Finally coming home, left Brisbane in February 2001 to come over here and work in the UK.

I have really missed Brisbane lots, but thanks to the posters on here, I have been able to look at great pictures of my favourite city, thanks a lot guys.

What changes do you think I am going to notice when I get back? I know the river has a new bridge, and the airport now has a train line, but what are the others?

I get back in late Novermber, so I may be able to make the proposed Brisbane meet-up, looking forward to it. Hopefully I will get a digital camera duty free, so I will need some advice on hosting pictures. Becuase I intend to get some great ones when I get back.

I think the first thing you will notice Aussie Bhoy on your return to Brisbane is the high level of activity in the city. Yes the skyline has changed with a new city's tallest now Riparian Plaza. But I guess what should excite you will be the number of cranes operating in the CBD and the volume of proposed buildings that will keep that activity going through the rest of this decade. Brisbane is booming.!!!

You left out the bit that Brisbane is now ruled by damned dirty apes.

and we know drive on the right side of the road

In the last few years there has been a bit of high rise development around Toowong and Indooroopilly, and also around Southbank.

They recently put in a bunch of signs in the city center for pedestrians pointing which way to such landmarks as central station.

Traffic is worse. They've just finished 6-laning part of the bruce highway north of gateway arterial turn off.

They bulldozed the house down the bottom of my street near Toombul station.

one nation is now state oposition

Apart from (and adding on to) what people have said, I really think traffic may be the biggest thing you'll notice. It's gotten so much worse in the last few years - and now the busways have been built too. And as people have said, the amount of construction activity in the city is far greater then it was back in 2001. Hopefully the river will look a little cleaner?? Can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same!

Oh yeah, we finally have blue catseyes on the road for the firies now, since getting rid of 'Just call me Jim'... (being the best change you'll notice)

i didnt know there was a controversy about the catseyes?! was jim morally opossed to them or something?

I believe he saw them as a waste of money or something....ie 'they can find them now, why should we waste money putting them in?' I think he kind of missed the point that they speed up the process, hopefully limiting the amount of destruction.

His argument was that it would cost too much (about $1.5mil citywide for the installation and first year maintenance I believe), and that the fire fighters have a CD with all the locations of hydrants!! I think the idea of the CD is for maintenance purposes, not for use in emergency's ("Wait a sec, I just have to put this CD in my laptop to find where the hydrant is" of course council wouldn't pay for laptops anyway...). Of course this was at the same time he said the only thing that fire fighters do all day is lift weights and appear in calendars.

Tim Quin reversed the decision on his first day in office and they were immediately installed. Under Newman I believe funding for most emergency services has increased.

I'd say some of the biggest changes in Brisbane would probably be around the area of Southbank / Little Stanley st. That area has changed like you wouldn't believe. In the last 2 years I reckon they've put in about 70 restaurants / caffes / bars and a horizon of apartments with much more to come. The city is one big construction pit. At lunch, walking through the city the thing I notice is that the noise generated by all the construction sites around town is unbearable sometimes, but adds to the buzz of the place when combined with everything else.

I'd go for a wander down Albert St towards the Gardens. We may only be mid way through the transformation but you can see what it will be like once the current crop of projects get up. That end of the city is starting to come alive.

I'd say some of the biggest changes in Brisbane would probably be around the area of Southbank / Little Stanley st. That area has changed like you wouldn't believe. In the last 2 years I reckon they've put in about 70 restaurants / caffes / bars and a horizon of apartments with much more to come. The city is one big construction pit. At lunch, walking through the city the thing I notice is that the noise generated by all the construction sites around town is unbearable sometimes, but adds to the buzz of the place when combined with everything else.

I have to agree - Brisbane's biggest changes have not been the skyline but have been on the ground. Everywhere you look there is art and stuff happening. The inner suburbs have changed the most. Should see around the eastern end of the Valley - around James St. Also take a walk up Melbourne street and see how that is evolving. The city council is doing a fine job of creating urban places for people and making sure that developers assign some of their costs towards public art. Also buildings have become friendlier to people - shops and restaurants open up to the street and it has become a pleasure to walk around the inner city.

jt

river walk and the goodwill bridge are in place... i think the bridge was just being built when you left? i dont know... how long has the bridge been there... not b4 2001 i would think

Looking forward to it all, I'm going to just go into town and walk about everywhere. The Valley, through the City and over to Southbank. Can't wait. I'm curious to see some of these tunnels as well. I used to work at the Brekkie Creek Hotel years ago and I hear that area has changed a lot.

dont forget lang park, its well worth your while to go for a tour of it

dont forget lang park, its well worth your while to go for a tour of it

I haven't been there yet - and I live here! I also must get to Kelvin Grove sometime soon to take a look at what is happening there.

jt

Shopping centres open on Sudnays now.

Got back yesterday, Brisbane is so fantastic, it's been amazing see all the places that I have been reading about for the last few years. The city is going off, we are so lucky to live in a place like this.

Today I walked around the Valley, and went up to the Story Bridge, Riparian looked huge, and great. Then I walked down Ivory Street, and along the river the citycat terminal, the residentials in Petrie Bight look better than I expected, and that area wil improve even more when more are built. The Citycats are great, you can see the tourists love them, standing at the front and catching the views. I caught one to QUT. Then I walked across the Goodwill Bridge, which is really good, great views, Southbank is looking much better than 4 years ago, the Greay St area really tops it off. Then I walked back accross the Victoria Bridge and into town. The Brisbane Square site is huge, Casino Towers looks good, the the new building near by (Metropole?) looks good. The city itself is wonderfull, filled with happy cheery people, and so clean looking as well. I'm in an internet cafe in Adelaide Street now. About to go and look at buying a digital camera so I can get some pictures of this wonderfull place.

A lot of cinemas seem to have been shutdown, which seems odd in town. The Queensland Square site looks very big. River City looks big, I hope Vision gets the go ahead, I think it's in the same area, and if so, it will be enourmous, and dominating.

Glad to see all of my favourite pubs still in place, and some extended or updated, the Pig and Whistle near the city cat terminal looks good. And O'Malleys has doubled in size.

Glad to hear that you like the changes - Most people seem to.

Quite a few of the cinemas have just moved, and a few of the ones are reopening soon.

Welcome back mate! Hope to see you on Sunday!!

Got back yesterday, Brisbane is so fantastic, it's been amazing see all the places that I have been reading about for the last few years. The city is going off, we are so lucky to live in a place like this.

Today I walked around the Valley, and went up to the Story Bridge, Riparian looked huge, and great. Then I walked down Ivory Street, and along the river the citycat terminal, the residentials in Petrie Bight look better than I expected, and that area wil improve even more when more are built. The Citycats are great, you can see the tourists love them, standing at the front and catching the views. I caught one to QUT. Then I walked across the Goodwill Bridge, which is really good, great views, Southbank is looking much better than 4 years ago, the Greay St area really tops it off. Then I walked back accross the Victoria Bridge and into town. The Brisbane Square site is huge, Casino Towers looks good, the the new building near by (Metropole?) looks good. The city itself is wonderfull, filled with happy cheery people, and so clean looking as well. I'm in an internet cafe in Adelaide Street now. About to go and look at buying a digital camera so I can get some pictures of this wonderfull place.

A lot of cinemas seem to have been shutdown, which seems odd in town. The Queensland Square site looks very big. River City looks big, I hope Vision gets the go ahead, I think it's in the same area, and if so, it will be enourmous, and dominating.

Glad to see all of my favourite pubs still in place, and some extended or updated, the Pig and Whistle near the city cat terminal looks good. And O'Malleys has doubled in size.

Nice to see you like the changes. Sorry its been so cold, unusual for this time of year.

jt

Its great when a new active forumer from Brisbane emerges. It brings a lot of revitalisation and freshness to the Brisbane forum. Its even better when an experienced foumer returns to aussie shores and shares their fresh perspectives with us all. Welcome back Aussie Bhoy! I may turn up on sunday at the Brisbane meet.

A lot of cinemas seem to have been shutdown, which seems odd in town. The Queensland Square site looks very big.

Not sure when these happened in relation to you leaving, but there are now cinema's where TOPS Myer Centre used to be and the Imax at South Bank has been converted into a cinema complex with other screens added.