Brisbane Tour & XXXX Brewery

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Having slacked off with any kind of exercise since Melbourne we took up the offer of a free yoga class at our hostel. With our inner calm found we headed towards town stopping at the Roma Street Gardens where Will nearly stepped on a large gEastern Dragon sunning himself in the Spectacle Garden as he was looking at the flora. On our walk round we saw a sign advertising daily guided walks, so we decided to come back on Thursday to benefit from having a guide.

Making our way into the centre of town we passed through King George Square to the Elizabeth Street Tourist Information Centre to join our free guided tour of the city. After a quick introduction to Wendy our guide and the rest of the group we headed to Brisbane Mall which houses expensive boutique shops, and we were told about its dubious origin and history.

The Brisbane Mall was a gift to the city's people following the confession of Patrick Mayne on his death bed. As a prominent entrepreneur Patrick became very influential in the city from his humble beginnings as a butcher. On his death bed he confessed to killing a timber worker, stealing his months wages and chopping up his body before dumping it in the river and framing a cook from the local hotel for the murder. After hearing this his widow declared that all the family's wealth was based on blood money, so it needed to be given away, so the mall was built and all the funds gathered from rent now goes towards medical research at the University of Queensland. In addition Mrs Mayne declared their family genes were flawed, so their children should not marry of have children for the benefit of man kind which they honoured, and the rent money still to this day goes to medical research at the University.

At this point Wendy also told us about the history of Queensland and how it had originally all been called New South Wales until they divided into two seperate states in 1901. Apparently Queen Victoria insisted on the naming of Queensland in her honour.

On the way walking to King George Square we saw the towns first bank with the Bank of New South Wales engraved into the stone, reminding us of the states origin. Once in the square Wendy pointed out the Town Hall and explained how it's going through the process of being restored following the discovery of concrete cancer and subsequent archeological finds, and should be completed later this year following the 3 years of work. She also explained that the square was previously a grassed area that the city workers used to enjoy at lunch time on hot summers says, and the process of changing it to stone upset a lot of people, but the authorities explained that this is used as a major thoroughfare linking areas of the city and so the grass was impracticable. We also noted Brisbanes most photographed icons for a future photo opportunity, the kangaroo statues made from scrap metal.

With a large number of people passing through the square wearing maroon we learnt today was a significant day in Queensland and New South Wales, as an interstate rugby league game called State of Origin was being played in Melbourne. With the rivalry between the states fierce we thought it was worth us finding a bar that evening to watch and soak up the experience.

Walking up Queen Street Wendy pointed out the distinct building style, explaining how they were originally constructed from wood and housed convicts until a large fire wiped out a lot of the street. This street also used to be a busy street with trams passing through until two separate initiatives pedestrianised it in 1982 and 1988 for the Common Wealth Games and the World Expo respectively.

As we passed the first bank in Brisbane we saw a reminder of the states history with the Bank of New South Wales inscribed in the stone. Just across the road from the bank was the Tresurary Casino, and as the name suggests this used to be the old Tresurary until a large hotel chain took over the disused building in a hundred year lease and put a roof over the old courtyard to creat the gaming floor. Part of the lease agreement is that the building needs to be returned to its original state before they hand it back.

After having a quick look inside the casino we congregated a little closer to the Brisbane River as Wendy told us about the large flood that devastated the city last year, and how both local people and those from all the states across Australia came to clean up the disaster, and in recognition the city commissioned a new river ferry for the people called Spirit of Brisbane. Although the flood significantly impacted the city they were grateful the the devastation was not as severe as the flood in 1974. From where we were standing we also saw where the original Victoria Bridge stood with one of the old stone supports on the far side of the river left as a reminder.

Walking down along William Street we passed the old Land Registry office that now operates as the casino hotel. Next to the hotel stands a tree marking the sight of the city's first church until the government reclaimed the land to build the registry. Almost opposite this site on the waters edge stands a museum which was once used to store ammunition, and later immigrants. Originally built as a two storey build by convicts it now stands at three storeys high, and they are currently in the process of building improved defences against flooding, so we didn't hang round long as it was rather noisy.

As we walked along the street we got an appreciation of how it was so significant in the city's history housing all these important offices. Another example was the brick outline in the floor which showed the Chancellors original house near the site of the current office for death, birth and marriages. The outline provided evidence of how they tried to manage the risk of building fires by separating the kitchen from the main structure.

Just before we arrived at the building housing Queensland's Parliament we saw a statue of Queen Elizabeth, and apparently it's the only statue of her holding a handbag. Jo tried her best to steal it! We also learnt how the site where the statue stands today used to be home to a very popular hotel till it was torn down in the middle of the night by the government much to the residents protest!

Apparently there has been recent changes to Queensland's Parliament, and although there seemed to be little activity today apparently it was the scene of protests last week.

Next door to the state building is the site of Queensland's University of Technology and some 70'000 students. Originally it used to be home to the University of Queensland but ty moved down river to a large area in St Lucia. Nestled in amongst the new buildings stands another former residency for Governors, although like its predecessors it soon became too small but we got a sense of why the location was chosen with the potential views if you used your imagination. With a former resident being Governor Leamington it also claims to be where Leamington Cakes originate from, although this is apparently heavily disputed by Kiwis! This point marked the end of our tour so we grabbed a quick picture with Wendy before retracing our steps to get a few more pictures as well as revisiting the farmers market we saw next to the casino as we'd missed lunch! At the farmers market gluttony got the better of us and we bought a suckling pig roll and giant brokwurst to line our stomachs for the Castlemain brewery tour we'd booked.

It didn't take long to walk back past our hostel and reach the home of Queenslands most popular beer, XXXX Gold. It turned out there was only four of us booked on our tour, so once we'd picked up our high visibility jackets and safety goggles we headed into the brewery itself. On the way we discovered how two Irish Brothers living in Castlemain were responsible for formulating the first brew of XXX that eventually developed into today's recipe to suit their customers taste. During the tour we were shown the brewing process and our guide explained how the site had grown and undergone several upgrades to help them gain accreditation for being environmentally friendly whilst producing up to five million litres of beer a week. Although the brewery's output is primarily through cans, stubbies (bottles) and aluminium kegs, they still provided some outlets with beer in wooden barrels at their request on a Tuesday. The reason for providing the wooden kegs is that some patrons of drinking establishments suspect their host of watering down the beer, so in an act to demonstrate the beer reaches the glass untampered they have the wooden keg on display and not in the cellar!

The tour finished in the XXXX Ale House, and we were happy to indulge in tasting some of the beers they produce. Unlike other tours we'd been on we actually got rather larger tastings much to Wills delight! Although they dont make the James Squire beers onsite Jo particularly like the James Squire Spade which is a dark coffee tasting ale. Will also enjoyed the James Squire as well as the XXXX Bitter. After a few photos behind the rather nice bar and a tour of the gift shop it was time to drink up otherwise we'd miss the State of Origin match.

Deciding to watch the game just round the corner from our hostel and the brewery in an area called the barracks we went into a packed bar called Caxton Hotel. The bar was predominately filled with Queensland supporters in their maroon jerseys, although there were a couple of New South Wales supports being heckled, but the banter was going both ways! Initially New South Wales took an early lead but just before half time Queensland stole it back. There was a punch on the pitch before half time which saw a New South Wales player sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Possession through the game was pretty even although Queensland extended their lead and held on to take the win much to the delight of the local crowd. At this point we made a retreat to the hostel as we were pretty tiered from the long day.

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