Brisbane - Australia 2004 - page 231

most city and Spring Hill hotels are a few blocks' walk or a quick cab ride away.
The Transit Centre has food outlets, showers, tourist information, and lockers.
Queensland Rail CityTrain ( & 13 12 30 in Queensland) provides a daily
train service from the Sunshine Coast, and plentiful services from the Gold Coast.
BY BUS All intercity and interstate coaches pull into the Brisbane Transit
Centre (see “By Train,” above). McCafferty's ( & 13 14 99 in Australia; www.
mccaffertys.com.au) and Greyhound Pioneer ( & 13 20 30 in Australia, or 07/
3258 1670; www.greyhound.com.au) serve the city several times daily. A one-
way Cairns-Brisbane ticket costs around A$192 (US$125), and the trip takes
28 1 ⁄ 2 hours. The Sydney-Brisbane trip takes 18 hours and costs A$93 (US$60)
one-way. Coachtrans provides daily services from the Gold Coast. Call
Transinfo ( & 13 12 30 ) for details.
BY CAR The Bruce Highway from Cairns enters the city from the north. The
Pacific Highway enters Brisbane from Sydney in the south.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Brisbane Marketing has an information booth ( & 07/3006 6290 ) in the
Queen Street Mall at Albert Street, open from 9am to 5:30pm Monday through
Thursday, to 7pm or later Friday, and 4pm Saturday; Sunday it's open from
10am to 4pm. The Roma Street Transit Centre is another source of info ( & 07/
3236 2020 ).
CITY LAYOUT
The city center's office towers shimmer in the sun on the north bank of a curve
of the Brisbane River. In the tip of the curve are the lush Brisbane City Gardens.
The 30m (98 ft.) sandstone cliffs of Kangaroo Point rise on the eastern side of
the south bank; to the west are the South Bank Parklands and the Queensland
Cultural Centre, known as South Bank. The Goodwill Bridge (for pedestrians
only) links South Bank with the City Gardens. To the west 5km (3 miles), Mt.
Coot-tha (pronounced Coo -tha) looms out of the flat plain.
MAIN ARTERIES & STREETS It's easy to find your way around central
Brisbane once you know all the east-west streets are named after female British
royalty, and all the north-south streets are named after their male counterparts.
The most northerly is Ann, followed by Adelaide, Queen, Elizabeth, Charlotte,
Mary, Margaret, and Alice. From east to west, the streets are Edward, Albert,
George, and William, which becomes North Quay, flanking the river's northeast
bank.
Queen Street, the main thoroughfare, becomes a pedestrian mall between
Edward and George streets. Roma Street exits the city diagonally to the north-
west. Ann Street leads all the way east into Fortitude Valley. The main street in
Fortitude Valley is Brunswick Street, which runs right into New Farm.
A new pedestrian bridge links the Brisbane City Gardens (off Alice St.) to the
eastern end of South Bank Parklands.
STREET MAPS The Brisbane Map, free from Brisbane Marketing (see “Vis-
itor Information,” above) or your concierge, is a lightweight map that shows the
river and outlying suburbs, as well as the city. It's great for drivers because it
shows parking lots and one-way traffic directions on the confusing city-center
grid. Rental cars usually come with street directories. Newsagents and some
bookstores sell this map, and the state auto club, the R.A.C.Q., in the General
Post Office, 261 Queen St. ( & 13 19 05 ), is also a good source.