The South Bank Show

So our only full day in Brisbane and it was going to be a hot one. I got up early before the girls to take part in my second park run this time around the south/north banks of the Brisbane River. This run was a little bigger than Coffs Harbour. Over 450 runners and I had to pick my way through the field in the narrow early stages. I managed another PB and was 35th overall and 4th in my age category. Happy with that.

After breakfast (vegemite sucks) we headed down to the south bank to explore. First stop was the big wheel which Emily insisted on doing, it was OK but not great. We've done a few of these now in different cities and they are really just a gimmick.

Whilst we were there a dragon boat festival was taking place and we watched a couple of races and also some of the other entertainment that was there such as hula hooping and juggling. We did the standard photos on the Brisbane sign and then moved along to a large playground for Em to let off some steam. The Street Beach was mostly closed for refurbishment which was a little disappointing but it did mean we didn't have to go in with Em!

After some Bratwurst and sweetcorn for lunch we tried a boat tour which was quite interesting and gave a different view of the city. Some of the houses were amazing and apparently sell for between 4 and 8 million. Even some ordinary looking apartments go for a million plus. What do people do to be able to afford these places? Brisbane has cranes everywhere building high rises and it is already pretty built up it is certainly a fast growing town. Apparently it's population will grow from 2 million now to 3 million in less than 10 years which is pretty amazing really.

We were pretty much done with sight seeing so we ventured back to the apartment where Ali and Em were going to brave the roof top pool whilst I was off to watch an AFL (aussie rules football) game at the GABBA between Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns. The stadium is great but it wasn't that full as apparently the Lions are pants. They did however manage to blow away the Suns in a game where fists always seem to be flying, refs are everywhere and the uniforms are camp. I loved going to the GABBA but I'm not sure I'd go to an AFL game again.

We had a quick look from the roof top at a night time Brisbane before retiring ready for our flight to Hamilton Island tomorrow.