Somehow, the air of a country town continues to pervade the Brisbane region, enhanced no doubt by the look of the Queenslander, a dwelling with wide verandas and built on stilts, which exists in large numbers just outside the city's more populous residential areas.
It's in the city centre with its tall and more modern buildings standing cheek by jowl with structures from its colonial past that Brisbane exudes the feel of a more vibrant metropolis.
The city has been built on the banks of the Brisbane River which snakes through the city centre.
Gallery and museum
Cross Victoria Bridge from the central business district and you can, if you wish, start your tour of Brisbane at the Queensland Cultural Centre.
In the centre are the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum in one building with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre across Melbourne St at the foot of the southern end of Victoria Bridge.
The performing arts complex, with its Lyric Theatre, Concert Hall and a small studio theatre, is the city's premier venue for music concerts and the staging of plays and popular musicals, and highlights a peak in the culture of the city.
What to see and do
Just east of the Performing Arts Complex is the South Bank Visitor Information Centre which is a treasure-trove of information on what to see and do in Brisbane.
The cultural centre and the Brisbane parklands at South Bank can quite easily take the better part of a day with a break for lunch.
- Go on a South Bank photo tour.
Try the ferry
In mid-afternoon, you may want to head back over Victoria Bridge, if you came by car, or jump on a ferry to North Quay at the northern end of the bridge. If you felt like a flutter, the Treasury Casino is just across the street.
From here you can then travel east to visit some of Queensland's historic buildings such as the Parliament House, built in 1868, and the Old Government House, which dates back to 1862, before crossing the street to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
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