Brisbane parking

I have a general aversion to paying for parking, so it's good that I don't often have to think about parking in Brisbane's CBD or surrounding areas. But when that need does arise those few times a year, it's a bit of an endeavour to figure out where best to park, balancing distance from where I want to go, likely availability of spaces (for on street parking options), and the costs. In the past I've used a combination of the carparking.info app or website, and google street view to look at on street parking signs. The latter is not always reliable as the information may be obscured, not clear enough to read when zoomed in, or plain outdated. This ipark map of all of Brisbane's parking meter locations would have saved me a lot of time and effort!

Another potentially useful resource is the Brisbane Parking Guide, where you can find information on parking deals and a map of (commercial) parking stations.

Brisbane recently conducted its "first comprehensive review of on-street parking management" and the report of this review and its recommendations are available (pdf) here. I've only had a brief skim, but it seems to be heading in the direction of good improvements. Part of the special offers flowing from the review is the availability of $5 evening and weekend parking at the two council operated carparks (King George Square and Wickham St). This is almost as good as the $4 offers available to RACQ members at Secure Parking locations, and the availability of such options makes a trip into the city more viable.

lensaloft does brisbane

Aerial.
Brisbane.
City/CBD
Dusk.
...
beautiful photography by lensaloft (facebook page, from which this photo is taken) take the interactive tour at http://www.lensaloft.com.au/Interactive_tour/BrisbaneDusk/Brisbane.html.

Santos City of Lights and other light displays

i wished my camera battery didn't die on my half way through the show, nevertheless i managed to capture a few minutes of the city of lights display:

"The first laser light show of its kind in Australia... Santos City of Lights will fill the space between Kurilpa and Goodwill Bridges with a nightly choreographed spectacle of lasers and lights that can be seen across the city", happening 3-24 September 2011 in Brisbane as part of the Brisbane Festival.

i also tried to capture some stills:

more info at http://brisbanefestival.com.au/Santos-City-of-Lights

also at southbank during the festival are things like the light sphere

and the liquid interactive light scope, of which i don't have a nice picture... but here's one i took while queueing for the light scope - it's some art piece which looks to be lost of bits of paper or other light material, attached to a net/mesh structure, which all go a-flutter in the wind:

(the inaugural) brisbane open house

some people travel overseas to view old buildings, marvel at interesting architecture and smart use of urban spaces. next saturday (2 october 2010) brisbanites will have a local "free of charge and rare opportunity to discover the hidden wealth of architectural, engineering and historic buildings nestled around the city", at the inaugural brisbane open house event.

with a simply clever logo design that matches the event slogan of "unlock your city", i was keen to get on board and support this event which is made possible by its various sponsors and partners, and of course a team of volunteers. it's probably too late to sign up to be a volunteer for this year, but hopefully there's always next year and many more to come!

the concept is based on similar open houses held in london, new york, dublin, and borrows heavily from the resources of past melbourne open houses. for 2010, brisbane open house will have 20 buildings available for viewing/touring, and are anticipating about 10,000 combined visits during the day. see the event listing for a full list of buildings, where you can download fact sheets of each building. also available is a map and program for the day, so you can plan your visits. unfortunately some of the buildings are only open for pre-booked tours, and all these tours are full. but this still leaves 17 other places for you visit. so come along, bring some friends/family and support the brisbane open house objectives, which are to:

• foster an appreciation and understanding of the value of architectural, urban design and design excellence
• increase engagement between the city of brisbane and its residents and visitors through promoting the contemporary and historical architectural attractions of the city
• create a sustainable annual event similar to that of london, new york and melbourne open houses
• increase awareness of all aspects of the built environment - not only the architecture but also the urban spaces that occur between our buildings
• promote public awareness of good design and environmentally sustainable design in the subtropical city of brisbane

there's also a "focus on BOH" photography competition running in conjunction with the event. details don't appear to be up on the website yet, but from what we were told at the volunteer briefing session, entries will be accepted up to 15 october, in one of five categories:

1. exterior
2. interior
3. detail
4. people/crowds
5. series - up to 5 images of one building

there is a small monetary prize of $1000 which i believe is the total prize pool, so probably $200 per category.

ps. i'll be on volunteer duty at the first church of christ, scientist in the morning if you want to pop by and say hello :)

kooroomba: the plan

who? me, my wife, some friends
+ anyone else who wants to come along

what? a winter outing / social / day trip

when? saturday 5 july 2008

where? kooroomba, boonah, scenic rim region
(about 1hour+ drive from downtown brisbane)

why? tour the lavender farm,
taste the wine (if that's your thing),
eat the food (lunch),
give your camera a workout,
hang out with friends (or maybe meet some new ones),
get some vitamin D (hopefully),
get out of the house :)

how? RSVP to me by sun 22 june,
indicating your responses/preferences (if any) to the below:

food options
the restaurant has an a la carte menu (which can be found here). if i can get a confirmed group of 20 or more to go, i will make a group booking and either take advantage of the group menu (dearer option) or the great aussie roast (cheaper option)... will most likely go for the cheaper option unless a majority of people prefer the fancier stuff.

transport
provide your own private transport (ie drive / get a lift from someone). please arrange a ride or a designated driver for your car if you plan on drinking. the directions are on the website. let me know if

• you want to travel together (ie convoy)
• you can take people in your car
• you need a ride (i'll put you in touch with people who have space, assuming there are any)

- - - - -
related posts: "hometown affair"

"hometown affair"

rebecca sparrow, author of "the way we live" column for the sunday mail, recently (may 18 edition of the "event" liftout) wrote of her revelation after returning from backpacking around britain and europe, and finding life in her hometown of brisbane just a little boring by comparison (dubbing the place brisboring).

"Eventually common sense kicked in. Other cities were more interesting, more exciting, more vibrant because I actually got off my … backside and did stuff.

When you're backpacking, TV isn't an option. Nobody sits around wishing they could snuggle up and watch season five of The Sopranos on DVD in the communal lounge.

No, when you're a traveller you actually leave your dorm. You scour the newspaper for local events. You pay attention to the colourful flyers and posters that decorate the city and you -- gasp! -- actually go!

Imagine that. Imagine looking at the newspaper's listings of what's on today and actually attending some of the stuff instead of just thinking about it…. Put the DVDs away today and head outside. You may just fall in love with you own hometown."

ok so if you're cynical you might think how convenient that she's writing for a publication that just so happens to report/promote/advertise events. or you really do believe (fuelled by actual experience) that brisbane (or substitute your own hometown) truly is a pretty boring place, with nothing to offer your unsatiated interests, no matter how much you try to dress it up or talk it up. nevertheless, i reckon there's a whole lot of stuff happening around the traps that you might just find to be a better way of spending your leisure time than curled up in front of the box, or griping about the fact that there's nothing to do.

i for one do tend to trawl through the papers for things that might seem interesting, whether i'm at home or travelling overseas. and every now and then i follow through with one of these options. some turn out to be duds - the marketing might have been great and i got suckered, or it turns out it just wasn't my cup of tea - and some turn out to be fun/interesting/memorable. that's life. live it.

to this end, i'm thinking about kicking off the BATIYOH initiative (mystery prize if you figure out what that means!) by organising a winter day trip to koorooomba, a vineyard / lavender farm / restaurant in boonah, about an hour out of town in the scenic rim. i'll be taking my wife regardless of whether or not i get any other takers, but the more the merrier eh? will post up details soon - let me know if you're interested :)