May 29, Brisbane

There was a bus stop across the street from the caravan park, so we hopped on and were amazed with the bus system here. It was an express bus that stopped twice then got on a special 'buses only' road into the city. The bus station was underground and well designed with good signage. It took 30 minutes to get downtown, about 12km, and we could see the heavy car traffic going in.

A stop at the visitors center for a good map and suggestions and we were off. We walked to Anzac Park. They were having a ceremony to commemorate Aboriginal soldiers.

From there we walked to St John's Anglican Cathedral. It was a massive Gothic building, begun in 1901 and finished in 2009. It was built in stages, so some of the stained glass windows were traditional and some were more modern, but all were magnificent. The building was unusual also because it had a stone vaulted ceiling. There were scores of needlepoint cushions depicting Australian plants, animals and sea life. And they were serving coffee and cookies this morning. So we had some refreshments and chatted with the volunteers there.

We visited the Catholic Cathedral of St Stephan. It was opened in 1874, but the interior was a modern refurbishment. One chapel had a statue of Mary as a very young woman. The baptistry had a beautiful mother and child sculpture and a large shell baptismal font.

At the newly renovated City Hall there was an auditorium with a domed ceiling that
changed color. City Hall also housed the Museum of Brisbane which had a display about the Brisbane River. It also had an exhibit on Brisbane's world fair, held in the 1980s, with the emphasis on the parades and floats. We took a short tour into the clock tower. The elevator took us inside the area of the clocks, so we were in the middle of them. Then we went further up to the bell tower and were there when they struck the quarter hour. Not too terribly loud.

Our next stop was Parliament House. Our tour guide explained how it came to have just one house. Originally it had 2, but in 1922 the upper house had stopped all laws from being passed. During a period between governors, a member of the lower house had himself appointed to the upper house. He managed to get other lower house members appointed too and they voted to abolish the upper house. It's the only state legislature in Australia with only one house.

I think it's the only one with an official didgeridoo. The black circle represents the Aborigines and the footprints show that they lived alone in Australia for a long time. Then Europeans came ( white circle and footprints) and they existed in parallel societies. Now they are working closer together.

Pictures - Samson with unusual tree, St John's, Interior, American stained glass window, New stained glass windows, St Stephan, Baptismal font, Ceiling of Town Hall, Queensland's official didgeridoo