The Kangaroo Chronicles

Scenes from a mall (and other first sights in Brisbane!)

September 24, 2014
Pamela Zdenek

First sights and impressions – Queens Street Mall area where our Hilton was located – quite impressive, and a great place to people watch!

Brisbane Hilton Lobby – our home for the next 5 days- the back entrance exits right onto the Queen Street Mall

Wiki information: The Queen Street Mall is a pedestrian mall located on Queen Street in the centre of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The mall extends approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) from George Street to Edward Street, and has more than 700 retailers over 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) of retail space, which includes six major shopping centres. It receives over 26 million visitors each year. It was intended to bring more people into the central business district (CBD) of the heart of Brisbane.

We discovered what I found to be a wonderful initiative I had never seen in such an extended manner. There are Braille dots located on many street corners in the US, but never something as extensive as what we saw in Brisbane in the Queen Street Mall. I adore this concept! The “Brisbane Braille Trail” sidewalk extends through the mall area, to help the visually impaired navigate through the area. This particular trail is the longest one in Australia, and for me it was very heartwarming that such an endeavor was managed to ensure that Brisbane CBD is truly inclusive for everyone. A braille trail is a pathway of paving with dot and dash patterns that is followed by a vision-impaired person, using a cane. Ridges indicate the direction of travel along the trail and raised dots are used as warnings.

Brisbane Times photo

Brisbane’s original braille trail was established in the Queen Street Mall in 1989. This was originally a $90,000 investment, and part of $6.8 million poured into similar initiatives this financial year to make the city more accessible for all its citizens.

~ First impressions and lasting memories ~ Pam and Mark discover Brisbane!

Fresh off the plane – obviously tired, but elated to be sightseeing, and consuming some awesome food. Our first meal consisted of an order of poached eggs with Haloumi, spinach, avocado and portobello mushrooms, and our first taste of Flat White (our new favorite coffee)


Our favorite Pastry Bistro – Croissant Express! The selections were amazing and the staff was so friendly. This was where we had our first taste of Vegemite. Yuck!

To quote an Australian we met: “Americans do NOT know good coffee. Here we are not friends of Starbucks, and we characteristically define coffee by several categories, the most popular being Flat White, Long Black and Short Black!”

More about those interesting choices later, in the “Foodies” section!

A Moreton Bay Fig tree near our hotel-large evergreen banyan tree with buttress roots… These trees are prevalent throughout the city and can grow quite large. This was our first encounter! Not the prettiest of the many we saw, but this post is all about first impressions. This one is just outside of Mark’s office building, off of the Queen Street Mall area. One can climb through the roots, so I found it to be most interesting at first sight. These are highly protected, and we discovered that if anyone is found cutting down trees or protected shrubs, they are heavily fined and can be jailed! (and yes, it has happened!)

Eagle Street Dock – where Mark will exit for work (just beyond Queen Street Mall). We were quite impressed with the efficiency of the CityCats and the Brisbane river transit system.

Author Pamela Zdeneck smiling for the camera

Hello! I am Pamela Zdenek

I’m a historical fiction author, a wife, a mother, a sister, and a daughter—forever moved by the power of words and the stories they carry. I invite you to journey with me through reflections, travels, and the moments that shape the heart of my writing.

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