Nowhere Like Queensland: South Bank

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

South Bank Revisited...

It's been a while but Brisbane's South Bank is finally on the mend.

Following the devastating Queensland Floods, much of the beloved site of World Expo '88 went under the silty, smelly, raging waters of an angry Brisbane River.

The Brisbane River is no longer angry, and there is no sign of the silt or the mud. In fact, it's all pretty much squeaky clean. (Much to Mr 10's relief, who is anal about cleanliness. Except when it comes to regular showers. But that's another story.)

Part of the swimming lagoon has been reopened. It's only tiny though, compared with the number of visitors, and a lot of the parklands are still being re-shizzled.

Luckily, it's not all off-limits

The good news is that there's still plenty of room to lie down on a blanket while the kids run riot, or young lovers do everything but procreate nearby. (Hopefully out of sight of the kids).

There are still loads of barbecues, eateries, and room to walk along the river.

Oh and the ibises. It wouldn't be Southbank without the ibises.

Despite living in Brisbane for years, we've never actually ridden on the Channel 7 Wheel of Brisbane.

So when we visited South Bank for the first time post floods recently, the kids begged and pleaded to go up in one of the air-conditioned gondolas.

"Please Mumma, please," they chorused.

"We'll do whatever you want us to do," said Mr 10.

"I'll be really, really good," promised Miss 8.

They each grabbed an arm and cuddled it and kissed it, skipping along beside me. I couldn't help but laugh, and I thought: Why not?

It was quiet that day, so we got a whole gondola all to ourselves, much to the kids' delight.

Did you hear their squeals of excitement at your place?