peterjmaerz:
Hi all,
I'll have a whopping 24 hours at my disposal starting at 7:00am in Brisbane in November (see countdown timer below). Is there a small, cozy, comfortable non-corporate hotel you'd suggest? Also, since I'll be cramming all land touring into one day, do you have any favorite attractions (prefer eco sites but also would enjoy art or architecture.)
Thanks much,
Brisbane can be hard to handle for just a day, but there are some fantastic markets along the river which are really good to see though (think they are only open on the weekends though.... )There is a ferry that goes up and down the river stopping at different places of interest where you can just get on and off as you like which is fun.
There is a train from the airport that can take you to the city, but i found that adding up the different public transport costs can be more expensive than hiring a car for the day (Try europcar they are based at the airport and seem to be the cheapest and are all new cars)....thats if you can deal with the whole other side of the road thing, i just couldnt do it when i was in the US and caught public transport or cabs everywhere.....lol.
I am not to sure about art or architecture in Brisbane as i was keen to get to Surfers Paradise and just relax and do some diving... have a look at
www.surfersparadise.com
Last time I was in QLD I drove from the airport straight down to Surfers Paradise in on the Gold Coast which is about a 40min drive south of Brisbane. I booked into the Gold Coast Intenational which is a lovely hotel about 200ft from the most gorgeous beach and a 5 mins walk from the town. It is really comfortable, clean and impeccable service. There is a website called
www.needitnow.com.au which lists last minute hotel rooms for about 50% off the rack rates, but you can only book on the site about 10 days before you need it....there is always rooms on there so the saving is worth it!
About 10 mins from surfers there is Broadbeach, which has Jupiters casino and a couple of huge shopping malls with a monorail running between them.
I went diving with Queensland Scuba Dive Company, they are a fantastic little dive operation in surfers paradise and they will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel free when you book a dive. Apparently there is also some awesome diving off the Moreton Bay islands too (Which are off Brisbane kinda), lots of big rays, huge QLD groper and sharks.
Hope that was a little helpful, sorry i couldnt help much with Brisbane itself...if you wer coming to Perth i could have helped more!
However there is a giant bannana and i think a giant pinapple somewhere on the gold coast........does that count as architecture?
. I stayed at the Hotel Grand Chancellor the night before I left for the Solomon's. It's about a 20 - 30m bus ride to the airport (depending on traffic) and is about 10min walk into the heart of Brisbane. Not really a non-corporate hotel, but a nice place to unwind before the flight to the Solomons.
