Dateline Saturday 20th August - Roaming round Brisbane

I've been meaning to have a good look around Brisbane but the couple of times I've been so far, the visits have been for specific events, so I haven't had time.

Anyway, I decided I should remedy that situation. Got a lift from Jubbly to Caboolture station, bought a "Go" card and joined the train already waiting on the platform. The journey is about an hour and that gave me an opportunity to have a power nap, as I'd been up late the previous night(no change there, LOL).

I decided to get off at Fortitude Valley, a stop or two before Brisbane Central as Jubbly said it was seedy! No, it was because that's the local Chinatown area.

Wandering out of the station, I crossed over the junction with Wickham Street to find an arts and craft market taking place in the pedestrianised part of Brunswick Street. Busy with lots of shoppers and browsers and quite a few eateries too, good fun and worth further exploration, I thought.

The Chinatown area appears to be in a block bounded by Brunswick Street, Wickham Street, Gipps Street and Ann Street - there is a Chinese gate at the junction of Duncan Street with Wickham Street, although not as big and grand as the one in Manchester, it's a good focal point for the locality. Mainly Chinese restaurants, but also some Thai, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, again, not as large a choice as in Manchester's Chinatown but still pretty respectable. I vowed to dine oriental-style at night but needed some sustenance pretty immediately so I found a café on Brunswick and ordered a "Monster Steak Sandwich" and a coffee.

Somewhere along the line I'd lost my guide book, a particularly nice Dorling Kindersley guide to Australia, I couldn't find it, despite retracing my steps, so it was now a matter of playing it by ear. I knew what direction to set off walking into town and followed Wickham Street until it joined Ann Street, crossing over onto Queen Street.

As I got onto this main thoroughfare, I'd got a view of the river and the various craft plying their trade, in between the skyscrapers, so I moved in for a closer view. Met a guy from Hong Kong doing the same thing - a banker on his first trip to Oz - and we had a really good natter.

After that a really good look around the centre - I especially loved the feel of Queen Street, with all the cafes and shops. Then across the Victoria Bridge onto South Bank where I explored the shops and market stalls, demolishing a coffee and a bun in the process. Again, a lovely atmosphere there.

Light was starting to fade by then but this was a cue to snap away at the Nepalese Temple which was now lit up, a truly stunning sight. Next to it is the Brisbane Wheel and this gave me the opportunity of taking some interesting photos of the Wheel illuminated by the many spotlights - I think I've been fascinated by wheels of this sort ever since I saw the iconic film "The Third Man", a lifetime ago.

I was getting tired of walking by then and, rather than retracing my steps, as originally planned, I took a train from South Brisbane to Central, then onto Fortitude Valley where I went into Chinatown again to find a suitable restaurant. I was slightly disappointed by the choices available, but, sometimes, it's not until you travel that you realise just how blessed you are at home - undoubtedly, Manchester's Chinatown is a larger, far more vibrant affair. I settled on a place frequented by orientals and ordered my meal. Really nice nosh, although I'd dropped a clanger in not noticing that the place was not licensed for booze, so I couldn't have the Chinese beer I'd fancied. Time seemed to zoom by and before long, it was time to get the train back.

Calling Jubbly to get my pickup organised, I settled down on the train, dozing off a number of times after all my walking, safe in the knowledge that Caboolture was the terminus and there was no danger in overshooting my destination! Shattered doesn't even begin to describe how tired I was on getting back to Bribie.

I was really impressed by the feel of Brisbane and would really love to explore the town in more detail, this time hanging onto my guidebook, LOL! I'm not going to have time to do this again, before my trip to Bali, but, hopefully, will remedy that on my return.