Our first stop was Brisbane. Most hotels were quite expensive and I thought, since we were only there for one night, I should just book something cheaper so I can leave room for the remaining trip (more like so I can eat lots of food). The hotel we stayed at was the Metro Hotel Tower Mill on Wickham Terrace. I've stayed in the Metro hotel in Sydney before and so thought it should be a reasonably safe choice. I was in fact, quite wrong. My first mistake was its location. Being unfamiliar with Brisbane's terrain, I chose this hotel which is on a huge hill. From the train station, it took us about 10-15 minutes to get to the hotel while carrying our luggage and walking up that hill. It did provide a reasonable view from the room though and the landmark building "Tower Mill" across the road was also a lovely spot for me to take photos.
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The room we stayed in was a 'budget room' on the top floor and there were awfully loud noises coming from what I assumed was the air-conditioning unit above our heads all night. The floor was uncarpeted and so another mistake was not bringing slippers with me as the floor didn't seem clean enough to walk on with bare feet. The light switch next to the bed was buzzing all night as well and prevented me from having a good night's sleep. Teach me to book a budget room eh. Their non-budget rooms may have been better, but all the noises at night just wasn't fitting of a hotel really.
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The bathroom wasn't clean either, there were dirt remains from previous guests next to the shower and the button for the soap dispenser was stuck.
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The only thing that comforted me was the view from the window.
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We had buffet breakfast at the cafe downstairs in the morning which was fairly reasonable, although nothing special. It consisted of the usual bacon, baked tomatoes, mushrooms and so forth.
Putting the hotel experiences aside, Brisbane was actually quite a beautiful city. Yuye and I spent the night and next day meeting with relatives and friends and walking around the city. We walked past the monumental Treasury Casino & Hotel which was a very splendid site and was so big that it was difficult to get it all into the photo.
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We also walked past the City Farmer's Market which is open for business every Wednesday from 9am-6pm at Reddacliff Place at top of the Queen St Mall, 266 George Street, where we enjoyed some freshly baked cherry tomatoes. Yum!
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We then took the scenic route along the river and took a lovely photo of Story Bridge from my friend's work off Eagle Street (it was 35 floors high :D) as well as various other scenic locations.
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Since we only spent less than one day in Brisbane, we weren't able to fully enjoy what the city had to offer. I especially regret not planning well enough beforehand and missed out on great dining opportunities. Guess I'll have to leave that till next time. Any restaurant suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
My next destination was Gold Coast, which hopefully will be more interesting as I review a 4.5 star Hotel - the Watermark Hotel at Surfers Paradise along with various restaurants and attractions.
Metro Hotel Tower Hill
Phone: (07) 3835 1013
Reservations: 1800 806 553
239 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane QLD 4000
http://www.metrohotels.com.au/brisbane-hotels/metro-hotel-tower-mill-on-wickham-terrace-5
Visit Tripadvisor for other reviews.
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