November 5th – 8th
This was a quick weekend away for a meeting we had in Fortitude Valley so we opted to stay at the Ovolo hotel which was in a good location and turned out to be very comfortable. One of the most exciting things for me about this weekend was that we were not taking the bike and so that meant for easy transport out to the airport and for the flight.
With our Friday afternoon meeting completed we headed to the busy James Street area of Fortitude Valley to have a drink and do some people watching. Cru seemed to be where all the action was so that’s where we landed. Mark’s only lament was that we didn’t have anything like this wine bar near our area back home. Dinner had been pre-booked for the Chinese restaurant Happy Boy and the ambiance, food, and service were great. The only thing to be aware of here is that the serves are huge; we couldn’t eat most of our meal.
Our Saturday morning started with a walk across to the Brisbane river and then along the New Farm Riverwalk and bikeway. This was a great path and one I’d highly recommend exploring if you’re ever in this part of Brisbane.
We had the day to fill in so we opted to do a self-guided walking tour, to view some of the many street art murals across Brisbane, followed by a 90 minute river Cruise at 2.30 pm. This plan worked really well as we took the walking trail, link here, in reverse order so that we finished up near where the river cruise started. Another bonus of taking this tour in reverse order was that it put us near a great beer cafe, Saccharomyces Beer Cafe, for our lunch stop. A stop that was greatly appreciated as we’d already clocked over 12 km and it was only just 1.30pm!
Dinner for our second and final night was at the Japanese restaurant Honto and this was a most interesting experience. Firstly, the venue entry was tucked away behind a humble doorway down a small backstreet alley. Once through the door, we found ourselves in a dark tunnel where it took a while to adjust to the dim setting. This tunnel then opened out to a rather large restaurant space that was similarly dark and moody: dark walls, flooring and dark furniture lit by just a few crystal chandeliers but plenty of candles. All our senses were well and truly piqued by this stage and remained so throughout the night. The food was excellent and this ended up being another great people-watching venue. The only thing we would do differently, if we returned, would be to opt to dine at the bar area; overlooking the working chefs. The restaurant was not cheap and the serves are not huge but the whole dining experience made it worthwhile and it’s definitely a must-visit place if you enjoy Japanese style food.
It had been a great day and we were exhausted after clioking over 16 km for the day so it was then back to the hotel for some Netflix. Our flight home was at 1.30 pm Sunday and we enjoyed another river walk before heading to the airport. It had been a great weekend and the mural walk plus river cruise gave us an opportunity to see a lot of the city. I’d highly recommend both activities for any visit to Brisbane.
