Brisbane History Walk - January 2022

I know them as the Big Balls however their official name is Steam. That's the old treasury building (1928)  in the background.

After visiting Sam's parents over Christmas Sam and I decided on a few days rest and relaxation down in Brisvegas on our journey back to Melbourne. With all that has been going on in the world in the last few years it has been quite awhile between visits to Brisbane. After setting ourselves up at the Hilton, Sam and I dropped down to the Queen Street Mall and picked up the notes for this walk halfway through the described route. I've done a few walks in and around the Brisbane CBD over the years and one thing that every walk that I've done here has in common is that I really struggle orientating myself - and this arvo was no different in that regard. Anyway after walking back and forth along the mall a few times eventually I worked out where I was and in which direction I was heading, and we were off.

Once Sam and I were down in Queen Street Mall it took name a while to work out which direction to walk - as seems to be pretty standard for me up here!

The Brisbane Arcade (1924) is the cities oldest remaining arcade.

The Brisbane skyline is an interesting juxtaposition of the old and the new.

Now if I describe this walk as a left / right / go straight here this write up is going to be as boring as bat shit so I think I'll go fairly perfunctory with my write upland let the photos do a bit of talking. After leaving the Queen Street Mall I was keen to show Sam the kangaroo street sculpture nearby (I'm thinking it's called City Roos), passing by the big balls outside the old treasury building along the way. Our visit to Brisbane coincided with a cyclone tracking down the coast which ramped up the humidity a bit today so it was a bit of a relief for us when we arrived at the Botanical Gardens and were able enjoy the shady trees today.

City Roos - the roos were just off our route however I wanted to show them to Sam so we made a little detour.

We stayed here on our last trip up here.

Parliament House.

Parliament House - we were here just after Christmas on this visit. 

Leaving the botanical gardens Sam and I slowly made our way along Eagle Street down to the Eagle Street Wharf. It was while heading down here that the humidity delivered in the form of some heavy rain, although being on a city walk at least there was plenty of protection to shelter under. Leaving the wharf we retraced our way back in the direction of the Queen Street Mall for awhile before arriving at the old sandstone St Stephans Cathedral before a bit of zigging and zagging our way through the through the fairly quiet (covid was running wild) streets back up to the mall.

The botanical gardens made for a nice respite from the heat for awhile.

The Storey Bridge from near the Eagle Street Wharf.

The rain had arrived by now.

The Dirt.

This walk is worth considering if anyone lives locally or who finds themselves in Brisbane for work or on a holiday, the old colonial architecture, street art and sub tropical vegetation made the walk interesting for us. I've lost my GPX file of this walk so the map is a little ordinary, however before I lost the file I got the distance at around 6.9 kilometres with about 69 metres of climbing on this easy walk. Now, while I've called this walk easy don't forget the humidity up here especially in summer, as it can really sap your energy. This is a walk written up in Brisbane's Best Bush, Bay, & City Walks by Dianna McLay, I used the book along with my GPS topos. 

Relevant Posts.

Brisbane Botanic Gardens Walk, 2022.

Customs House.

St. Stephans Cathedral is dwarfed a little by the huge glass and steel modern buildings.

Back in the Queen Street Mall - it was time to head up to our room for a cold shower.