Abandon ship port ...

Also: how do you visualise the ideal Australian Christmas?

There was great rejoicing among cruise ship operators, their agents and the seagoing public when Brisbane’s International Cruise Ship Terminal finally opened a few months ago.

I’ve set sail from, and returned, there twice, and the facilities are as good as similar terminals elsewhere in the world. They’re never as fancy as airport terminals, of course, but this one managed to handle large numbers of people and their belongings quite efficiently (especially on my second visit).

Importantly, it’s on the ocean side of the Gateway Bridges and the shallower waters heading up the Brisbane River, meaning the world’s largest cruise ships can dock there.

Among the downsides is that it’s a long way from all the action in Brisbane and there’s no public transport link. The relevant authorities, so far, seem to be resisting a suggestion that the CityCat ferry route be extended on cruising days to allow people to sail before they cruise.

It’s just been reported that the more convenient Portside Wharf at Hamilton, where the ships used to dock, is closing for a year for refurbishment — and “not everyone is happy about it”.

The industry body, Cruise Lines International Australia, says the closure was unexpected and it’s concerned that the new terminal won’t be able to fill all the demand, which is expected to continue to grow.

This is rather surprising. I’d always assumed Portside would close completetly and that the new terminal had been designed to be large enough to cope with all our cruise-ship requirements now and in the years to come.

If that’s not the case, governments and the industry should get together quickly to make sure the new terminal becomes future proof. (They could start by adding more parking if they’re not going to make it more accessible by public transport.)

A little more thought and expense now could pay off big time — especially if it can cope with several megaships, and their many thousands of cashed-up passengers, on the same day.

Dare I say that Queensland is well positioned to become the Florida of Australia? In terms of cruising, that is. We could do without some of the other stuff.

SEASONAL SCENE

At this time of year, we get bombarded with inappropriate images.

By which, I mean pictures of snowy European and northern American Christmas celebrations.

When we do see an illustration of a “Australian” Christmas, it usually involves so many cliches — kangaroos, dusty tracks, windmills and iron-roofed country homesteads — for it to be equally unrepresentative of our largely suburban existence.

So, I’m asking: what best illustrates this time of year in Brisbane?

Here are two suggestions AI program DALL-E came up with when I asked to see a typical Australian Christmas.

Can we do better?

VIDEO VILLAGE

This is another shameless plug for my new YouTube community, Radio Bert.

I’m adding a lot of content to the site — and some of it is stuff you might not expect from me.

The reason? I’m still in an experimental phase. I want to learn how to make engaging videos and the only way to do that is to set a lot of content free and see what flies.

I must admit that I’ve been surprised by the success, or lack of success, some of them are having. Let’s just say that the number of views does not always correlate with the expenditure of effort.

©2022 Brett Debritz. If I’ve inadvertently used copyrighted material, failed to give credit where it’s due, written or said something you disagree with, or otherwise upset or unexpectedly delighted you, please leave a comment, email me or connect with me at @debritz or @misterbrisbane on Twitter. Links are provided as a courtesy; I take no responsibility for their contents or give any warranty of their veracity.