General, Brisbane

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The way quite a few people like to travel Australia on the cheap [especially Backpackers] is by Campervan. There are quite a few companies that offer cheap rentals, and some like Travellers autobarn will buy back campers.
Quite often, the variety of rentals range from..... Campervans, Vans, Stationwagons and Four Wheel Drives.

Some are
www.hippiecamper.com
http://www.travellers-autobarn.com.au/
www.wickedcampers.com.au/ -

"Go Card" is a new cheaper way of paying for public transport.

At Train Stations and selected shops you can purchase the card. The immediate cost is $20, which includes the $5 deposit, plus $15 for fares.

It is easier, as there is no need to queue for a ticket.

By using the go card, I save about 30% on each single paper ticket price, and if I use my card more than 10 times in a week (Monday to Sunday), I get a further 50% off.

There is no need to buy separate tickets for different zones travelled - and you can use it on buses, trains and ferries.

If you have to change Trains, just do not exit from the station, that way you are not charged any extra to continue your journey.

Simply touch the big round 'go card button' on at the beginning of your journey making sure you hear the correct beep, and get the green light, the same at the end of your journey....REMEMBER TO TOUCH OFF!
Your fare is automatically deducted from your card balance. You must remember to touch ON and OFF! otherwise you will be charged extra!
At the end of your journey, the balance on the card is automatically adjusted to the correct amount.

And, if you register your card, you can top up online or by phone.

No need to worry if you do not wish to purchase a card, paper tickets are still available.
If you need more information on Public transport in Brisbane, check the website given.

When you have finished with your card, you can hand it in and get a cash refund.

If you remember to do all that, no worries, if not, and the Inspector gets on, you will be fined, how lenient they are with Tourist's I am not sure.

If you are travelling to Brisbane and do not have a car, the best way by far to get around is public transport. Ticketing on Brisbane public transport is complicated, with 23 fare zones (which you will generally need to know in advance in order to buy a one-way ticket) and a variety of single and multi-use tickets each with their own set of conditions and limitations on when, where, and how you can use them. Without a little local knowledge it is very easy to buy the wrong ticket or simply to buy a ticket that you don't actually need, and this can be quite expensive.

The absolute best option for using Public Transport in Brisbane is the Go Card. Go Card is an electronic pre-paid ticket that automatically calculates the cheapest fare for your journey. They cost $20 (which includes $5 credit and $10 emergency credit, emergency credit lets you finish your current journey if your regular credit runs out halfway to your destination). Go Cards never expire, but you can surrender your card just before leaving Brisbane and be refunded any unused credit (both regular and emergency credit).

TRAIN OR COACH
If you are arriving in Brisbane by Long Distance Train or Long Distance Bus, you will be arriving at the Roma Street Transit Centre. After you arrive, go down to the bottom floor, and you can buy your Go Card from the Citytrain Ticket Window.

AIR
If you are arriving in Brisbane by Plane, you will fly into Brisbane Airport. You cannot buy a Go Card at the airport, instead, proceed to the airtrain station and catch a train to Roma Street. This costs about $15. You can purchase your Go Card once you get to Roma Street.

SHIP
If you are arriving in Brisbane by Ship, you will most likely dock at the Portside Wharf. From here, it's about a 600m walk along hercules street and harbour road to a 7eleven where you can buy a Go Card. Public transport is located 250m past the 7eleven, right on the river.

USING PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Once you have the card you can top it up over the phone from your credit card, or at any railway staion and many newsagents and 7elevens. You can then jump on any bus, train, ferry or city cat and not worry about working out the correct fare, the Go Card does it for you. Use the journey planner on the translink website below to navigate your way around.
Technical terms in the journey planner..
- Translink Services = Buses, ferries or trains that you can pay for with a Go Card.
- Suburb = Will find services to any destination within walking distance of the borders of this suburb.
- Landmark = Will find services to any destination within walking distance of this actual landmark or point of interest.
- Location = Will only find services that stop exactly at this location.
- Stop = Pretty much the same as a location.

HOW TO GET A REFUND
When you are finished, you can surrender your Go Card and get a refund of unused credit at the newsagent at Central Railway station (Cnr Ann and Edward St, City). From here you can catch a train to the airport for $15, a train to Roma Street (for Coaches and Long Distance Trains) for $3.40. To get back to Portside Wharf for ships, you take the long escalator down from the Central Station concourse, walk through the tunnel into the shopping centre, then out of the shopping centre onto Adelaide Street. Find bus stop 23 (you'll need to cross edward street). From here you can catch the 300 bus to Brett's Wharf ($3.90), which is an 800m walk from the Cruise ship terminal (follow the board walk along the river in the same direction the bus was already heading).

Brisbane is divided by the Brisbane River that runs through the centre of the city.
We call the areas either side, the "NORTH' & "SOUTH"

The tourist areas of the "GOLD COAST" are on the SOUTH SIDE
AND................
The tourist areas of the 'SUNSHINE COAST" are on the NORTH SIDE

To get from one side to the other, you can either go through the city and many, many sets of traffic lights, by following Gympie road which becomes the Bruce Highway.

The other way, is to use the GATEWAY BRIDGE.
This is the shorter, quicker way, it is a TOLL ROAD, so you need to buy or pay for your toll online or at an outlet. (see other tip on tolls), this is if you do not have a scanner.

It is a very busy road, especially at PEAK TIMES, BEST TO AVOID THIS TIME OF DAY.

The road and bridge is being duplicated in 2009, so should be a lot better in the future.
The northside is good now, with only 4 lanes for a start near the bridge, then a 6 lane
highway as far as the turnoff to Bribie Island, so its good driving.

If you are a passenger in the car, then you have good views as you drive over the bridge, as it is very high to allow ships to pass under.

It is called the 'GATEWAY MOTORWAY" OR "M1"

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One of the best way to get around the Inner City is to grab a 1-Day ticket covering Zones 1 and 2, which gets you to the Outer City as well.

The ticket covers transport on buses, inner city trains and the City Cat ferries.

A 1-day Off-Peak Adult ticket is A$4.40 circa Aug 2008, on a Sat.

I managed to get to Mount Cook-tha on the same 1-Day ticket, which wasn't half bad!

TRAIN
Just hop around the inner city stations. Brisbane Central and Roma Street are important interchanges.

BUS
Check bus schedules and board buses at designated bus stops

CITY CAT FERRIES
There are other services so please board them at the right piers.

Considering that Brisbane is Australia's 3rd largest city, the city centre seems kind of small and actually everything's within walking distance.
If you still want to use public transportation, you can either take a bus (one line is even for free) or train. They also have those fancy looking ferries called City Cat which take you up and down the river (a good idea to take one to Southbank if you don't want to walk all the way down the bridge). What's really great is that if you have a train ticket from the outer suburbs of Brisbane to the city centre, you can use this ticket for the City Cat too (to ALL destinations).

The Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council have had the initiative to link the various forms of transport in the city area into an integrated system, where you can buy one ticket for the day (or week) and use it on all transport systems – trains, buses and ferries. As this is written, the cost for a daily ticket for zones 1 and 2 (which covers all my tips, other than “off the beaten path”) will cost you $5.20A . A similar weekly ticket will be $20.80A.

The website I have listed below gives all the information you are likely to need for travelling around Brisbane. It even has a trip planner – though I rather feel that will be more use to locals who understand the details than for visitors, who I doubt could be expected to understand the somewhat summarised details.

The best way to see Brisbane and its suburbs is to purchase a daily trip ticket. You can use this to ride the ferry/citycat, buses and trains for one whole day regardless of number of stops. All one has to do is compute the number of zones you will be travelling. Zone 1 starts from the CBD and increases as you go farther from it. Check out www.transinfo.com.au for to plan your trip.