Page 151 - WDT Magazine Egypt

Urban Walks

Temperatures while I was there in May
(early winter in Australia) were nearly the
same as those in San Diego, my hometown.
The pace was similar as well. The city isn’t
on the coast, but is the gateway for Queens-
land’s Sunshine and Gold coasts and the
Great Barrier Reef. Brisbane does have a
beach, beside the river in the South Bank
Parklands. It’s a very outdoorsy city, with
abundant parks and gardens thriving in the
subtropical climate.
I spent a restorative hour at the 138-acre
Brisbane Botanic Gardens on Mount Coot-
tha that first day, wandering through a glass
dome filled with tropical flowers and a serene
Japanese garden. White cockatoos with bril-
liant yellow crests screeched, swooped and
strutted beside a landscaped lagoon. Women
with strollers and toddlers hung around the
large playground and picnicked on sloping
lawns.
The scene was less serene in the South
Bank Parklands, my neighborhood for a few
days. Trails along the river’s edge and winding
throughout the park run past the beach, a la-
goon, playgrounds and the Wheel of Brisbane.
The nearby cultural hub includes the stunning
Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) with a perma-
nent collection of artworks from throughout
the South Pacific. Restaurants abound in the
surrounding streets and the neighborhood
bustles day and night, as I learned during a
short stay at the busy Rydges South Bank by
the convention center.
I spent my last two nights right beside the
City Botanic Gardens at the Royal on the Park,
allowing ample time to wander past food
stalls along trails to a lily pond, hibiscus plot
and bamboo grove. The garden was estab-

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