5 best things to do in Brisbane

Brisbane is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. This capital of Queensland is blessed with perfect sunny weather around the year. The city will welcome you with sparkling sunshine any time of the year.

Brisbane is thriving with culture, restaurants, bars, global sporting events, music, wildlife, beaches, gardens and parks. You will find the most scenic restaurants and cafes here. It is heaven for art lovers. All the destinations are easily accessible. You can simply hire a bus in Brisbane to roam around in the city.

Let's have a look at the things you must do on your next trip to the city of Brisbane.

Story Bridge

While visiting Brisbane the first place you should consider visiting is The Story Bridge. This heritage listed site is a must visit if you are a fan of history and architecture. The bridge is named after John Douglas Story. It crosses over Brisbane river and connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point.

Just like the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the best way to explore it is by climbing it. There is only three bridge climb in the world. Among which the Story Bridge is the only one you can climb up and abseil down.

Story Bridge has 1,138 steps. You will Climb 80 meters above the sea level and abseil down 30 meters to the anchor pier facing the river which is optional. They offer climbs at different times of the day so you can choose the one that pleases you. You can select from their dawn climb, day climb, night climb, twilight climb, Climb and dine, or climb and abseil.

The climb starts at the walkway directly beneath the Bradfield bridge. Then you are connected to the climb line. After this, you will start the climb through inner eastern bridge arm which gives you a view of Moreton Bay and then moves to southeastern cantilever arm. Soon you will be enjoying an extensive view of the city, glass house mountain on one side and rim mountains on the other side.

Queensland art gallery and gallery of modern art (QAGOMA)

QAGOMA is located in the south bank precinct of Brisbane. It is the largest gallery of modern and contemporary art in Australia and 42nd most visited art museum of the world. Both these galleries are very well defined and yet compliment each other perfectly.

James Turrel, Australian art collection, indigenous Australian art collection, international art collection, the world turns, tow row are the best permanent free exhibitions to look out for. Currently, they are hosting ATP9 that is the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art which will run till the end of April 2019.

It houses Australia's first purpose-built cinematheque. You can catch a screening on Wednesday and Friday nights or Saturday and Sunday matinees. Most fascinating is to catch a silent film with live musical accompaniment.

QAGOMA also runs the Children’s Art Center offering two events Toddler Tuesday and Art Starters. Toddler Tuesday is organised from February to November. It is free of charge with a session of 45 minutes where children will explore a single artwork. They use games, storytelling and interactivity to make them learn about the art. Art Starters is held on Wednesday mornings which is also free of cost. Here the children explore the art from ATP9 Kids.

Lone pine Koala sanctuary

Spotting koalas and kangaroos is one of the main reason people love to visit Australia. The best place to spot Koalas is Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It is the world’s first and largest koala sanctuary. It is located 12 km from Brisbane city. To reach here you can hire a bus, take a public bus or hop on the river cruise from Southbank.

It is home to 130 koalas many of them born within the sanctuary. Here you can also find more than 100 species of Australian native wildlife such as kangaroos, common wombat, lorikeets, echidna, red-tailed black Cackoota, emu, major Mitchell, bats, barn owl, lace monitor, border collie and many more.

Through their interactive shows and activities, you can not only see the wildlife but also develop a connection with them. Koalas here are friendly as they are regularly handled by humans most of their lives. You can hug them if you wish. Kangaroos are in 5 acres of open area so you can hang out with them, take photographs and feed them. Keep in mind to buy the kangaroo food from the store at the entrance as that is the only food you should be feeding to them. Handfeed lorikeets with their preprepared nectar mix at the edge of the river. Don’t forget to see ree flight raptor show.

There is free outdoor movie screening every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. You can make a picnic out of it. Enjoy the movie with great food available at the food stalls and riverside cafes.

Brisbane botanic garden mount coot-tha

Brisbane Botanic Garden is a part of Brisbane city council’s Mt Coot-tha leisure and adventure precinct. This Queensland's leading subtropical botanic garden is only 7 km away from the city centre.

They have various sections dedicated to Australian native rainforest trees and natural wildlife. Arid Region Plants showcase the plants from the dry regions of Central America and Africa. 27-hectare area of these gardens is dedicated to the Australian Plant Communities which has native Australian plants mostly from Queensland. National Freedom Wall in honour of 50 years of freedom. Witness Exotic and Australian rainforest.

Here you can explore Hide ‘n’ Seek Children’s Trail. Japanese Garden has a Japanese design concept with the plants suitable for the subtropical climate. See 80 different varieties of ferns in Ferns House. Bonsai House has over 100 plants. Fragrant Gardens is all about the fragrance. Wake your sense of smell with its wide range of medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, flowers, aromatic foliage. You can see Tropic plants in Tropical Display Dome.

The temporary art platform (The Platform) is a Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games legacy project. The Platform features temporary artworks, displayed for up to 12 months.

South bank

South Bank is Brisbane’s most happening place. It is a place where your whole family will enjoy to the fullest.

South Bank Parklands is the main attraction of the South Bank. Arbour is made up of the bougainvillaea flowers and creates a beautiful pedestrian walkway. Wheel of Brisbane and Nepal Peace Pagoda are the must visit. Community events mostly take place in an open-air amphitheatre called Courier-Mail Piazza.

You can not miss the streets beach in parkland which is a man-made beach and boat pool. Aquativity is the ideal place for some wet fun. you can also enjoy the CityHopper which is Brisbane’s free ferry service. It departs South Bank from Terminal 3 every 30 minutes runs from 6 am until midnight daily. It stops at several points along the Brisbane river including.

Live music, great food, kids adventure, spectacular sightseeing and scenic strolls make it the most eventful destination of Brisbane.