"My 3 day break from the Hell I call... " a Brisbane Travel Page by cyclops25503

Thursday 17th at 10:15 am, I sat in seat 28 in Car D of the Tilt Train, as the doors closed, and the train slowly started to creep away from the station. At last, my Brisbane adventure had begun. The train arrived in at Roma St at 2:40, when I took the CityTrain to Central station, and crossed the road to go to Palace Backpackers, where I checked in.

On Thursday I didn't really do much, just had a look around in the Myer Centre, had dinner, and then went out the DownUnder Bar for a bit. It was a good night, though I didn't really do that much, as I was gearing up for Friday night.......

Friday morning I woke up, and spent the morning exploring the CBD, and what it had to offer. You could spend an entire day just going into all the shops in Queen St and just looking at all the variety that you simply don't get out here in the sticks. In the afternoon I caught the CityTrain out to Brunswick St station and had a look at the Valley, and Chinatown, and mostly just familiarised myself with the area for the night..........

Friday night was awesome. I took the train back to the city, then had dinner, had a shower, got dressed up, and caught the train back out to the Valley. At 6:30, hardly anything's open, but RGs was, so I went there. Had a chat to a couple of people, and had a couple of drinks, before moving over to Bank for a bit. (right across the road) After that, I went to The Beat. Its a gay club, its about as gay as gay gets, but man, what a lot of FUN it was. :D It was awesome. :D Spent a while there, before going out to Zoo. Spent about half an hour there, but not much was really going on, so I went back to Beat (and the bouncers were more than happy to let me in :)) I spent another couple of hours there, before going to RGs again. The bouncer wouldn't let me in, as he thought I was too drunk. I was disappointed, but it was a blessing in disguise, as I was about to discover.

Took the CityTrain back to the City, and walked to Queen St, where I went to Mick O' Malleys. What a place. In a nutshell, by about 2 am I was on the dancefloor there totally off my face, with 3 very beautiful women hanging off my arms. :) It was just an incredible night. A night that I simply didn't want to end. Next time I go to Brisbane, I'm DEFINATELY going back to Mick 'O' Malleys.

What took me by surprise is that apart from my second visit to RGs, I had absolutely no trouble with bouncers at all. The thing about me, is that despite the fact that I'm 23, I don't even look like I'm 18, despite the fact that I'm well over the legal age to drink alcohol, and therefore, I'm used to bouncers going over me with a fine comb in pretty much the same way Australian cops go over young guys that drive modified Holden Commodores. with a fine comb, looking for ANYTHING to get me for. But they didn't, which was a very nice surprise.

Disaster, and coming home.

Woke up at about 9ish on Saturday, after my big night out on the town, feeling like I'd been hit by a freightliner. Had a lot of water, and then set out to Queensland Museum. Apart from the Sciencentre (which is 10 bucks, but is worth it), most of Queensland Museum is actually FREE, and its well worth the train trip. :) Its not the Powerhouse, but its still definately worth it. :) Lots of interesting stuff there. :) That filled up most of my day. :)

I planned to finish my last night off on a good note, by going to the DownUnder. However, the bouncer they had there that night was a clown who had a vendetta against me for some reason (i don't like the way you look), and could barely speak a word of English. With that plan out the window, I then walked out to Milano, on Queen St, where I had a good debate with two of the bartenders about the authenticity of my Driver's License, since they thought it was fake, since I look under age, despite the fact that I really am 23. I said, "Honestly, it is real. If you want, we can get the Police down here, and they can have a look at it for you". They didn't do that, but after grilling me about how I look like a minor, they served me a drink. I didn't want to give a place like that my money, but after all that, I felt I bloody better get my drink! So I had one drink there, and then walked up to Jimmy's On The Mall, which I'm glad I did. The service was a *lot* better...they didn't even card me, and they even came to our table when we finished our drinks to ask us if we wanted another! I met an Irish guy there who I spent most of the night with, which was cool. I think he was glad that he had someone else there to hang out with, he was there by himself. It was "Service With A Smile", genuinely. I'll definately be going back there again, thats for sure. :)

After leaving Jimmys, I decided to go to Maccas and get a thickshake and some chips. I was crossing the intersection between Ann and Edward Streets, where Central Railway station and Palace Backpackers is, on a green signal, when I nearly got run over by a taxi that ran a red light. He dodged me by about a metre, if that. All I know is that if I hadn't been so fast, or if I hadn't seen him, I would've wound up in the back of an ambulance for sure. Rang up the taxi company (Black and White) the next day, they didn't care. So I know what taxi company I WON'T be using next time I'm in Brissy, thats for sure!

After all that, I declared the night an overall failure and went to sleep. The next morning at 11 am I caught the Tilt Train back home.

Overall, the trip was a success. I had a great time (especially on Friday night, which was just absolutely incredible, mindblowing, completely out of this world), and I experienced some things I never had before (such as going to a gay club), and overall just had a blast. Its just a shame that I had to end it on such a bad note. :( Still, I'm always sad to leave Brisbane. Sure, she ain't Sydney, but it still succeeds in making the crappy country town I come from look like even more of a sad joke than it manages to on its own. :P