We're having great fun exploring our part of Brisbane, which turns out to be a center of art and culture and a very convenient spot for a couple without car. We're two and a half blocks from:
* our gym at the Southbank Institute of Technology
* Coles, our local grocery (and bottle!) store
* the Queensland Museum of Modern Art and Queensland Performing Art Center
* Musgrave Park, which has tennis courts and a very nice pool
* the bike and pedestrian esplanade on this side of the river
* the Cultural Center bus station, where I catch my bus to UQ
The river front - called the Parklands in our area - is a vibrant place, sometimes seeming like a Club Med, with all the bars, restaurants, colored lights, a bougainvillea-covered walkway, and this well-used artificial "swimming hole" and beach:
If you look closely, you can see the Brisbane River behind the swimming hole. This is part of a huge public area created on the former grounds of the 1988 World Expo.
Also along the river is Brisbane's own Big Wheel (not sure how it compares with Seattles!):
Today, we wandered down to the West End Saturday Market, which we'd heard good things about. We weren't disappointed! Not huge, it still had a plethora of booths selling an amazing assortment of fruits and vegetables, both familiar to our North American eyes and those weird looking and smelling tropic varieties from this part of the world:
We didn't know where to start … or where to end our buying. Fat mangoes, finger bananas, Vietnamese greens, Tasmanian cherries, Frenchman-made sausage, Tambourine Mountain avocados. Our fridge is now full, yum!
One of our interesting discoveries is that Australia seems to really celebrate its cultural diversity (well, with the big asterisk around its colonial past and lingering institutional racism). In Sydney, we walked across a bridge with plaques displaying each country from which a population of immigrants had come, with the major years of and primary reasons for their immigration. We saw similar public presentations in Melbourne.
On the riverfront near our apartment, we found this:
Three pillars, each with the story of one person who had come to Australia in recent years. The story was told in her or his own words, about their life before Australia, what caused them to leave their home and what cherished things they left behind (often a pet). The pillar in the foreground was the story of a Sudanese man who had come over when he was ten. The stories, the photos, the faces, so poignant.
More on local culture, Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander, soon.
* our gym at the Southbank Institute of Technology
* Coles, our local grocery (and bottle!) store
* the Queensland Museum of Modern Art and Queensland Performing Art Center
* Musgrave Park, which has tennis courts and a very nice pool
* the bike and pedestrian esplanade on this side of the river
* the Cultural Center bus station, where I catch my bus to UQ
If you look closely, you can see the Brisbane River behind the swimming hole. This is part of a huge public area created on the former grounds of the 1988 World Expo.
Also along the river is Brisbane's own Big Wheel (not sure how it compares with Seattles!):Today, we wandered down to the West End Saturday Market, which we'd heard good things about. We weren't disappointed! Not huge, it still had a plethora of booths selling an amazing assortment of fruits and vegetables, both familiar to our North American eyes and those weird looking and smelling tropic varieties from this part of the world:
We didn't know where to start … or where to end our buying. Fat mangoes, finger bananas, Vietnamese greens, Tasmanian cherries, Frenchman-made sausage, Tambourine Mountain avocados. Our fridge is now full, yum!
One of our interesting discoveries is that Australia seems to really celebrate its cultural diversity (well, with the big asterisk around its colonial past and lingering institutional racism). In Sydney, we walked across a bridge with plaques displaying each country from which a population of immigrants had come, with the major years of and primary reasons for their immigration. We saw similar public presentations in Melbourne.
On the riverfront near our apartment, we found this:
Three pillars, each with the story of one person who had come to Australia in recent years. The story was told in her or his own words, about their life before Australia, what caused them to leave their home and what cherished things they left behind (often a pet). The pillar in the foreground was the story of a Sudanese man who had come over when he was ten. The stories, the photos, the faces, so poignant.
More on local culture, Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander, soon.
Love those pillars! Public art at its best. And the market sounds outstanding--give us some close ups of the tropical fruit.
ReplyDeleteJust you wait. After 6 months of being car-free you'll come back to Seattle and ditch the Prius. One year and counting, baby!
Cheers,
AVC
Amazing! I'll share that with my students.
ReplyDelete