New Farm to City Riverwalk

This week I headed in to test out the brand new walkway on the Brisbane River between New Farm and the city.  It’s an easy walk about 3 km all up in each direction and a great way to spend a spring morning.

Brisbane is a river city.  Most of the time it’s beautiful to see it meandering through our city and suburbs but occasionally it can be brutal.  If you were in Brisbane at the time you will remember the floods of 2011 that submerged and broke apart the original floating walkway. 

You may also remember Doug Hislop and Peter Fenton, the reluctant heroes and who got the enormous sections under control with their tug before they could do further damage to the bridges down the river.  The re-opening of the walkway in a way symbolises the resilience of the Australian people, we face natures’ wrath across the states on a semi-regular basis but together we always bounce back.

The new riverwalk is bigger and better.  This time it’s grounded in the bedrock of the river to keep it firmly in place in future.  It’s wider and has dedicated pedestrian and cycle sections to make it safer.  There are also a number of shaded seating areas and water fountains along the length of it.

I headed out to walk the new riverwalk section the week after it opened and many times since. Although there was some criticism at the time of the amount invested it’s been an extremely popular addition to the city right from the start and is almost always busy with walkers, commuters, cycles, scooters and runners. Personally, I like it best during the weekdays when it is at its most peaceful.

If you’re visiting Brisbane and staying in the city then a walk along to New Farm is a great addition to your itinerary, taking the ferry in one direction is an option allowing you to get off at another stop to look around.  If you aren’t used to the sub-tropical climate consider walking early morning or later in the day during the summer months, the river breeze is lovely but there isn’t any shade out there so it can get a bit warm. 

Another alternative is to make use of the City Cycle Scheme, you can pick up and drop off cycles at stations in the City, New Farm and many other city fringe suburbs.

If you haven’t already made use of this walkway joining the Howard Smith Bridge

Have you tried out the re-opened New Farm to City Riverwalk in Brisbane?