Wednesday 25 & Thursday 26 September 2024 – Our departure from Belrose was also a departure from my habit of taking a taxi to the airport.  Lorraine and Paul warned us against trying to convince a taxi company reliably to send someone into the northern wilds of the Sydney suburbs, so we took our first-ever Uber. We had a very pleasant drive with, at the wheel, a lady who was a Brisbane native and who was therefore able to give us a few thoughts about Things To Do In Brisbane. The traffic was a little heavy, and the journey to the airport took about an hour, but we arrived on schedule, with plenty of time before our flight’s departure; and in a thankfully undramatic departure from their established norm, Virgin Australia got us from Sydney to Brisbane without any form of buggering us about. My friend Phil was waiting there to take us to his place, which is in Red Hill, the area of Brisbane next to one called Paddington.

I’ve talked before about connections; thus far it has only been about those formed with fellow travellers.  The one between Phil and me is a lot deeper; we have been friends since babyhood. His family emigrated to Australia in 1967 as “ten pound Poms” (a phrase our Uber driver was so young that she’d never heard it, by the way), but Phil and I stayed in contact by letter over the years and met occasionally, as time, location, circumstances and finances dictated. Right from the first time we met again, which was in 1974, it was clear that the friendship had survived; that encounter, and every one since, has been a source of great pleasure.

Phil has a lovely house, which was originally a Queensland workman’s cottage and which, in true Australian fashion, was transported in one piece to its current location. It’s “upside down”, meaning the bedrooms are on the ground floor and the living space upstairs, and this makes great sense, given the usually hot Queensland climate; the downstairs rooms are the cooler ones, and it leaves a grand upstairs deck. Rather magnificently, the deck has a tree growing through it,

which provides shade for those sitting out on the deck with a glass of something cold, which was us, quite a lot of the time.

The Red Hill/Paddington area is an interesting one to walk around and so, for the first couple of days, and, with Phil and his insightful commentary, that’s what we did. Obviously.

The Queensland workman’s cottage vibe is something that is evident over the whole area that we strolled around.

Most of them are well-maintained and in very good nick and some

have been quite considerably extended.

There’s a variety of approaches to decor, from nice paint jobs and interesting roof tiles

to more elaborate flourishes on the larger buildings.

As well as the timber cottages, there are more substantial constructions

and some nice use of street art on the outside of some.

This, for example, is the local cinema

and it’s not just the front of the building that’s been decorated.

If you look at the left hand picture above, you can see that the area is not necessarily flat and level.  The gradients of some of the hills are simply breathtaking,

so walking about is akin to a major workout at times,

but the area’s location does mean that you get some superb views over downtown Brisbane.

So steep that handrails are needed to help you walk up it!

Among the many coffee bars and restaurants there are some interesting shops

Short Bach and sides?

and other little artistic touches.

The trees lining the roads make the streets very attractive,

and there’s one majestic specimen which is at the top of a hill

making one (OK, me) grateful for the shady seats in which to take a breather – and watch the laughing kookaburras which had come to laugh at us.

In the centre of Paddington there’s a building which used to be a theatre

now repurposed to house a huge variety of stalls selling antiques, bric-a-brac and a whole variety of other things.

Some angles give away the theatrical origins of the building – you can see the proscenium arch here.

Some wag in the local authority had had the idea to make a “Kooka Trail” around the area, presumably intended as a distraction for kids, but also valuable for the entertainment of passing photographers.

though I prefer the real thing, which we saw in various places, including near Phil’s house.

Apparently, kookaburras have been absent in recent years, and they’re only now making a reappearance. I like them, so was glad to be able to see (and hear!) them.

After two days and 11km of walking around this delightful part of the city, it was a pleasure to be able to sit on Phil’s deck with a glass of something cold as the sun went down

This describes our first couple of days in Queensland. We had two more days before heading even further North! and I’ll tell you all about it – some other time.