Those much maligned photos

Central Station

Everybody off the train and welcome to downtown Brisbane! Here's what I was seeing this first week downunder.


Brisbane skyline (left)

The smaller brick building on the right is the main post office. There are LOTS of these newer tall reflective buildings like you see on the right. In addition, there is a great deal of construction going on.

Older architecture (right)

I found this building around Chinatown yesterday. It looks like the buildings we saw when traveling through smaller Australian towns. I wonder if Brisbane used to look more like this.









The Koala House

This is a restaurant near where Kevin is working.















City Birds

Pigeons and pigeon wannabees (Australian white ibis) in the park- being fed by the guy with the white shoes.
Street scenes

Like many Australian cities Brisbane has these pedestrian malls closed to vehicular traffic. Shops are on either side and, actually, beyond shops on a second floor, there is a warren of corroidors and lower levels with many, many stores including department stores (like Target) and groceries and

food courts

Here's where Kevin and I ate lunch this week. I'm trying to understand how Australia looks different- because you'd never be confused wondering if you were in the US. I think it is the colors they use. Citrus colors- bright lime greens, oranges, yellows. You can see this a little in this picture. The other difference is the people. Obviously (look at the street scenes) there are virtually no black skinned people - a few less asians than whites. In addtion, the people are on average younger than people you see on the street in the US. (Or maybe I spent too much time hiking laps at Richmond Mall!)

Chinatown

Two pictures from Chinatown. I walked there yesterday morning. It is on the edge (North) of downtown in Fortitude Valley. It took about an hour to walk- too much time waiting for lights to change! There were many, many restaurants (Chinese (who'da thought?), Thai, and Vietnamese- my new favorite! it is sweet, clean, and fresh- bean sprouts and cucumbers)- big stores filled with JUNK- strip clubs. I don't have a picture of the lanterns hanging- but here is one of the pagodas. The second photo was taken under a pagoda looking up.

These flowers were blooming on a bush planted and neglected beside a church downtown. I enjoyed the contrast of the orange-red blooms on this small tree with the dark clouds overhead.