Cruising the River

Before leaving for church on Sunday, I was looking out at the river as our gaze often goes and noticed what looked like a couple of ferries coming up the river. We had been seeing them the last couple of days getting ready for service to begin Feb. 14. By the time I got my camera we realized it wasn’t just a couple but a whole flotilla of the CityCat and CityFerry boats coming up the river signaling their return.  It was great to see them and all the people on their balcony’s or the boardwalk waving back at the boats and the people on the boats were waving to us. It was a very festive mood with shouts, cheers and clapping as they slowly made there way up the river. We heard later they turned around and came back downriver before getting set for Monday.

It wasn’t exciting just because we would now get to ride the ferries, but it was great to see the city so excited for the return of the ferry system even though it will be a limited service. All day people talked of the sight of seeing their return. 18,000 people use the boats daily to get to work or up and down the river and 180 staff members are with the ferry service. The buses and roadways have been jammed and there was an increase of 30 minutes on the roadways while the ferries were out of service.

Monday morning, I hopped on a ferry to buy my ticket and told them I wanted to go the whole route. I purchased my ticket and went to the front of the ferry. I wasn’t going to get off anywhere in particular today. I just wanted to ride the ferry and see the sights from the river and get an idea of where the stops were. So I rode all the way upstream then we turned around and went by the city and downstream to the last downriver stop.

The ride was amazing. It was so smooth even when the water was a little rough, some spots so rough you wouldn’t take your boat out on the lake. This will not be a one time thing. It’s no wonder people use them. They run on time and it is so easy to catch and get off where you want to go. Instead of taking the 35 minute or more walk to South Bank, I can walk a short distance down the boardwalk, hop on and be there in 10 minutes! The whole trip up and down the river took me two hours.



Pedestrian bridge over to South Bank .

 


There's a Maritime Museum there.

 


The South Bank Parklands has a man made beach that was damaged and
is still closed.



Wheel of Brisbane and Performing Arts Center with the art gallery further
down.



Going up the river from the city to Guyatt Park.



There are seats inside as well as outside.



A passenger train going overhead as we go back downriver toward
the city.



This ferry dock at the Botanic Gardens was washed away.

 


Coming back downriver toward our place, the last building to the right.

 


Our building with our apartment highlighted.

   


Patio off the living room on the left.
Our bedroom with windows open.
Patio off the second bedroom.

 


Going under the Story Bridge.
People on the climb to the top of the bridge.

 


Some of the homes downriver.






This is the old ferry network.
I got on at Riverside and went  upriver as far as Guyutt Park then back down as far as Apollo Road.
We stopped at South Bank 1, Guyatt Park and the same back to Riverside, then up to Mowbray Park,
New Farm Park, Hawthorne, Bulimba, Brett's Wharf and Apollo Road and the same on the return trip.

 


New ferry stops. Only 15 of the 23 ferry terminals are usable.