Brisbane Reflections

Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city just behind Sydney and Melbourne, respectively.  This booming metropolis is also the capitol of the state of Queensland in the northeast portion of the country.  With this being our second stop of the trip, I was excited to see another side of Australia.  Below are my reflections on the built environment, the natural environment, the predominate culture, and the minority culture. 

The Built Environment

Since Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia, it has many of the same attributes that any large city would have.  It has lots of skyscrapers, tall apartment and condominium buildings, and plenty of traffic.  There is one aspect of Brisbane that I was not aware of until we arrived.  There is a large river, coincidentally called the Brisbane River that runs through the middle of the city.  It makes sense that a city would be built around a water source, but I really did not know what to expect when we got there.  This river does not divide the city like a lot of other rivers do for cities.  It appears as if everything has just built up around it and it has become a part of how the city feels.  For example, all of the bridges in the city help to unify both sides.  I might be rambling a little bit, but I really got the sense that Brisbane had a river through it and it never really slowed anyone down from going back and forth to both sides of the river. 

The Natural Environment

Since the city is built around the river, much of the natural environment is positioned around the river.  There are all sorts of public parks, gardens, and attractions along the banks of the river that attract large amounts of people on a daily basis.  All of the natural flora and fauna that are native to the area thrive around the river and are absolutely beautiful this time of year.  I especially have enjoyed seeing all of the huge spiders and their intricate webs all over all of the vines and bushes. 

The Predominate Culture

People in Brisbane are extremely nice and personable.  I found this to be true after speaking with a bartender at the Brisbane Brewhouse.  He was very interested in the fact that our group was studying all over Australia and New Zealand and offered up some good local knowledge.  He was especially helpful when it came to the cricket match that we were attending.  He informed us that the Brisbane Heat had not yet won a match this season and their opponents, the Hobart Hurricanes, were undefeated.  Brisbane ended up clinching the win to defeat Hobart and we were thrilled to see the home team prevail. 

The Minority Culture

Just like Sydney, there are a lot of migrants living in Brisbane.  They too have a large Asian population.   It was also sad to see that the homeless people in Brisbane were of what appeared to be Aboriginal decent.  We stumbled upon one such individual stumbling down the street in a drunken stupor after eating Mexican food one evening. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Brisbane.  The beauty of the city and the politeness of all of the locals made for a great time.  I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be able to see all of these great cities and I am looking forward to seeing more of this awesome country.