T-ars: First impressions

Ola Streets Beach

We had a good night sleep but I didn't feel rested this morning. Hopefully this will be better tomorrow, the first day we have to go work (which is literally across the street). Luckily we have a day off now, to get used to the time difference and to inhale the city atmosphere.

We decided we would walk around the city and take a look at some places that seemed interesting to us. After a nice breakfast in the hotel (which is in a fact a crossing between an apartment and a hotel) we turned on the TV, just to find out it would heat up to 30 degrees (Celsius that is). Where did I leave my sun lotion? The 15 dollars I spent on my hat were the best I ever spent (ignoring the fact that I looked even more like a tourist on the loose). It turned to be a very relaxing day and we saw some very nice sites in Brisbane. Like the Ola Streets Beach (everything seems to be sponsored) on the South Bank, an artificial lake with a beach. Somehow I was glad we were on foot (and not driving a car). Even by foot you have to make sure you walk on the left side or you will have unintended intimate contact with other pedestrians in no time.

Below you'll find some of the main things that drew our attention.

Everything is explained to you.
There is a sign for everything you have to do. Which comes in handy when you have a jet-lag, are new in town and can't think properly because of the heat. Some of the pictures will demonstrate this. A sign on the escalator: "SECURE LOOSE CLOTHING". On a bus: "PLEASE HAIL DRIVER". On a car-free bridge: "WALK ON THE LEFT", "DO NOT BLOCK PATH", "RING YOUR BELL", "MAX 10 km/h".

Strong sense of community.
The sidewalks are clean (everything is clean). There are drinking fountains everywhere. I can proudly say that my fountain-drinking-skills have significantly improved. We saw 2 places near the river where you could have your own BBQ for free (with electronic BBQ's). Lots of benches and panoramic views. A lot of effort is done to create shade. Most of this is probably done for tourists. And sometimes you feel like you're in center parcs. But at the same time it seems genuine. The staff is friendly and we saw a family that sold home-made lemonade on the Sunday market. Also, everything looks very new here. It seems like a young city, even the churches are new.

Technology.
Nothing we saw was a real technological challenge, but they at least applied it in a way you always wanted it to. After a time I noticed my mobile indicated which street or shopping mall we were in. That's great (for tourists at least). The tourist office had (what first looked like) touch screens built in a glass wall. It was in fact a projected image on the glass wall with two sensors on the ceiling that determined your finger location (touching the glass made no difference, just more work for the cleaning lady). Unfortunately it's also applied for advertising (isn't everything applied for advertising?). There are 3 screens with audio just across the street (when entering the railway station) that show advertising 24/7. All day long a blimp (which we like to refer to as "The Duff Blimp") flew over the city with a huge advertising video screen. Although everything is very relaxed and people are friendly, you don't have much contact with people. Most people I nodded to didn't react. I also got a little suspicious. There are huge shopping malls, an artificial beach, lots of dining possibilities. One big happy community, not a trace of edge-society weirdo's or crime. No graffiti or trashed bus stops. Something is wrong. Where's the catch? Whenever people are involved, things have to go wrong. We just had one strange encounter. A girl that asked for money to catch the bus. We tried to weasel out of it because we didn't know if she was genuine. As we turned our backs she shouted something that sounded kind of hostile (if she wasn't fooling us she probably had the right to - but hey, we're just stupid tourists, don't expect us to be helpful).

To conclude: nothing shocking really but I'm easily impressed and this is the furthest trip for me so far.

The free BBQ-spot

"Secure loose clothing" - on escalator

Some famous bridge

A building with a story. I only overheard a guide saying: "the japanese didn't want to buy it, but we're glad we kept it". Not much info, but I was there!