Morning skyline

This week we're going to take a look around my home town, Brisbane. Brisbane is in the south-east corner of the Queensland coast line, built around the Brisbane River which flows into Moreton Bay. John Oxley, after establishing a penal settlement at Redcliffe on the Bay, sailed up the river and landed at North Quay, situated at the western end of the present CBD. The Brisbane River is a key focus of Brisbane, which is now known locally as the River City, and houses on the river or on Moreton Bay are extremely sought after.

This picture was taken from the southern side of the river at Kangaroo Point. There are high cliff faces there that are used for abseiling, and they also provide good views back over the city. Brisbane was once viewed as a big country town, but, as the high-rise buildings in this picture show, it is now a thriving commercial and business centre. A lot of the recent development has come at a price though, as many of the older and more historic buildings have now been lost.

By coincidence, this image was the first image ever taken with my first digital SLR camera, on 2nd April 2004. It was taken as the sun was rising over the city, just before 6 am. The cranes visible at the top of the building are gone now, as the building has long been completed. The cross-river ferry (visible in the lower RHS) that I used to catch to work in the mornings back in the mid-60s is still running, but is soon to be replaced by the newer, bigger CityCats. The sailing craft in the lower LHS are moored near the Botanic Gardens, and those moorings soon fill up during our mild winters.

EXIF: Nikon D70; Nikkor 18-70 mm DX; ISO 100; 1/2 sec; f22.

TFF