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Brisbane, I left you once. But I’ve changed ... and so have you
It’s been nearly 13 years since I called Brisbane home. To be honest, I didn’t think I would again – yet here we are.
I was born at Sunnybank Private Hospital and grew up in the Redlands – formerly the Redland Shire, now rebranded to the Redlands Coast.
The author - a Redlands girl at heart ...Credit: Courtney Kruk
It was a typical suburban upbringing: I played backyard cricket, I wandered streets lined with brick houses in search of amusement, I tried to befriend kids with a pool, I made harrowing decisions at Blockbuster and Video Ezy on a Friday night.
By the time I reached my final year of school, I was restless, bored and desperate to leave. I’d had a gutful of suburban life.
Against my better senses though, and without the guidance of a Sandy Cohen-esque figure to nudge me towards a much-needed gap year, I submitted a QTAC application and was accepted into QUT. A decision that delayed my escape and furthered my grievance with the city.
I spent that first semester commuting to QUT’s Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses mentally and, often literally, lost.
... and back in Brisbane as the city itself comes of age.Credit: Courtney Kruk
It was a time before voice-guided Google Maps and detailed campus applications. iPhones were still in a stage of clunky infancy. Every time I drove my clapped-out Hyundai Excel into the city, I wound up taking a wrong turn or missing an obvious directional cue. The fragility of my mental state is best summarised by the number of times I sat in my car crying with Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness playing at full tilt. I was unhappy, I had to leave.
I’ve found home, or at least a spiritual home, in plenty of places in the years since.
Some far away, most within a few hours of Brisbane (though always with enough distance to assure my inner child that we had eclipsed the place we grew up in). I was content to keep this transient (read: avoidant attachment) lifestyle going. I had no plans to move back to Brisbane – until very recently.
I’m willing to indulge a bit of kismet in my prodigal return to the city.
Things are falling into place and, dare I say it, the move feels exciting. You probably don’t need to be an expert to see how much of that chip I had on my shoulder about our sweet Brisvegas was less about the place and more about my internal experience.
People sun themselves at South Bank.Credit: Adam Ferguson
I think the distance I worked so tirelessly to put between me and my birth city did us both well. In the past decade I’ve matured, expanded my tastes and become more worldly.
I’ve had just the right amount of breakdowns and existential crises to understand what I want and need at this point in time. I no longer cry in my car to Kid Cudi. And when I look at the ways in which Brisbane has done its own prefrontal cortex development, I feel like there’s never been a better time to reconnect and start a new life together.
Of all the reasons I’m feeling good about being back in the city, the evolution of Brisbane’s restaurant scene stands out.
Even as an avid watcher of Ready Steady Cook and Huey’s Cooking Adventures, I was never much of a foodie. The calibre of restaurants where I grew up were venues such as Fasta Pasta, Hog’s Breath and Sizzler (RIP to the Cleveland branch, a source of many happy memories). I’m not out to yuck anyone’s yum if a bowl of curly fries and a creamy carbonara is your idea of a good time.
Just because I know what pintxos are and prefer a starter of honey and oregano-soaked saganaki to cheese bread, doesn’t mean I’m above these venues. In all honesty, I wasn’t that bothered about where I went out for dinner until I started travelling and working in the school-of-life industry that is hospitality. Combine that with ageing out of my early 20s and I can now say I have a firm appreciation for food and the people making it well.
Pilloni at West End.Credit: Markus Ravik
Brisbane has been on a similar defining journey. In the past 10 years, the city has well and truly shaken its uncultured, “big country town” image and now boasts a burgeoning restaurant scene ready to get in the ring and compete with the big boys (Melbourne and Sydney).
Quality, culture and atmosphere are all there in spades, but because of our humble disposition, you get it all without the pretentious overtones. There are pockets and precincts where everyone can enjoy a meal, regardless of tastes, income bracket and preferred cuisines.
Our Food and Culture Editor Matt Shea echoes Brisbane’s maturation. Joining the tide of exciting venues to pop up around the city in the past few years – Agnes, Essa, Pilloni, Sushi Room, Exhibition, Southside – are new ventures from restaurant elites Martin Boetz (the celebrated former co-owner and executive chef from Sydney and Melbourne’s Longrain) and Andrew McConnell (the legendary Melbourne chef and restaurateur responsible for Gimlet, Cumulus Inc. and Supernormal). Elevated menus and tastemakers of this pedigree are a sure sign Brisbane as a dining destination is being taken seriously.
Fortitude Music Hall in the heart of the Valley.
Then there’s the music scene. For the past three years, I’ve been living in a small coastal town. It has a few decent venues and boasts some of the best music festivals in the country (Splendour in the Grass, Bluesfest). But SCT’s, by nature, have limitations. To say I’m excited by my newfound proximity to a buffet (I am still thinking about Sizzler) of live music venues is an understatement.
I saw my first live show – Big Scary and Hungry Kids of Hungary – at The Zoo. I’ve lost count of the bands I’ve seen there and at other venues like The Tivoli, Riverstage, The Triffid and Brisbane Entertainment Centre over the years. Some of my fondest adolescent memories are attached to the St Jerome’s Laneway Festivals I attended in my early 20s. I recently went to the Brisbane Powerhouse and The Princess Theatre for the first time. I’ll make it to Fortitude Music Hall and Black Bear Lodge eventually. I like jazz now, so I will probably start wearing a fedora and hanging out at the Brisbane Jazz Club or Chattanooga in the Valley. Country and Western might be low on my list of preferred genres, but Lefty’s Music Hall on Caxton Street will always have a special place in my heart.
There are more than 140 up-and-coming artists to choose from at next month’s BIGSOUND. I’ll probably see national treasure Paul Kelly again at Brisbane Festival and have tickets for the newly announced Sweet Relief!. From where I’m standing, it’s all happening, and for long-time Brisbanites, it always has been.
Despite feeling a lifetime away from my 18-year-old self, I’m still somewhat young. Or at least (I hope) I’m not too out of touch with young people to understand what appeals to them about living in the city.
Revel by the river at Howard Smith Wharves.Credit: Domain
There’s a thriving food and music scene. Art lovers and culture vultures can take their pick from the Queensland Cultural Precinct in South Bank to the smaller galleries tucked in Red Hill, New Farm and Woolloongabba. Public transport is plentiful, the weather is nice, there’s pretty places to hang out and the rental crisis is less severe than in the bigger cities. And let’s not forget the dedicated and dependable precincts for a night out: Fortitude Valley, the city, Howard Smith Wharves, West End, Caxton Street, Newstead and Teneriffe.
My evaluation of Brisbane’s liveability is not just based on broad, sweeping assumptions. Census data from recent years shows a “Millennial migration” to Queensland, with more young people leaving NSW and Victoria in favour of the Sunshine State.
Young people want the lifestyle on offer here and Brisbane is emerging as a global city.
A lot has changed in the 13 years since I’ve lived here. When I walk around the city, some places feel totally familiar, while others are unrecognisably different. That will continue to happen in the coming decade, especially in the lead-up to the 2032 Olympic Games.
I’ve hardly touched the sides of where I want to go in the world but from what I have seen, Brisbane’s got its own thing going, and I’m ready to lean back into the full experience.
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