A Long Day in Brisbane

Saturday was a long and enjoyable day for me.

The festivites started at around 10:40am at Melbourne airport and ended at around 3am Sunday morning at the Treasury Casino in Brisbane.

The reason for the trip was a Gentlemen's Trip Away coinciding with the Melbourne Victory playing Brisbane Roar on Saturday evening.

Some things I have learnt:

1. Brisbane has weather that is very condusive to drinking a lot;
2. A casino at 3am is a strange creature;
3. Vodka and Coke is a refreshing change;
4. Beer before noon is allowed; and
5. Apparently it rained in Melbourne.

So a few thanks have to be said to:

a) Ming the fabulous BlackJack dealer who turned my $100 into $200 in 10 minutes;
b) the 3 gentlemen who joined me on the trip and organised most of it;
c) The Caxton Hotel for somehow being able to be a sports bar and nightclub;
d) The casino bouncers for breaking a punters wrist just so the crowd at 3am had something to watch; and
e) My liver for still functioning today.

And if you are wondering the standard of cabs was excellent. And there were plenty of them still driving around at 3am compared to what happens in Melbourne.

Brisbane Taxi vs Melbourne Taxi

I have a theory. Yes another one. As you may have read previously I have some concerns with Melbourne's Taxi services.

On the weekend I was in Brisbane for a family function and had the pleasure of a few trips in the local taxi services.


What I found were professional drivers who:

• did not speak on mobile phones while driving;


• had spotless clean cabs inside and out;


• knew where they were going;


• spoke very good english; and


• were polite to the point of offering to carry luggage to and from the sidewalk at the airport and destination.

I discussed all of the above with a couple of the drivers and they could not believe that a driver would not keep up a standard as they did.

My thoughts on the taxi services in Brisbane will be confirmed in a couple of weeks when I am up there again.