TRAVEL: Brisbane Free Walking Tour, Botanic Gardens, Roma Street Parklands

Arriving in Brisbane, Australia; I found myself with a free day in which to explore the city. If you’ve read any of my city blogs before, you’ll know I LOVE a free walking tour, and think they’re absolutely the best way to get a feel for a city.

The tours start at 10:30am every day at the Visitor Information and Booking Centre on Queen Street, although you do need to book in advance, as they check your name off of a list once you arrive. The tourist office itself is interesting enough, as the site of an old theatre – make sure to look around when you go in at the elegant facades We were a small group of about eight; ranging from the UK, France, Germany, Canada, and South Australia.

Our tour began by walking through Brisbane Arcade, which was coincidentally celebrating its 95^th Anniversary on that very day. This small arcade reminded me somewhat of Burlington Arcade in London, with its niche shops (here we had a hatters and a ‘pen shoppe’ among others), and pleasant architecture.

Emerging the other side, we arrived at King George Square, home to City Hall which apparently has a bigger clockface than Big Ben. Unfortunately City Hall was closed for a function that day, but normally visitors are allowed in to see its impressive rooms – just another reason to come back some other time!

Continuing down Adelaide Street, our guide pointed out metal animals hiding in the lampposts, including reptiles, marsupials and amphibians, that you might not notice when just walking down the street. We had a look inside the Treasury Hotel to see the plans for quayside renovation expected to take place over the coming years – it’s clear that Brisbane will look quite different to how it does now in a few years.

We walked down to the QUT Campus and inside the Old Government House. I thought it was great that this was left open for visitors to visit as and when they choose, and had a room decorated with elements of the past to give an idea of what the building looked like in its days of use.

Our tour finished in the QUT Library, which certainly was very tech savvy with huge screens which that day were depicting the periodic table, an interactive game about gravity, and one to code robots to sort rubbish. Pretty cool. Whilst on a map it might look like we’d only covered a small amount of ground, it took around two hours and I did feel like I’d gotten to know the city better. The best bit? Unlike most ‘free’ walking tours, this one was actually completely free – just volunteers doing it out of a wish to share their city with others!

With half the day down but still plenty of time to kill, I decided to take a stroll through the City Botanic Gardens, conveniently located right next to QUT. I would describe the gardens more like a park as there wasn’t too much interesting flora to see, whether that because of the time of year, or if it is like this all the time. However, there was an interesting jungle section hidden inside which was pleasant to walk around, particularly with the tree cover shading me from the intense heat!

I strolled along the river and across the pedestrianised Goodwill Bridge to South Bank. This area was really pretty, the walkway draped in bougainvillea the whole way along. There are also a number of free public swimming pools along the riverside which I thought was very cool, and can imagine they get pretty busy during the summertime! Southbank is definitely a must-see when in Brisbane.

I crossed back over Victoria Bridge and wandered up Albert Street to Roma Street Parkland, passing few foreign couples dressed in their finery, presumably to take photos for engagement photoshoots. Roma Street Parkland was wonderful, and completely deserted – I probably passed about four other people in the time I was there!

I wandered slowly through the Parkland, passing by loads of water dragons bathing in the sunshine who seemed undettered by my presence. Crossing over Fern Gully Bridge offered pleasant views of the park fountain and city beyond, and then down into the Spectacle Garden which was a real highlight – beautiful flowers of every colour delicately placed in a wonderful display. How lovely! This was more what I had imagined of the Botanic Gardens, and would probably be my recommendation for those who want to see some spectacular flora, and indeed fauna too!

I had a lovely day exploring the best of Brisbane, but I’m sure there is plenty more to see – do you have any recommendations for what I should get up to next time I’m in the city? Drop me a message in the comments below, and be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for more Australia content coming soon!