Despite the early night we both managed to get a good night’s sleep and after breakfast we were ready to start walking round Brisbane. The forecast today is for cloud and possible showers so we packed the map, mac’s and an extra layer then set off. First stop was the City Hall as there are guided tours on the hour that you need to book onto but it doesn’t open until 10:00 so we went to the Regents Theatre – visitor information again as this is where the walk starts. The theatre was built in 1929 and cost more than £400,000. It had state of the art air conditioning, 2,500 seats and a Wurlitzer organ shipped from New York, in the 70s the original theatre was remodelled to house four cinemas which have subsequently been demolished and all that remains now is the front foyer and grand staircase which is where the visitor centre is. Opposite the theatre is the Brisbane Arcade. This was also built in the 1920’s and is Brisbane’s oldest surviving shopping arcade. Don’t think it has changed much since it was built as it still contains small selective shops. This whole area was originally the site of the Convict Barracks but it seems to have only been open for about ten years, the barracks building housed Queensland’s first parliament and court house but in the 1880s it was all demolished to make way for the commercial development. Our next stop on the walk was Brisbane City Hall and by the time we got there it was exactly 10:00 and the museum was open so we went up to the 3rd floor and booked onto the 10:15 clock tower tour and the 10:30 City hall tour. The clock tower tour is basically just someone taking you up to the very top past the clock faces and up to the walkway at the top then making sure you come down again! At the very top you can see the bells and the clock faces, apparently they are easier to see when the sun is out as you can make out the hands. We came back down in the lift and then it was time to go to the ground floor and join the city hall tour. It was built in the 1920s on land that had actually been a swamp that dried out. It was opened in April 1930 and at the time was the tallest building in Brisbane. It is. Still a working city hall every Tuesday the councillors of the greater Brisbane area come into town for a meeting that is held every Tuesday afternoon. At then end of the tour we walked round the museum which had exhibition detailing the life and times of some of the convicts and stall that guarded them. We continued the walk past the Albert Street uniting Church which was built in 1889 and is a very spectacular red colour. Opposite this is the Ann Street Presbyterian Church which was originally built in 1858, then again in 1872 after the original burnt down. The People’s Palace was actually built by the Salvation Army as a temperance hotel which is a little ironic as it is now a backpacker hotel famous for its parties! At the bottom of the hill that contains Jacobs Ladder is one of the remaining WW11 Air Raid Shelters, there were over 200 built around the city for use by members of the public, the intention was to convert them into bus shelters, public toilets or park shelters, unfortunately not many actually remain but this one has been converted into a park shelter. The Jacob’s Ladder is a very steep set of steps which seems to be used by office workers as a lunchtime work out at the top of the steps is the Windmill tower which is Queensland’s oldest standing building built by convicts, it is only open one weekend a year which wonderfully is this weekend so we managed to go in and climb to the top of the tower as they were setting up the information boards. It was built as a mill to create grain to feed the townspeople and convicts, but unfortunately the sails failed to turn so a timber treadmill was constructed on the side of the mill used as a punishment, convicts had to walk up to sixteen hours a day with two or three hours of breaks a day, it is said they were responsible for the majority of wheat and grain milled at the windmill. We walked back down Wickham terrace which is where we are staying and it turns out that this area was important as the medical precinct and at one time contained 79 doctors and 4 private hospitals. We walked down the hill to the Central Railway station which was built in 1875 and was probably very impressive at the time, although all that remains now is the facade. The same is probably true of Anzac Square, created to commemorate those who fought and died in the first wold war, it seems to be going though a redevelopment at the moment which I am sure will be lovely but at the moment looks rather a mess. The end of the walk took us past the General Post Office which was built in 1872 and is very grand and round to Saint Stephens Chapel and Cathedral which we didn’t go in as when we got there Friday mass was underway so we decided it was best not to go in. The website I had downloaded the walk from suggested that this would take about 45 minutes but with all the stops we made it took about 3 hours so we decided to stop for some lunch in a Thai restaurant which was lovely. Our final activity of the way was to walk down to the Botanic Gardens and the Old Government House, unfortunately all that remains of the house is the building, none of the rooms are furnished but it is quite impressive all the same. It was home to the Governors and also their administrative office with Grand social events regularly held there. By the time we had finished walking round the Gardens we were both shattered so we set off back to the hotel for a relax and possibly a drink or two.
