I've not been yet, I didn't want to ruin the mystique.

I did the Grand Canyon once and couldn't see the fuss so I'm mentally scarred.

It is where ? in Toowoomba ?

Brisbane is
- full of sports stadiums and not much else.
- impossible to get around by public transport
- totally lacking in inovative buildings
- full of soulless housing estates
-lacking in intelligent, articulate politians
-full of pot holed roads
-devoid of any proper urban planning
-full of over priced yuppy restaurants/coffee shops

sports stadiums : no it isn't full of them.
public transport : it's nothing like london that's for sure. Cars are the transport mode of choice. If you want public transport in brisbane, make sure you live near an established rail or bus route.
buildings : I agree this is an issue in Brisbane CBD. There are only a handful of buildings that appear to have been designed with longevity in mind. However I am thinking more along the lines of heritage type buildings, whereas you use the word "innovative"... what do you mean by innovative?
politicians : no comment, heh heh.
roads : I live on the northwest of Brisbane, the roads are great.
urban planning : tricky one. It's all relative really. What other towns / cities are you thinking of that have done this well ?
overpriced restaurants / coffee shops : Yes there are a few too many of these. But there are also a few that are reasonably priced and do superb food.

Brisbane is .... not where you live?

I don't think it's an issue in Brisbane only. We've been here for four years and we holidayed here previous to moving, so all in all about seven years, and I've noticed in that time that buildings seem to recieve no maintenance or ongoing refurbishment . . . places like Broadbeach and Surfers and Mooloolaba looking really tired on my last visit just recently. Plus these places were all chucked up at around about the same time so it's not just one or two buildings looking scruffy, it's whole areas.

Stefan's needle

There was an article in the paper the other day saying that Brisbane was known for events rather than any permanent attractions.

Melbourne: tourism capital of Australia

Melbourne has continued its dominance as Australia’s most liveable city and most popular interstate tourist destination according to new research by Roy Morgan.

The latest research shows Australians now consider Melbourne to be the best city for: hosting world-class sporting and cultural events; cafés, bars and nightclubs; food experiences and world-class restaurants; shopping and retail; world class golf courses; hosting musicals and theatre shows; and regional experiences close to the city.

Melbourne now outperforms Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide on all major indicators in the survey to show that the city has come a long way over the past decade
The research is supported by the latest domestic visitor numbers which show Melbourne is the most popular city in Australia with 708,000 more interstate overnight visitors choosing Melbourne over Sydney.

Source: http://www.tourism.vic.gov.au/media-...re/edition-65/

Tourism QLD, WA, SA, NSW probably all say the same about their states, its their job - tourism promotion.

I like melbourne and have pushed it on most overseas visitors and have yet to have any impressed, I cant even get enthusiasm from qld visitors. As my post said, I dont buy the 'world class' thing about any aussie city. And melbournes not european, its just more like croyden (sorry who said that ) than anywhere else in OZ.

Besides Aussies only have a handful of cities to choose from, so Ive no doubt melb gets a lot of visitors. You run out of major cities pretty quickly here.

Only boring people get bored.

I remember when I met the OH that I knew zilch about Brisbane apart from the existance of The Gabba.

Funny that, our visitors have to choose between all the things to do here as they can't fit them all in on their stays....even our friend from Queensland packed a week of fun activities into her trip here last year.

I guess as we're enthusiastic about everything here it must rub off on them!

BB

Snap! Apart from the bit about meeting your missus.

She was backpacking through Europe so who knows with these Aussie broads?