Brisbanesque

We’ll be honest – Brisbane is a bit of a frustrating city. So we have coined the term “Brisbanesque” to describe some of our experiences here. Here are a few examples to give you an idea of the definition of Brisbanesque:

• The Westpac bank on Queen Street has an ATM. The ATM is inside the bank so it can only be used during business hours.
• The Tourist Information Centre is only open until 5:30 pm. They have very cool interactive screens outside the building that give you information about the city, but they are always turned off when we walk by after business hours.
• There is a sign in the Transportation Information Centre that says “night bus schedules available here”. The Information Centre is only open until 5:30 pm.
• There is an HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane on the freeway, but it stops well before the city, right about where the traffic starts getting heavy.
• We’ve been watching the website for the Brisbane International Film Festival, decided on the movies we wanted to see, and were prepared to buy tickets when they went on sale today. This morning we realized that the information on the website is from last year, and though “tickets can be bought online on July 11” there is no information about what films you can actually see this year. And the festival starts in a week and a half!