situated on the Brisbane River on a low-lying area between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland.
The photo here is the Cathedral of St. Stephen located at Elizabeth Street. Most cathedrals hold amazing architectural designs and this is what make me love visiting cathedrals aside from going there to worship. I was inside the taxi on my way back to the shipyard when I took the photo. I am very thankful to the taxi driver for slowing down the speed to almost into a complete stop as we passed by the church just to allow me to snap few shots of this beautiful structure. Perhaps I will go out again to downtown Brisbane in the next three to four days or before the ship leaves the shipyard. I haven’t taken a closer look of Brisbane yet. Yesterday was just a quick visit and I think I still owe a lot to myself for this very rare opportunity to see more around Brisbane, so this is for now.
