We have spent a bit of time this week exploring the South Bank Parkland in Brisbane as part of QPAC’s bi-annual “Out Of The Box Festival“ for kids aged 2 – 8.
Although I am Brisbane born and bred, I still find it fun to be a tourist in my hometown and “see the sights” and it’s even more fun now that I have kids. A key attraction for us in any city that we visit is to try and see it from above. Whether we’re catching an elevator to the top of a tallest building, grabbing a cable car up a mountain or leisurely taking it all in from the comfort of a Ferris Wheel – we’re there.
In Brisbane the two best places to get a panoramic view of the city are from Mt Coot-tha and the “Wheel of Brisbane“.
“The Wheel of Brisbane” is more convenient for tourists because it’s located in the heart of Brisbane… Mt Cootha is 7km west of the CBD and accessible by car or bus (although some crazy locals like to cycle up it #notme).
When we visited South Bank this week the Big Wheel wasn’t hard to miss – it has an impressive top height of 60 meters off the ground. The boys made a bee-line for it and it was about this time that the nagging started – they wanted in and they weren’t going to give up.
A Wheely Good Experience:
So at this point you’ve worked out that I caved and organised a visit to ride the wheel. Usually I find it fun to say no, but today I felt like being nice 😉
The weather wasn’t the best on Thursday with intermittent light showers, but it didn’t matter because we were in a weatherproof fully enclosed gondola. Happy days.
When the wheel started to go up the boys bravado waned a little and they were a bit unsure about this being such a good idea. I can actually remember feeling like this when I was little. It’s scary and exciting all at the same time.
Once the boys worked out they were safe it didn’t take long for their confidence to come back in and they attempted bouncing about excitedly in the gondola. I had to talk fast to get them to sit down and started pointing out familiar landmarks for them to see and began playing one of our favourite games where you look at people and take a guess at where they are off to.
This seemed to work and it didn’t take long for them to sit down and start to enjoy the journey. We had lots of laughs, took guesses at how many times we would loop around on the Ferris Wheel (4 I think) and I waited for one of them to say “Hey, I can see my house from here!’. They didn’t disappoint! 😉
I love experiences like this and continue to be inspired by the Big Wheel and the breathtaking views it allows of our city.
Details:
The “Wheel of Brisbane” is an all ages experience located in the Cultural Forecourt (adjacent to QPAC) in the Parklands, South Bank, Brisbane. Disabled access is available.
Opening Times: Sunday – Thursday 10am – 10pm & Friday – Saturday 10am – 11pm. Tip: Going up the wheel at night is also spectacular!
For ticketing and VIP Gondola Experiences please visit www.thewheelofbrisbane.com.au
