I’ve had a chance to visit Brisbane a few times in the last 6 months or so. Twice on business. Once as part of our summer holiday over the Christmas break.
I managed to find time on the first trip with work to rent a bike and do some riding along the river, but to be honest it didn’t really sell the city well. Living in Perth now, I am spoiled by blue skies and ocean blue river water all around. On all of my visits to Brisbane the skies have been cloudy and the river murky. The bike ride was especially disappointing though because the river is also quite narrow with less sport and in general less to look at it. It’s also quite separated from the bike path so that while you may be riding beside the river you wouldn’t know it because of the trees that separate you from it. Most frustrating of all though, were the rolling hills that I was not accustomed to and tired me out all too quickly.
It’s also very difficult to get oriented in Brisbane. I am generally really good at having a sense for N, S, E, and W no matter where I end up but in Brisbane (the city at least), it is so easy to get turned around. Again, with the rolling hills, you can only get a feel for everything between you and the next hill top (generally a couple of blocks), and the river winds in every direction, so that can’t be used as a baseline either. 
All of that said, the time I spent in the Brisbane surrounding area over the holiday was good fun. We drove from Sydney stopping for 4 nights in a quiet spot called Ashby, and for another 3 nights in Lismore. Ashby was great because we had a fantastic cabin overlooking some scenic countryside. We spent Christmas day almost entirely by ourselves at the beach, and amongst many on boxing day. We took the opportunity in Lismore to check out Mount Warning and Nightcap National Park, as well as Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise. The rain forest region was cool and Byron Bay was awesome … Surfers Paradise was OK. All in all Gold Coast got my vote, and to live in Brisbane even if just to be 1 hour away from that is enticing alone. I didn’t get out to the Sunshine Coast but I’ve heard it’s even better.
I posted photos here: Sydney, Random NSW, Ashby, Mount Warning, Nightcap National Park, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, Brisbane
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