Have another Panorama I took today… Glasshouse Mountains outside Brisbane, Australia.
Enjoy!
Click for a larger view.
Official Map: TransLink Bus and Rail Network, Brisbane and South East Queensland, Australia
It’s just occurred to me that I haven’t posted a single map yet from my native land, Terra Australis… so let’s rectify that now with this map of Brisbane’s Translink commuter rail service, supporting Railbus service that complements that service, and busways - dedicated roadways for commuter bus service (BRT). The first thing to notice about this map is the vast area it covers: over 260km (160 miles) from north to south, and around 50km (30 miles) from east to west with a staggering 23 fare zones!
This map was requested by Tumblr user brentpalmer - who I know has produced an alternative unofficial map of the central Brisbane part of this map. Check it out on his Tumblr, and I’ll have a more in-depth look at his work soon.
Have we been there? Been there? I was born there! That said, my family moved to Sydney when I was very young, so I’ve never actually caught any public transit there, despite visiting many times over the years.
What we like: Good definition of the different modes shown, with solid lines for rail services, white lines with coloured edges for the supporting Railbus services, and thinner coloured lines between black “road edge” lines for the busways. This allows future service to be shown as traditional dotted lines that still look sufficiently different to all the other modes shown. Also nice to see a matching diagrammatic style between the routes and the underlying “geography”.
What we don’t like: The need to show the entire system from Gympie on the Sunshine Coast all the way down to the Gold Coast means that central Brisbane - the busiest part of the map - becomes comparatively cramped for room. For the most part, it’s actually handled pretty well, but the curve on the Ferny Grove (Red) line out of Bowen Hills to Windsor is poorly executed, and the coloured call out lines to the UQ Lakes, PA Hospital and Wolloongabba stations aren’t the ideal solution. The purple “Assisted Wheelchair Access” icons don’t resolve very well at the small size as seen online, but may be better on the printed version.
Our rating: Nothing outstanding, but does a good job of differentiating between modes. Gets a little cramped in the centre. Three stars.
(Source: Official TransLink website)
I miss catching trains. Used to go from home at Sherwood to high school at Indooroopilly every day, with the occasional trip into Brisbane Central or South Bank in the afternoons (or whenever I got bored and skipped out on the rest of the day) to make a nuisance of myself hanging around parks and the Queen Street Mall, with the even more infrequent trip up to Gympie North to visit family. We have a pretty good public transport system here, I wish I could use it more often.
Wisteria procession
That’s actually the The Arbour, the pathway at South Bank, Brisbane, covered in bougainvillea. I used to nap in the Parklands between my catering classes at the TAFE a few blocks away.
(via beautiful-portals)
Brisbane has a ton of these “old” sandstone buildings. As old as you can get in a city that didn’t exist 200 years ago, anyway. This is King George Square, looking at the City Hall. All the streets in the city centre are named after British kings and queens, with the queens going east to west and the kings north to south.
King George Square - HDR (by Murilo Mattos)
Brisbane is a very green city. It kind of ruins things for visitors who come here expecting the whole country to be rocky red desert. Try going inland, past the mountain ranges. Up until there it’s all downs country, filled with bushland and farms.
Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha (by monkeymud)
The new museum isn’t much to look at, even if it is far more modern, but at least they didn’t tear down the old one. It’s now used as a concert space for choirs and orchestras.
Old Queensland museum (by greenplasticdave)
In the entrance to the Queensland Museum, there’s a long mall with fibreglass whales hanging from the roof, and a recording of their calls echoing off the walls. It can be quite eerie.
Whale Mall (by kathleenjoyful)
Every year in the parklands in the city they have a huge fireworks festival, called Riverfire. It’s very pretty, but far too crowded.
Brisbane River Festival Fireworks 2008 (by Jiaren Lau)
From Kangaroo Point, the cliffs above the river-side park that looks across the Brisbane river into the CBD.
Kangaroo Point, Brisbane (by jblandscapes)
My old train station. I really love some of the names in Australia: Indooroopilly, Murwillumbah, Mullumbimby, Namatjira, Goondiwindi, Woolloomoloo, Coonabarabran, Manangatang. Sadly, in so many places it’s the only sign that white Europeans weren’t the first people there.
Indooroopilly Station (by おめやげ)
I used to pass this house every day. I’d love to see it restored.
Indooroopilly haunted house (by Leonard John Matthews)
Not the prettiest place in the world, but it tries.
Brisbane from the Story Bridge (by taovdg)
My hometown, Brisbane, capital of Queensland.
Brisbane by Night (by wiwi4)
