bobbyftm

What an awesome fireworks display ,when it come to pyrotechnics the so called big cities still have a lot of catching up to do !

I like tea

I admire anyone who emigrates ( even if they eventually return) as in my mind it shows an adventurous spirit with a bit of risk thrown in and after all risk is what life’s about.

Some people really love Brisbane, some people tolerate it and some people dislike it , and I’m one of the later. Still here not by choice but circumstance.

This is only my viewpoint and as always it’s best to have your own opinions.

Pluses
• City mostly clean and devoid of graffiti. Some excellent suburbs with trees, grass verges and well looked after houses. However, outlying areas less appealing.
• Close proximity to northern & southern beaches.
• Great parks with excellent children’s play equipment in many suburbs. Natural bush with many bush walks etc. in easy drive of the city.
• Abundance of cafes, restaurants with a diverse ethnic mix.
• Excellent libraries in most suburbs.
• Council swimming pools great in summer.
• A varied sporting culture and ability to see first class games eg tennis, rugby, league, AFL, cricket.
• Children are usually involved in lots of after school activities eg sport, dancing, speech & drama etc.

Negatives
• Transport. Lousy drivers. Roads congested. Lack of signage. Buses expensive, lack of routes mainly go into the city not across suburbs. Heavy trucks on roads that speed, no bypasses around city centre. Infrastructure very poor. Trains slow always breaking down & overcrowded.
• Education. Day Care very expensive and ratio of adults to children much higher than in UK. Education Department doesn’t know what it’s doing !! very poor Naplan results. Not interested in creative thinkers tend to turn out students that are all the same. ( I think on the whole this sums up Australia for me that all they do is copy everyone’s ideas from Europe or the USA. bland non descript society).
• Queenslanders are very apathetic and lack knowledge of other countries, way behind in environmental issues, still racist and homophobic.
• Culture. Expensive to see shows, opera etc. Museum & science centre are pathetic. Total lack of educational exhibitions for children to stimulate their curiosity about the world and if there are any very expensive.
• Police force that is out of control.
• Corruption in high places eg unions & politics.
• Weather. Depends if you like hot & humid which we get for 4 months of the year. Can be 94 degrees in summer very hot.
• Lots of extra charges on things. Eg had my UK drivers license for 41 years !! just renewed my Oz license for 5 years for $159. Why do you need to renew it so often ? Surcharges on airline fares etc.
• Safety net for homeless and disadvantage is very limited. In other words if you are white, middle class with a job you are ok . Depends a lot on your philosophy and what kind of society you want to live in.

You might love it or hate it but you will never know unless you give it a try. Best of luck

Kim67

It was fabulous, just got home. Where did you watch it from?

bobbyftm

In Cleveland Sands Tavern lol. Stayed in city last 2 nights but had to give tonight a miss to save money for next weeks Broncos final. Dont worry i shall report back how shit Sydney was just for Mr Beoz then can do the same next month for Mr Buzzy after visiting Melbourne

Kim67

Wow, that'll be a fun weekend - all Qld final. Sydney siders are gonna love that.

Beoz

Ah patriotism. That's noble but it still doesn't get Brisbane out of the Mr Average hole that its in.

To be fair, they should move the GF to Suncorp. For a start its at Sydney's crap stadium and Suncorp is a very good stadium. Secondly it gives Queensland something to feel good about .

bobbyftm

Hurrah you've admitted there is something better in Brisbane that there is in Sydney But no they bloody shouldn't move the game up here as we have had flights,tickets and hotel sorted for months on the hope of

Beoz

I think you'll find I've always said Suncorp is an excellent stadium. Even in this thread I pointed it out again. Go for a re-read. Still struggling to find anything else that gives Brisbane a point of difference. .......... still struggling

Alfresco

Suncorp is a fab stadium. Very impressed by it.

KJCherokee

I've lived in both Brisbane and Adelaide (around 15 years in each) and spent a considerable amount of time in all the other capitals - just to let you know that my opinion is not based on just knowing Brisbane.

The first thing in Brisbane's favour is the climate - never gets as hot as the southern capitals, nor as cold. The only drawback is the humidity which gets tropical in Jan-Mar: if you can't take a humid climate don't come here (or Darwin which is even worse).

Secondly is housing: you can still get affordable housing within 30 minutes of the CBD by car or public transport. Try doing that in Sydney or Melbourne - although you certainly can in Adelaide.

As others have said, the South Bank precinct is a great cultural centre and the free artificial swimming beach is a great place to take the kids. Not too many good natural beaches on Moreton Bay, but the Sunshine and Gold coasts are only an hour away. The drawback there is that there is basically only one road from Brisbane to either coast, so traffic jams are regular occurrences.

Don't plan on driving to work in the CBD unless your job comes with a reserved park as parking is the most expensive in Australia

Brisbane is a relatively small city and so it is easy to get out at weekends to see the multitude of pretty little towns and other attractions which surround the city - unless you get caught in one of the traffic jams mentioned previously.

If you want hectic nightlife there's plenty of that in both the CBD and Fortitude Valley - but that's only hearsay from me: at my age I'm happy with the quiet life.

Come and enjoy what Brisbane and south-east Queensland can offer you.

bobbyftm

Try a night out in Fortitude Valley then pop back on here and PLEASE tell me that Sydney has any night out place like that cos in the numerous years i have been socialising in Sydney the likes of Paddington, Bondi, The Rocks or Surrey Hills don't create anywhere near that sort of atmosphere ! I guess this would qualify as a point of difference ! .....hopefully

astera

Any particular streets in the area which are best? Everything I've seen in Brisbane is West of that bridge that leads into Fortitude Valley.

bobbyftm

There's about a 1 k squarish block of a plethora of pubs,clubs and bars mate from Fortitude Valley Station but most noticeably Constance Alfred,Ann,Whickam and James streets would be the best choices

Beoz

I have had a night out in Fortitude Valley .... granted 5 years ago. It was Ok. Just another entertainment precinct. From what I recall it was night club focused. Well that's where I ended up. Not really sure Paddington, Bondi, The Rocks and Surry Hills is nightclubs. More bars and pubs.

From what I hear (getting old) Kings Cross is no longer the late night action place due to the lock out laws, and those in the know head to Newtown and Pyrmont these days for the late night action.

bobbyftm

Whilst i agree Valley area is still primarily focussed on clubs there are more bars there now that you could shake a stick at these days and better still they are not hidden in basements or half way up multi story buildings lol. I can think of about 8-10 bars/pubs/certainly not clubs along Constance Street alone which is only leading onto one of the main streets of the Valley. There appears to be a big thing (certainly in Brisbane area) regarding a mass production of boutique/craft real ale bars these days also but the charges they want people to pay for some of these drinks is quite ridiculous imho but where needs must West End of Brisbane is particularly good for these bars and extremely laid back compared to any where else in the city i believe
Found Newtown to be ok last time i was there but must confess not been to Pyrmont other than Pyrmont Bridge Hotel and of course The Star so that's definitely a new area for me to discover thanks Maybe we might take a stroll around that area this weekend Gotta say i do like the Surrey hills area right up from Central station towards Sfs and of course Crown Street and area is always good for a beer or 2 , there's some nice bars there without the lunatic fringe and i'm sure that for every dozen bars i have found there be 2 dozen more i haven't but not quite sure why everyone goes off about The Beresford really ! Any how thanks for the tip on Pyrmont it will be put to good use
Ps we're staying it The X this weekend and i totally agree with you that it was a really good night out in the past but been disappointed with it lately and would rather head to Paddington / Surrey Hills myself these days