A Guide to Living in Brisbane

Brisbane is a great place to live. The city is often valued for its friendly and optimistic character as well as its vibrant people and numerous green spaces.

Brisbane is Australia’s New World City. It’s a multicultural hub of creativity and innovation welcoming students with forward-thinking education and world-class research facilities.

With stunning historical landmarks, diverse shopping arcades, bars and a thriving art and music scene, Brisbane is hard to beat as a great city to live in. Not even to mention the man made beach in the inner city, the only one in Australia. On top of that Brisbane (or Brissie) offers sunshine all year round and plenty of outdoor spaces to enjoy.

Things to do

Go scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is one of Queensland’s most striking, beautiful and famous sights, but can’t be viewed from dry land. If you’re looking to get a true impression of this remarkable, global icon, you have to get out onto the ocean, either snorkelling or scuba diving.

Hang out at a theme park

The Gold Coast could also be called Australia’s theme park central. If you’re looking for a fun daytime activity choose from one of six theme parks - Movie World, Sea World, Wet ‘n’ Wild, White Water World, Australian Outback Spectacular and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Check out QAGOMA

The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) feature a range of artists from Australia and around the globe. QAGOMA’s aim is to connect people with art and push the boundaries in the process. Definitely have a look at the cinema which shows curated work from influential filmmakers.

Average weekly costs

• Rent: $120-500
• Food: $80-300
• Electricity/gas: $30-90
• Transport: $12-60
• Internet/phone: $20-40
• Other: $50+
• Total: $330-1,000

Transport

Trains

Trains are your best option when getting to and from suburbs located a bit further out from the city. Most train routes run either twice or three times every hour and go down to hourly departures later in the night.

Buses

Brisbane has an enormous bus network taking you from the city all the way to the border of NSW. For city centre transport, look out for red stop sign. Here you can hop on the free loop service throughout the day.

Ferries

Brisbane offers three types of ferries. The CityCat take you up the city all the way to the University of Queensland. CityHopper run from one side of the river to the other. And cross-river ferries travel from side to side.

Uber

Uber was made legal in Queensland in September 2016, including regulations around background checks and annual inspections.

Brisbane’s suburbs

City Centre

Brisbane’s city centre is home to a range of exciting venues and historical locations, due to a recent transformation project. The city centre’s architecture could be described as a mixture of modern buildings and gorgeous sandstone, churches and even colonial-era architecture dating back as far as the 1880s.

West End and South Brisbane

Here you’ll find the latest in shopping, art, food and coffee. The West End and South Brisbane have recently undergone a coulourful transformation and are now often described as fashionable and funky – a great place to both visit and live.

Fortitude Valley, New Farm and Newstead

Fortitude Valley, often only called “The Valley” is your go-to-place if you’re looking for anything elegant or grungy. Trendy boutiques share streets with hip stores and unique rooftop bars, basically a little bit for everyone.

St Lucia and Toowong

This is the city’s student-heavy area with loads of spots to relax along the river to explore in the hills. With quiet areas for studying and exciting hotspots for exploring, St Lucia and Toowong are definitely worth a trip.

Brisbane’s Top 5s

Galleries

• Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
• QUT Art Museum
• Institute of Modern Art (IMA)
• Philip Bacon Gallery
• Jan Murphy Gallery

Bakeries

• Jocelyn’s Provisions
• Crust & Co
• Beerkary Bakery
• Flour and Chocolate
• I Heart Brownies

Markets

• Jan Powers Powerhouse Markets
• Boundary Street Markets
• Milton Markets
• South Bank Young Designers Market
• Twilight Makers Market

Music venues

• The Triffid
• Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall
• The Zoo
• Brooklyn Standard
• The Tivoli