I really wasn't in Brisbane long enough to get a good feel for the citiy's identity. Like I said, it reminded me of Denver. Both have defined one major street in their CBD for pedestians. The scale of their buildings were about the same, Brisbane is building taller hi-rises currently. Architecturally Denver's new stuff is more bland and modest but Brisbane really seemed to lack any historic district. There were some nice Victorian government buildings but nothing like Denver's LoDo. Brisbane has the beach and Denver has the mountains. Neither city is really on the global radar but appear to fare quite well in their respective domestic standings. I probably wouldn't have stopped in Brisbane if I didn't have a friend living there.
I did manage to hit Surfer's paradise and the Gold Coast for a day, no pics though. Talk about a place with no past. Gold Coast reminded me of Miami or Ft. Luaderale, huge condos abutting miles of sunny beach. There was some monster condo project that looked brand new, I think this
one, third tallest res building in the world.
Again, thanks for all the comments. Plenty more threads to come.