Birthday weekend in Brisvegas
I am fortunate to have amazing godparents who spoil me rotten.
My godmother wanted to take me away to watch a West Coast Eagles game so I decided on an Australian city I’d never explored before – Brisbane. It worked out that my birthday fell just after the weekend so we made it a joint birthday celebration.
Footy in Brisbane
Having been to Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Darwin and my home city of Perth before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Brisbane. We left on a morning flight and arrived in Brisbane mid afternoon. We stayed at Mercure Brisbane, which was a short walk to Brisbane Square, Treasury Casino and Queen Street Mall. I must say how pleased I was with the staff at the Mercure. I don’t think I have ever noticed the work of a concierge before but their’s was superb!
Pre-game dinner
The following day we explored South Bank, taking in the view of Brisbane’s skyline, the ferris wheel, the man made beach and markets. South Bank is also home to the Queensland Maritime Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, State Library of Queensland and other arts institutions.
We did a full loop on the free Cityhopper ferry along Brisbane River and finished the day with shopping in the mall.
Flower arches in South Bank
South Bank Beach
That night we visited the Treasury Casino, in Brisbane’s beautiful treasury building. We enjoyed a three course dinner at Kitchen at Treasury for $30 per head before heading into the casino. I must say it wasn’t as exciting a casino as Crown Perth, but that didn’t matter as we had a win on roulette.
Treasury Casino at night
The next day we hired a car and took a road trip up the Sunshine Coast to Noosa. The roads were pretty easy to meander once we got out of the city and on the right freeway entry. We drove through Mooloolaba and continued up the coast to Noosa.
Noosa is a nice coastal town with a main street (Hastings Street) of boutiques, cafes and restaurants. We walked up Hastings Street and checked out the shops before settling into a seafood lunch overlooking the ocean. Upon leaving Noosa beach, we stopped into Noosa National Park’s lookout and admired the view from above.
Noosa Main Beach
Hastings Street, Noosa
The lookout at Noosa National Park
From Noosa, we headed to the hinterlands and made our way to a quaint town called Montville, as recommended by a friends. We stopped into The Edge Cafe for afternoon tea and admired the view of the rolling hills and over Queensland. I honestly felt like I was in country Switzerland! I must say I was very surprised at Queenland’s mountainous terrain… it was really quite beautiful.
Back in Brisbane, that night we enjoyed a dinner at Sono Japanese Restaurant in Queen Street Mall.
In the hinterlands – the view from The Edge Cafe in Montville
The next day was my birthday. We started the day with breakfast at Brew in Burnett Lane – a tucked away cafe I found on Urbanspoon. The rest of the day was spent shopping and pampering for the ladies (manicures, pedicures, wash and blow drys).
When I returned to my room at 6pm, I was greeted by a lovely surprise! The hotel staff left me with bottle of sparkling, birthday cake and a card for my birthday. It was honestly the nicest experience I’ve ever had at a hotel and really highlighted what an amazing concierge they had!
That night we enjoyed dinner at Aria Restaurant – Matt Moran’s restaurant at Eagle Street Pier. We started with a sherry for aperitivo before enjoying a red wine over dinner. I tried kangaroo for the first time for entree, followed by the mulloway for main and hazelnut dessert (plus two pieces of bread somewhere in between).
The waiters surprised me with some Happy Birthday petit fours also. The restaurant’s food and service was amazing, but I must admit I was so full after it, that it was difficult to breathe.
Happy Birthday to me!
The next day was our last day in Brisbane with a 5pm flight back to Perth. We started the day with a CityXplorer hop on hop off bus tour. Even though we’d been in the city for four days already, we hadn’t really seen much except South Bank and Queen Street Mall. The bus tour took us out of the city to the Botanic Gardens, Suncorp Stadium and Mt Coot-tha, which provided an amazing view of the city. It also went through Chinatown, ANZAC Square and past the GPO.
View over Brisbane from Mt Coot-tha
We ended the day with some final shopping and where it all began – a meal at Milano. It must sound like all we did on this trip was shop! I really enjoyed my first visit to Brisbane and found many comparisons to home.