Howard Smith Wharves

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Tuesday June 4, Sunset at Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane.

Under the Story Bridge, which connects Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley, there's an entertainment district on the river front — the Howard Smith Wharves. We have decided to have our dinner there at one of the many restaurants; I'm interested in getting some views of the Story Bridge as the evening comes.

At each end of the bridge there's a high steep cliff, I'd estimate about 50' or so. There's the Wilson Outlook, a small greenspace at the top of the cliff on our side of the river which should have some good views. We take an Uber to the overlook and are disappointed to discover that there's a project underway to stabilize the cliff face so most of the viewing area is fenced off — you can't get there. But the elevator access from the overlook to the waterfront gives us a view of the work. At the foot of the cliff is some green space and the Bougainvillea House (a tea house and patio closed with the cliff remediation project). Immediately up river is the entertainment area, down river is the riverwalk to New Farm.

At the river side Kate settles into a table at Ciao Papi, as pictured above, while I go explore the New Farm Riverwalk. This is a pedestrian/bike way that wanders on the river side anchored by pilings. The steep cliffs mean there is no shoreline here, where we are, for the walkway. This is fairly new, I suspect that the previous walkway was washed away in the floods of 2022 (See 7News video of Brisbane flood 2022). I'd guess that much of this entertainment district was under water as well! But it's all been restored and reclaimed. 

We enjoy our Italian dinner, our views of the Story Bridge and the City Center. We enjoyed watching the busy CityCats ferrying people around on the river, there's a terminal here at the wharves, and decide that we should take a tour on the CityCats another day. See BS&B, CityCats later in this blog.

There are many restaurants in the area. There's also a Pirate Ship Playground for children with ships to clamber around on. But the area is more for the night life, I wouldn't say it was kiddie friendly.

There's another elevator nearer to the Story Bridge (the Petrie Point/Story Bridge Lookout & Elevator) that takes us up to the top of the cliff where I'm looking for more photo opportunities. When we're ready to go we call for an Uber but there's some confusion about where we are to be picked up. They keep coming to the entertainment district at the waterfront, nearby but we're at the top of the cliff. We ultimately get a driver who is patient with us and explains that they can't come to where we are, we must come down the elevator to meet her. With Uber you have to be exacting about the pickup location; I suppose we must have got a couple of bad reviews as a result of the confusion.

Howard Smith Wharves is an interesting area to explore. Lots of fine restaurants and great views.Pirate Ship Playground

— these notes composed Nov 24, '24