Brisbane Airbnb

On Friday night, my mom’s flight got in at around midnight, and she met me at our Airbnb in Brisbane. If you aren’t familiar with Airbnb, it’s basically a website with profiles of places to stay, essentially rooms available for rent in someone’s home. Like an a hotel version of uber, we have heard and had great experiences with Airbnb so far. My mom and I will be staying at them all throughout our travels here, and our first in Brisbane was quite lovely!

Exploring Hamilton

While our stay in Brisbane was essentially a meeting point for my mom and I between Gold Coast and our next stop in Cairns, I thought it would be great to show her around the city! The next day we had a full day to explore Brisbane, before leaving on our flight to Cairns the following afternoon. The area we were staying in, Hamilton, is the wealthiest part of Brisbane, which is quite apparent from the beautiful homes in the area. We spent the morning walking around a little, and enjoyed breakfast at a lovely local and organic sourced café. After returning to our Airbnb around lunch to finalize all packing details, our Airbnb hosts kindly dropped us off at a nearby ferry wharf. We took the ferry through the Brisbane river, where a friendly local pretty much gave us a tour while on board.

Exploring Southbank

We walked around the Southbank area (see “B-R-I-S-B-A-N-E” post for more detail), and it was fantastic to see my mom so excited about everything being new and amazing here in Australia. We walked to the big Brisbane letters, through the beautiful landscaping and markets, and ended up at the pool. Although it was cooling off a bit, we swam and laid by the water for a little, then shared an acai bowl at Kiss The Berry. From there we walked through the botanic gardens, which is a beautiful area and amazing how much they pack into the relatively small area. We had dinner at a fantastic French restaurant, then made our way home. Between my mom’s jet lag of a 32-hour flight, and my exhaustion from finals week and moving out, we were ready for an early night.

Acai bowl afternoon snack

Bunyan tree in Southbank Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens of Southbank

Brisbane Markets

The next morning our Airbnb hosts invited us to join them for a trip to a market, and we happily joined! It was a great way to spend the morning, looking at crafts, produce, and as many food options as you can imagine. We enjoyed breakfast while at the markets, and soon headed out to finish packing. Soon after that we traveled to the airport, next stop, Cairns!

Brisbane market