Brisbane Botanic Gardens Circuit Walk - January 2022

The Eastern Water Dragons were a feature of this walk.

After a hard day of chilling out by the pool at our hotel in Brisbane, Sam and I decided that we really should go for a bit of a walk. Yes, enthusiasm was a little low this afternoon. So after pulling on my hiking Havaianas we decided to make the short journey through the humid Brisbane streets over to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. The botanic gardens here were officially opened way back in 1855 so there a lot of mature plants here which means that the shady gardens always offer a bit of respite from the normally baking hot tropical sun - and makes them a pleasant spot to explore for awhile.

Sam and I set off through the gates at the end of Albert Street.

Bunya Pines (I think;)

At around 17 hectares the gardens are small enough that they can be seen in a couple of hours (although you could easily spend a lot more time here if you wanted to). Sam and I entered the park down near the end of Albert Street through the ornamental gates before swinging left and almost circumnavigating the park. After reaching the Brisbane River we followed the Bunya Walk which barrelled the river all the way down to the Riverstage. After skirting around the Riverstage we shuffled our way back towards the park through the quiet Queensland University of Technology Point Campus.

The botanic gardens provided some nice respite from the summer heat and humidity.

We followed the Brisbane River down to the QUT.

We took a short detour along a rainforest loop as we made our way along the river.

There use to be a boardwalk through the mangroves along here - that was washed away in one of our frequent once in a hundred year floods a few years ago.

There is some street art in the QUT precinct.

Queensland was going through its first big Covid wave on this visit.

Back in the gardens Sam and I now meandered our way back up to eventually arrive at what I thought was the highlight of this little stroll - Oakmans Lagoon with it's lillyponds. It wasn't really the lagoon itself that I found so interesting this afternoon though, no it was the wildlife living in and around the lagoons. The Eastern Water Dragons along with the large Eels kept me interested today, it seemed every couple of metres we'd come across yet another lizard soaking up the sun beside the water. Our short afternoons stroll was pretty well over now and after circumnavigating the lagoons it was time to head back to the sanctuary of our hotel just in time to enjoy a somewhat guilt free dinner.

Back in the gardens and heading for the lagoon.

Yes... I'm in the tropics now!

The local birdlife also appreciate the gardens.

Bin Chickens - a Feral favourite.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS app (I forgot my GPS) we walked around 2.9 kilometres and climbed about 15 metres on this easy walk. The Brisbane Botanic Gardens are a little oasis of peace and tranquility in the city and make for a really nice spot for a walk, or even just a quiet spot to sit and contemplate the world. As I mentioned I used my Alltrail app this afternoon, Google maps will also get people through safely as it is pretty hard to go to far astray in this little park.

Relevant Posts.

Art in the Brisbane CBD Walk, 2016.

Simpson Falls & Eugenia Circuit, 2017.

Oakmans Lagoon.

Without really trying to find them I reckon Sam and I came across at least half a dozen of these beautiful lizards.

Time to head back to our hotel - and the air-conditioning!