The Brisbane River always fascinates me. I love going on the Citycat, and is always thrilled that it is the best mode of transportation to get from my house in St Lucia to my workplace near Riverside in the City... I mean I could never, in any city I know of, take a catamaran to work every day! But in Brisbane you can, at a very affordable cost considering the service they give.
While on the Citycat I can clearly see there is a path for cyclists and pedestrians all the way from Toowong right up to the City and even beyond that. I made a mental note that I would take a stroll along the Brisbane River with those runners and cyclists. On one sunny spring day, I finally conquered the Toowong to City walk (called the Bicentennial Bikeway) and went further as far as the Story Bridge (as comfort since I couldn't attend the Story Bridge Climb with the other Ambassadors).
;According to Brisbane City Council on this website the RiverWalk connects more than 20 kilometres of pathways, roads, bridges and riverside parks along the Brisbane River. Currently the walk stretches from St Lucia to Newstead,but in future years will be extended further to include more parts of St Lucia as well as Highgate Hill and Hawthorne.
I myself have a few times taken a stroll in the St Lucia part of the RiverWalk, which stretches for about 4 kilometres along the University of Queensland campus. On another occasion I did take the Bicentennial Bikeway path but only as far as the City, because I got too hungry and suddenly had the urge to shop so after we got to North Quay we went up the Queen Street Mall for lunch then took a bus to DFO Brisbane Airport :p
A few weeks after that, I decided to get daring, put on my running shoes and started a 9-kilometre walk from St Lucia to Story Bridge.
The walk started from my house which is about 2 kilometres away to the start of the Bicentennial Bikeway in Toowong. Then we walked through the 5.7 km path to the City. The path was lined with grass and trees on one side and rocks and bits of mangrove on the riverside. There were plenty of places to sit and rest with water taps provided. In the City, we went up in North Quay and walked through the City to the Botanical Gardens, where we started the RiverWalk again alongside the Botanical Gardens. There was a wooden path that went through the mangrove forest in this part, that was nice. After that we arrived in the boardwalk at Eagle Street Pier. The famous Riverside Markets was on, the stalls were selling arts and crafts and lots of goodies and food that I was eyeing but we had to keep going otherwise we wouldn't arrive at Story Bridge ;) So we left the markets and walked through past the iconic Customs House where you can see the view of the Story Bridge. At this point I was exhausted since it was midday already.. but we had to keep going. The hardest part was the climb to the Story Bridge.. no, not to the actual construction of the bridge, but the walk through the street from the river to the Story Bridge pedestrian path. But it was all paid for, the view from there was amazing!
After that we walked to Chinatown in Fortitude Valley and took a bus to the City for lunch, then took a bus home because our feet were crying not to let us walk anymore. Hehe.
When I spoke of this experience some people's reactions were "What were you thinking???" but I am very proud to do that walk.. I could really experience Brisbane and understand why the river has become so important for the City.. it really was worth doing the walk. The next target is to go through the floating walkway to New Farm.. and maybe beyond. Or take the CityWalk, from Roma Street Parklands and around the City all the way to South Bank through the Good Will Bridge... whaa... there's so much to see and do in Brisbane! Can't wait to put my walking shoes back on and conquer another walk ;)
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