By Contributor,Michael Goldstein

Copyright forbes

A woman climber prepares to tackle a cliff at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The vibrant city of Brisbane and the Brisbane River are behind her.
Visit Brisbane

In August, I made my first trip to Australia. I did not do “Sydney-rock-reef,” the typical American Oz itinerary, which takes in Australia’s largest city, the Great Barrier reef, and majestic Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock.

Instead, I went to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, about an hour south, for a brief five-day trip. The Australian destination is one of the closest to the U.S.. and my Qantas flight took less than 14 hours.

Brisbane is a great introduction to Australia. And it leaves you wanting more.

The city, built along the 214-mile-long Brisbane River, is an interesting mix of quaint and modern. The local bird appears to be the crane, as construction is everywhere, including along the iconic riverfront.

Still, bustling is good. Brisbane seems to be making more progress toward their Olympics in 2032, than my hometown of LA is towards the 2028 games.

Much of the life of Brisbane is along the river. But except for some intrepid kayakers, you wouldn’t want to be IN the river, which is inhabited by bull sharks.

Kayakers in the Brisbane River, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Visit Brisbane

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Bicycling by the river, as I did with a knowledgeable guide, is a different story. With 500 kilometers of bike paths, bicycling is a great way to get around. It can take a day or two for Americans to figure out the right/wrong side of the road thing. I almost had a collision when I stopped to admire a near-pristine Holden pickup car.

The city’s founding was in 1824, but the 200th anniversary was more or less ignored, perhaps because the area was founded by Governor Thomas Brisbane as a penal colony for the worst convicts in Sydney. With settlers lured by farming, maritime commerce and other opportunities, the town became a free settlement and later a municipality in 1859.

Brisbane today, like Paris, is a city of bridges. That point no doubt will be made over and over at Brisbane’s 2032 Olympics. The white Kangaroo Point pedestrian bridge was my favorite, with plenty of room to bike or walk. Originally conceived in the 1860’s as a way to connect Kangaroo Point and the Central Business District, (CBD) it was finally built in 2024 after more than 150 years of discussion .

At the Story Bridge, there’s something of a cottage industry helping daredevils climb atop the structure and cross the river.

A number of restaurants and bars are found on Brisbane’s Riverwalk or just off it in the CBD. From the brewery Felons you can see the bridges and the harbor ferries, while Bar Miete offers views of both the river and of Queen Street from the European style tavern.

Stanley’s, in the Howard Smith Wharves area, is a fine dining and date night experience. Stanley’s is a two-story Cantonese restaurant inspired by the moody water front of Hong Kong’s Stanley Bay. It serves excellent Cantonese style seafood, fish, vegetables and fruit, like the classic sweet and sour chicken with pineapple.

A bridge over the Brisbane River at night, seen from Stanley’s Cantonese Restaurant in the Howard Smith Wharves area of Brisbane.
Michael Goldstein

Stanley’s has a 30 page wine list and a view of the city to die for. Jazz music played as I sat under the romantically-lit bridge.

The next morning, I walked until I found Mulga Bils in the Landing Plaza, where the Kangaroo Point Bridge meets the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. They served a delicious salmon on toast along with a “long black” (big mug) of coffee with a view of the river. Like much of the service in Australia, it was leisurely.

That night Hellenika, in the Matal hotel, was excellent. The restaurant serves classic food from Greece and Cyprus. My moussaka was so big and excellent that I ate it for dinner the next day.

Brisbane today is a modern, cosmopolitan city of 2.5 million. Yet relics of the past are everywhere. Even brands long departed in the United States, like Woolworth’s, have somehow survived. In Brisbane, the Woolworth was across the street from Hermes.

As I walked through the downtown steel-and-glass CBD, I kept running into a little triangle of land covered with fig trees. The land for the “fig tree triangle” at the junction of Eagle, Creek and Elizabeth Streets was granted to the North Brisbane Council by Queen Victoria. The Crown retained the mineral rights and the rent was one peppercorn if so demanded by Victoria or her heirs. By now, the fig trees planted by Walter Hill, the first Superintendent of Brisbane’s City Botanic Gardens, (founded 1855) are enormous.

I stayed not far away, at The Star Grand, a glittering high rise of three tall towers connected by a sky bridge. The new hotel opened in August 2024 was comfortable, with a great view of the river, bridges and the occasional water ferry. The hotel has three pools, a gym, and multiple restaurants. The bar on the ground floor and the coffee shop on the roof were both fun.

When I had trouble getting into the hotel at 11PM , I discovered that the hotel had a special bonus—a casino! Like most Las Vegas hotels, it is a non-smoking resort. Unlike US casino resorts, where you walk through the casino to check in, it is in a separate tower where security guards check ID.

On the plus side for gamblers , a blackjack pays 3:2. On the down side, there are no free drinks and you cannot tip the dealer.

The Star is conveniently located for walking and driving tours. A highlight was my trip to the koala sanctuary at Lone Pine just outside the city. As Chad Croft, international sales manager for the Tangalooma Island Resort, puts it, “Americans love Aussie animals.”

Mr. Perkins, a koala at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary outside Brisbane, Australia, contemplates eating a eucalyptus leaf.
Michael Goldstein

It was certainly true for me. You don’t have to be a child for the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary,12 km outside the CBD, to be one of your favorite spots in Brisbane.

Lone Pine is the world’s first and largest koala sanctuary, home to over 100 koalas and more than 70 species of native Australian wildlife. The sanctuary originally opened in the 1920s, to shelter orphaned or injured koala at the time hunted for their fur. I got to pet a koala calming fur, but not to feed it. Instead, Mr. Perkins contemplatively sucked on a eucalyptus leaf, as engrossed as Marcel Proust with his madeleines.

Lone Pine also has a large group of retired kangaroo, who sleep in the sun with their eyes closed, very occasionally hopping across a field. A few laze among tourist families, where children try to feed them while adults get up close and personal with camera phones. There are many birds, crocodiles, dingoes (wild dogs) wallabies and even the elusive platypus, swimming endless circles in its enclosure.

Less than half hour away by car is Brisbane Botanical Gardens, Australia’s “premier subtropical botanic gardens,” and the view from Mount Coot-Tha. Brisbane is fairly flat, but Mount Coot- Tha at 287 meters provides a great view of the city skyline which you can enjoy over lunch at the Summit Café.

Families with children will find much to do in Brisbane, from the botanical gardens to walking along the river to feeding the beasts at Lone Pine. Brisbane is also the home of Bluey, the adorable cartoon dog, and her family. Bluey’s World in Brisbane gives kids the chance to interact with the television character and her friends.

Pelicans and friends gather on the beach at Tagalooma, a family island resort 75 minutes from Brisbane by ferry. The island is also used for filming; TICKET TO PARADISE with George Clooney and Julia Roberts was filmed there.
Michael Goldstein

Another animal experience was visiting Tangalooma Island Resort, a 75 minute boat ride from Brisbane’s Holt Street. It is both a day trip and a resort destination, especially for families.

Tangalooma is a destination for many Australians because of the long sandy beach and clear warm water, but this was a rare rainy day, and the sea was a bit rough. We landed on the island, in the rain to be greeted by white pelicans on the scenic beach. As the beginning of the Great Barrier reef has excellent paddle boarding and snorkeling, with twenty boats sunk to provide a visiting spot for fish. Dolphins come in at sunset and feeding can be arranged.

After a brief stop on the island, setting for many Hollywood films like the recent romance “Ticket to Paradise” with George Clooney and Julia Roberts, we set off for some whale watching. The cruise company guarantees a humpback sighting and we were not disappointed. The magnificent whales frolic in the waters with their young before setting off on their arduous journey to the Antarctic.

The next morning I packed for my own journey to the Gold Coast in the rain. I went up to the sky deck, ordered a long coffee and croissant, and said goodbye to Brisbane, dreaming of a return.

A humpback whale in the Pacific Ocean between Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and Tangalooma Island. The whales come to the area to calve before the arduous journey to the Antarctic.
Michael Goldstein

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