Why No Travel Books?
Yesterday afternoon I was out at Chermside shopping centre. I went into Borders and whilst perusing their vast array of books, I thought I'd check out the Tourism section. Of course, as you would expect, their were a number of travel books on Australia, and on Queensland and the Barrier Reef. There was even a whole shelf devoted to Sydney. The thing that struck me, however, was that there wasn't one title on Brisbane. Not one.
Now, I'm not sure if that's the case in all of the book stores around town. Hell, even on Amazon I can find a few outdated travel guides, and they even sell the Gregory's Refedex if you want a street directory. The thing that really gets my goat is that no one is really promoting Brisbane. We seem to be an afterthought in the guides which say come to Queensland and go to the Barrier Reef, or head to Surfer's. Or go to Noosa! Surely we're a big enough country town to have titles in our own right?! Aren't we!
There is a hell of a lot of good stuff to offer. If you want to eat, you've now got some of the best restaurants around, in places like West End, Eagle Street and Caxton Street. You've got great shopping in and around the Queen Street Mall, along with retail meccas at Chermside, Carindale and Indooroopilly. You have all the sport you could want with AFL, Rugby and Cricket. You have parklands a plenty, like South Bank and Roma Street. You have a whole cultural precinct at South Bank to satisfy even the most artsy fartsy of people!
Bands and artists which in the past would have shunned Brisbane, now regularly visit. There's a whole new live music scene which is proving a rich vein of talent internationally. We have the Ekka and Riverfire. Our weather is awesome, and the people are some of the most beautiful and laid back that you'd find anywhere on the planet.
Ok, so I'm ranting now, but I still think we should have more of our promotion going on in bookstores. Then again, who reads books anymore when you've got the Net! Lets just make sure we continue to promote what a fantastic place we live in is.
Cheers, Wes.
Now, I'm not sure if that's the case in all of the book stores around town. Hell, even on Amazon I can find a few outdated travel guides, and they even sell the Gregory's Refedex if you want a street directory. The thing that really gets my goat is that no one is really promoting Brisbane. We seem to be an afterthought in the guides which say come to Queensland and go to the Barrier Reef, or head to Surfer's. Or go to Noosa! Surely we're a big enough country town to have titles in our own right?! Aren't we!
There is a hell of a lot of good stuff to offer. If you want to eat, you've now got some of the best restaurants around, in places like West End, Eagle Street and Caxton Street. You've got great shopping in and around the Queen Street Mall, along with retail meccas at Chermside, Carindale and Indooroopilly. You have all the sport you could want with AFL, Rugby and Cricket. You have parklands a plenty, like South Bank and Roma Street. You have a whole cultural precinct at South Bank to satisfy even the most artsy fartsy of people!
Bands and artists which in the past would have shunned Brisbane, now regularly visit. There's a whole new live music scene which is proving a rich vein of talent internationally. We have the Ekka and Riverfire. Our weather is awesome, and the people are some of the most beautiful and laid back that you'd find anywhere on the planet.
Ok, so I'm ranting now, but I still think we should have more of our promotion going on in bookstores. Then again, who reads books anymore when you've got the Net! Lets just make sure we continue to promote what a fantastic place we live in is.
Cheers, Wes.
Labels: Brisbane Tourism Travel
16 Comments:
Very late coming across this post but thought I'd add my two cents anyway....
I agree that Brisbane's a great place to live but reckon a guidebook on it would be pretty thin really. There aren't a lot of attractions actually in Brisbane. Having hosted a few international visitors I find it tends to be a couple of dinners in the areas you mention, a visit to Southbank and then we head out of Brisbane to go up or down the coast for what they really came to see.
Places like Sydney and Melbourne are a bit more self-contained in that regard. They also have a bit more non-mainstream entertainment like the shops, restaurants and galleries in places like Brunswick Street in Melbourne or Paddington in Sydney. Oxford Street Bulimba or West End are a bit small in comparison.
Like I said though, nice to place to live.
Well, if you think it's bad now, you should have seen it 25 years ago when they didn't even have a cinema complex in the 'burbs apart from the Gaythorne/Dawn variety. It's come a long way since then!
And as for bands....we have Powderfinger which, in my books, just show the rest of the world what great talent is like here!
Ok, I'm bias having lived here all my life. Just randomly stumbled across your blog....great idea, btw!
Oh and I love that Borders at Chermside although I have trouble getting past the Gloria Jeans in the middle which make the best hot chocolate in the entire centre! Lol! ;)
Karen
i might move to brisbane from canada - just wondering what the average price of rent is over there.
Hello I have a travel blog about my country Chile. I invite everyone to visit it www.chilemade.com leave your comments.
You can come to Azores Islands. Top tourism destiny. See ratings in national geographic. Greetings.
I found the same thing, when I tried to buy some type of 'day trips around / out of Brisbane' type book. There is one for every other bleeding Capital City. Not ours.
I was most cheesed.
(Alice in Brisbane)
If your looking for other fun activities around brisbane, try Riverlife Adventure Center at Kangaroo Point. They have kayaking on the river, rockclimbing, bike and rollablade hire and also do functions!
Kayaking, beer and prawns was a great experience that I'll definately do again!
Hi,
I have just found your blog, and of course being about Brisbane I have started reading back.
I have just moved her a few months ago from New Zealand, and I couldnt agree more.
Even though I am a resident, I still feel like a tourist. I want to get to know this great city, and knowing nobody here makes it extremly hard.
So I turned to the books, and the travel section. I ahve not found a good tourist guide in Brisbane, for Brisbane.
As you said... SYD, MEL, CNS even NTL! but hardly anything on BNE.
It is a terrible way to advertise! Dam it makes me think CHC has its head up its bum with all the advertising it does for its own city!
Hi I just came across your blog which I think is great by the way but I have to say I can see why Borders wouldn't have any Brisbane travel books. I mean how many travelers do you see at Chermside? Do you really think that anyone in there would want to by a travel book for an area that they already live in? So it is probably just a case of knowing the market rather than dissing Brisbane. Just my 2 cents anyway :)
The best place to go to find books on Brisbane are the Indie stores like Avid Reader, Coaldrakes & the American Bookstore (funnily enough a Aussie book store).
There hasn't been a lot available in the past written about Brissie but that's changing with lots of great writers coming out of this little city.
Shame this blog seems to have come to an end. Was a nice take on Brisbane.
Here, you got yourself a draft for a book, now go ahead and publish it!
I will sure buy a copy :)
A lot of brides are also choosing to travel to the beautiful sunshine of Brisbane and the Gold Coast to have their weddings. The weather is perfect and there are so many wonderful wedding reception venues, celebrants and photographers that can cater for their perfect day.
This is really Awesome blog with great features and nice articles.
Datastage
Bisbane is the awesome place with nice developed infastructure and you have shared nice pictures in this blog. Thanks for sharing this one.
Datastage
Hi there,
If you would like to have beautifully crafted videos as well as images, check out George Lam from Brisbane. His website is georgelam.com.au.
Thank you!
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