A little break from the cold weather...

I was lucky enough to go on a (well deserved) holiday to sunny Brisbane in July, and it could have only been made better if I was able to bring the Willow Glen Gardener's up with me! I had not been to the sunshine state in over 15 years and had never spent any decent time in Brisbane so I was delighted to have the chance to see what a beautiful and clean city it was.

The view from Mt Coot-tha

We were blessed with perfect weather, blue skies and temperatures into the 20's every single day and so we had lots of time to explore the mass of parks and public gardens that are spread throughout the inner city.

One of the public pool areas at Southbank

As well as being an entertainment hub with hundreds of restaurants and cafe's, the gorgeous 'Southbank' has literally kilometers of manicured parklands stretching along the Brisbane river with an array of children's playgrounds and "aquativity" aka incredible lagoon style (free to access) public water park that I am assured is filled to the brim with adults and kids alike throughout the Christmas summer break!
Southbank parklands is also is home of beautiful 3 story high Nepalese Pagoda, a gift to the city from Nepal at the 88' world expo.

"Spectacal Garden" at the Roma Parklands

The Roma Street Parkland and Spring Hill are located in the north of the city and are an absolute must see if you are in Brisbane, perfectly manicured gardens just bursting with flowers and forests of tall leafy trees make it easy to forget that winter even exists.
'Fern Gully' with it's canopy of tree ferns and misty boardwalks lets you experience a sub-tropical rainforest right in the heart of the city and the large open parkland and amphitheater draw crowds of people in for special events throughout the warmer months of the year.

Photo's from the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha

We headed over to Mt Coot-tha which is the highest point in Brisbane, After soaking in the  breath taking view from the lookout and having an obligatory ice cream at the cafe, we headed down to the base of the mountain where we found yet another garden spectacular the "Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens".

The 52 hectares is free to visit and showcases the largest collection of Australian rainforests in the world! Much like a more colourful version of the National Botanic Garden in Canberra, there are a variety of 'zones' including a fernary, a steamy tropical greenhouse, tranquil Japanese garden and a bonsai house which is lovely, but still not as good as the one at the Canberra Arboretum!

Place your bets!

I have to admit the highlight of my time at the Botanic Gardens was when we were strolling through the 'arid zone' admiring giant cacti, we stumbled upon two big lizards having an all out territory war right in the middle of the foot path! Completely oblivious to the masses of people and prams surrounding them the lizards tussled and hissed putting on quite a show for their delighted spectators! We finally tore ourselves away after watching (and videoing) for about 10 minutes and they were still going strong!



So all in all, if you feel like escaping the thick frosts and icy winds of  the Windellama region for a while, then I highly recommend a holiday in balmy Brisbane to ward off the winter blues, but I warn you, it is hard to come back again! 

Article by Katie