It has been a big year.

Here is a reminder in part of the year that was:

- the Dalai Lama came to town
- the Wallabies missed making the final of Rugby World Cup
- there is a new Prime Minister and his name is ocker
- construction commences on not one but two bridges across the river
- an Australian becomes Motorcycle World Champion again
- Fixed speed cameras arrive in Brisbane
- Queenslanders get a new new Premier
- Queensland pub takes top award
- Queenslanders are denied the chance of daylight savings again
- Police officer Constable Brett Irwin is killed on duty
- Horses across the state get more than a cold
- Chuggers take over the city
- US Aircraft carrier Kittyhawk visits Brisbane
- Surcorp Plaza in Turbot Street gets a makeover
- Progress is made on the busway under King George Square
- A nude carwash opens in the city although we are still wondering why
- Brisbane Times online is released to compete with the Courier Mail
- Kyoto has been ratified

And with that Reading Brisbane is on vacation.

In the interim, check out this innovative website built to locate supplies over the festive season.

Boozle to you too.

Updates will commence again in early 2008.

Now that Brisbane has grown up and become a real city, possibly loosing some of its original charm in the process, traffic has become obscene.

Remember when “anywhere” used to be 15 minutes away, this is no longer the case. Particularly in peak hour.

Good news though commuters, school holidays arrive at 3pm tomorrow. Traffic will flow again with little Johnny sitting at home not insisting to get driven to school today despite the bus going from only 150m down the street.

Average commute times were up again this year. Brisbane actually now ranks number three in the list behind Sydney and Melbourne respectively.

This is not surprising now Brisbane is officially ranked as the most car dependent city in Australia.

Per week commuters in Brisbane spend only 24 minutes per week less than Melbourne drivers, but over 45 minutes less than those in the NSW capital.

Unfortunately we are gaining on both.

Earlier in the week Warren Pitt, Minister for Main Roads and Local Government stated clearly to Brisbane City Council the requirement for a comprehensive plan regarding traffic management around the Hale Street Bridge construction area.

Today Mr Pitt announced the recently released Council plan was insufficient.

Pitt said today he needed to read only one line in the Brisbane City Council’s traffic management plan for the Hale Street Bridge construction project to know that it was unacceptable.

This was the line referring to traffic on Coronation Drive that said “very significant delays..increase of 40 to 50 mins on existing inbound travel times (Toowong to City)”.

“Immediately, I knew this was not good enough - that delays of this kind were being contemplated. I can walk from Toowong to the city faster than that.” he said

Having taken the pleasant walk along the combined cycle, walkway it would also be a more pleasant way to approach the journey.

Councillor Newman has said the traffic management plan that the council has put forward is the best they can come up with, and there is no room for further improvement.

Given the construction project is expected to cause disruptions for a number of years this tussle between council and the state is certain to get more interesting.

Fuel for Stop the Hale Street Bridge campaigners to reinforce the “told you so” even if the approval has been granted.

Random drug testing officially commenced in Queensland last week.

In the first night of operation 63 tests were performed and incredibly there were positive tests results resulting in 5 license suspensions.

The tests check for the four illegal drugs that are frequently identified in the bodies of drivers involved in fatal and serious vehicle crashes. The four are cannabis, speed, ice and ecstasy.

Penalties for drivers caught with drugs in their system at a random stop could be fined up to $1050 and lose their driver license or face up to 3 months jail.

During the same roadside operation 328 people were also tested for drink driving, with 10 people returning readings over the legal blood alcohol limit.

Now the festive season is in full swing, so is police overtime. Random testing is planned to be increased in the next few weeks.

Message remains, when partying, leave the car at home.

Brisbane finally feels, well like Brisbane again.

The humidity is here and the skies actually look like there is rain about. Fantastic!

This reminds me of the “tale” of a Pom relocating to Brisbane and his account of the weather.

Diary of a Brisbane Summer

August 31st:
Just got transferred with work into our new home in Brisbane!! Now this is a city that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! I watched the sunset from a deck chair on the verandah. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

September 13th:
Really heating up. Got to 35 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshiper.

September 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

October 10th:
The temperature hasn’t been below 30 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat and humidity is taking longer than I expected.

October 15th:
Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

October 20th:
I missed Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $3,000 leather upholstery. Told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells unlike a Whiskettes. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

October 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant bloody blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the blink and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needed to order parts.

October 30th:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. $450,000 house and we can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

November 4th:
It’s (...read more...)

It has been reported international visitors spent more than $1.1 billion in Brisbane over the past year.

This is a 20 percent increase of $182 million.

The spending growth was led by strong increases in the number of visitors and their steady length of stay in the state’s capital.

This just adds to show how important tourism was to the state’s booming economy.

New Zealand and the United Kingdom were the region’s largest growing markets.

Brisbane International Visitor Snapshot:
- Spending up $182 million or 20%
- Spending $88 average spend per person per night: up 10%
- Spending $1,189 average spend per person per trip: up 10%
- Visitors up 9%
- Holiday Visitors up 13%
- Business Visitors up 9%