I helped with the launch of Portside Wharf back in the days I worked for a radio station, but might…read moreI say, this little gem of a mall has come from strength to strength since. The shops on this little mall are very posh. Back in the day, if you wore a top hat and a puffy hoop skirt, this would be the place you would shop. Even the news agency seems a little better than your suburban one. What I love about this place, that not very many people know about is the Dendy Cinemas. You can watch a movie and have something to eat. Whether it's the fancy Sono Japanese Restaurant upstairs to your Fisherman Seafood place downstairs... and ice cream at the Movenpick. It's a pretty great day out.... especially when there's a ship ported. Those ships are massive and it's one of the few places you can go to see how big these cruise ships truly are. They also have many little markets and expo's during the year if you go at select times. Great little place with a great atmosphere... very romantic too at night time. Wink wink nudge nudge.

I used to work on Hercules st last year in a horrible cubicle desk job for 3 months. I couldn't…read morewait until lunchtime when I could walk down to Portside Wharf and sit outside near the water. It makes such a difference to the day! I would stroll down the road, buy a snack from the IGA and make myself a space on one of the seats right on the water. The view of the water and the city are a great combination and it makes you feel lucky to be in Brisbane. Trendy shops, up market restaurants, relaxing cafes, a cinema and markets on the occasional weekend, Portside has everything I like best for a relaxing weekend day. There is plenty of undercover parking or street parking on weekends. The only time you will run into trouble is when a cruise ship is docked. You might have a bit of a trek by the time you park down the road.

Have used these guys a couple of times when stuck for a lift to the airport and wanting to avoid…read morethe hefty parking fees at the airport. Its very simple to book online and the fees are not too bad. $18 for one day and then the daily rate decreases from there, 2 days is $27, 3 days is $37. Undercover parking is available, but more expensive than outdoor parking though. All parking is secure and monitored 24 hours a day to ensure your car is kept safe. After arriving and paying/signing, they drive you straight to the airport. When you return from your trip, simply collect your baggage and call them to pick you up, which they do promptly. The shuttle buses run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They even offer vehicle cleaning and servicing whilst you are away, so you can return to a completely schmick shiny car if you so desire. They are also up the road from the Port of Brisbane, so those who go away on a cruise can also use their services, handily enough.

Do not trust Gateway Airport Parking! We left our car there while we went overseas on holidays…read more Washed the car the evening before we left(perfect condition), the following morning we drove to Gateway Airport Parking and left our car with them. When we picked the car up and left we drive straight home and while unpacking the car we found damage to the front bumper. Raised our concerns with Gateway Airport Parking Manager and they responded by sending us the surveillance image of us leaving their carpark which according to them proved there was NO damage when we left....when we disputed it 30 minutes later they emailed another surveillance photo showing the damage in the car when it entered their carpark???? Not sure how the pictures lie but I would not waste your time and money trusting your car with them. If you read the fine print on your recipes they actually don't take liability for anything so we effectively pay for NOTHING!!!!!!! Not good enough Gateway Airport Parking. I know that the damage occurred while our car was in your care. I should add that we, and a number of family members have used there services in the past and had a good experience but not anymore!

I parked during the early bird time slot but was charged $71 instead of $18 because apparently they…read moreonly have a select number of early bird parks. Look for some fine print somewhere, I couldn't find it.

If ever in need of secure parking in Fortitude Valley you can't go past McWhirters. McWhirters is a…read morebig secure parking lot, with multiple levels. You can either enter it from Ballow or Warner street but I always tend to take the Warner entrance for some reason. Like all secure parking, it does come at a price however. Prices change depending on what day you are there but generally on weekdays it is $$6 for 20 mins or less and then steadily gets more and more expensive as time goes by. On weekends it will start at $9 for a half hour of parking privilege and then rise and rise some more. There are deals for early birds or late leavers so it is worth checking out the website. The best part about McWhirters Secure Parking is the convenient location, being smack bang in the middle of the Valley. It is also open 24 hours so if you are the sober driver you can take everyone home after a long night of drinks and dancing. Funnily enough, I did catch a couple having a more intimate moment in their car on the second level of McWhirters once. In fact, I was quite impressed at the bouncing of the car, the unintentional accidental beeps, and the fact that all this was happening at around 10pm on a Tuesday of all days. Most of the time however, McWhirters is just a good old place to park your car.

This is the cheapest parking near the RBWH. Plenty of spaces available.read more

I probably go to the Queen Street Mall too often. At some level, I feel lame for not exploring…read moreother options or areas. However, it's just too easy. It's well located and has just about everything one could want. There's food, drinks, movies, food, drinks, clothes, mobile phones, banks, etc, etc, etc. The current construction is a bit annoying, but it's hard to knock improvements being made. The result is a bit of a bottleneck with the huge crowds walking around on weekends. This is a problem when you walk faster than basically any other human in existence and are incredibly impatient. So, it's probably more of a problem just for people like me, which thankfully, I don't believe can be found in abundance. I like that there is often music and the people watching is tremendous.

I find Queen Street Mall a very convenient place to shop and to eat at some point. Luckily I found…read morethe bag I am looking for and its here, I also get to watch some movies after.

Depending on the reason, it could be a convenient location…read more I would recommend that you book online to know the cost before entry as it can be very expensive to book hourly vs early bird etc. There are also penalties ($20 to $40) if you don't get back within the departure time. If you book online, as a caution to other potential users, do not use your phone tap feature for payment instead of the physical credit card to enter. You will be double charged as a breach of entry t&c. It used to a be a pin entry and I had missed the note about not using the physical credit card for all of 2022 and this year. So that is ~$100 that I won't get back for not reading the fine print. I should have checked my credit card statement more closely. When I was trying to book online, it was a bit glitchy and I had to enter the name and date etc multiple times for it to work and I accidentally booked the wrong date (day after). But that was my fault for not double checking the date. I find the other car parks in the Brisbane CBD easier to book and use.

Below is my list of pros and cons. As you will see, pros outweigh the cons, just DON'T park here on…read moreWEEKDAYS!! PROS: - Convenient parking - Under ground - Elevator takes you straight from underground parking to Queens Plaza (hello Chanel store, Mimco, Mecca!) - 5 storey parking beneath Queens Plaza - Motorbike, 4WD friendly - Valet service available - $15 maximum on weekends - Open 24 hours CONS: - Super expensive on weekdays! (over 3 hrs is $65!!) - No cashier at exit - The driveway too narrow at bends (the walls have plenty of grazes from cars scraping)

Last Monday we just got back from our vacation and got picked up by one of your buses to take us…read moreback to your depot where we were to pick up our car..It took some 15 mins or more to tell us that you were trying to locate our car ,we started to get a bit concerned that something may have gone wrong,our car had finally been found supposably..When our car had came to view it was hosed down completely as to why this was the case we just did not understand,,,The driver seat seat was completely rearranged like you had a 7 foot person driving it the steering was disturbed different radio station what the hell is going on!!!!! When we got home we had a closer look at our car and it was in a filthy condition thinking that you folks just hose the car down would cover up the problem..We paid months in advance and paid for undercover parking which you have failed to do this in the first place.. We have been using your site on many previous occasions and never had this problem as we went directly to our car where it was parked undercover and no dust or dirt on the car. I can tell you this much that it is disgusting and dishonest of your company to allow this to happen just shear greed to think you can cover up this issue. We will never come back to your establishment ever again.

I left my car with these guys only to pick it up absolutely filthy with what looked like car polish…read moresplatter, dust, bird shit all over it and deep scratches on the boot from what looked like some squeezing between cars with keys on their belt. I rang the manager he said next time I used them they would clean the car and try to buff out the scratches. I accepted his offer and next time we used this company even after speaking to the manager when I dropped the car off showing him the damage and having his word that they would clean it and polish out the scratches the car was once again filthy and covered in bird shit even though it was meant to be under cover when we picked it up. The scratches were not buffed out or even attempted nor had the car been cleaned like promised. The manager never got back to me. Even the employee on duty at the time said it was pretty poor. Not happy with this company never using it again.

The Barracks has been one of my favourite places to both eat or see a movie recently due to its…read moreconvenient location and variety of speciality stores. There is always enough parking unless of course there is a game on at Suncorp Stadium and more often that not you can get at least the first two hours free which is unique for a place so close to the city. The cinema has become more of a 18+ scene as it serves alcohol which they allow you to take into the cinema and the films are also more catered to that demographic which I find appealing. The shops here are many and varied, from a Sushi train, to Italian and Tapas restaurants to chocolatiers and ice-cream shops. There is also a sizeable coles supermarket, liquor store and a fantastic French Twist bakery and cafe which has a great atmosphere. Some of which I have reviewed in detail if you care to check them out!

I've been avoiding shopping and dining at the Barracks lately because parking here takes too much…read moreeffort. I understand that they want to exclude commuters and Caxton Street goers from their car parks but the two hour free parking does not work well for Palace cinema visitors. Most movies go for a minimum of two hours so even if you get your parking ticket validated, you'll get hit up for a $7 minimum parking fee. The last time I tried to catch Norwegian Woods at the Palace Barracks at 9pm on a Saturday evening, the car park was completely full and we ended up missing the movie trying to find a space. On a positive note, parking is less of an issue in the mornings which is great because The Chelsea and French Twist do a great breakfast. The Barracks is a bustling, modern shopping complex - great for dining and shopping but best to use public transport where possible.

I love Westfield Carindale! I don't think, from memory, I've ever visited and not enjoyed the…read moreexperience. I bypass three other closer, smaller shopping complexes and drive straight to Carindale. Took my kids, now 40 and 37, often and now take my grandchildren. I love the renovations, major stores and specialty shops. The parents' rooms are always clean and well appointed. Love the Event cinemas. Plenty of great coffee shops. Late night Christmas shopping is always a favourite time for me. Thanks Westfield Carindale.

The love of Carindale (like all the biggest stars, it's only known by one name) has been handed…read moredown through the generations of my family. My Mum passed down her passion for this place to me and my sister in law - and now we're handing down the pleasure to my 3 year old niece, Olivia (who loves it) and 14 month old Renzo (distinctly unimpressed). So why does this slightly ugly (from the outside) building inspire so much devotion in the female members of my family? Well, for those times we can't be bothered traipsing into town, Carindale pretty much has everything we could need. Except, perhaps, a chic cocktail bar. But I live in hope. Myer, David Jones, Sportsgirl, Dotti, Portmans, Witchery, cinemas, grocery stores, mobile phone shops, sports stores...it's like a one-stop-shopping-utopia for all our needs. With carpet. Yep, to this day, it's the only Westfield I've been in that has carpet. It's not particularly nice and occasionally gives you static attacks but I kinda like that it gives Carindale a strangely unusual USP. Even my friends in London laugh at my Carindale obsession (I've recently relocated back home after a lengthy stint living in London). Every email they send me usually starts with "so, how many times have you been to Carindale this week?" (I don't usually answer as I'm slightly ashamed that sometimes it's so often I feel I should take a sleeping bag and just move in). As Westfields go (and there's a gazillion of them in Brisneyland) this is not the biggest (yet) but it soon will be. I'm positively giddy at the fact they're spending $300m making it even more ginormous. For me! According to the website, it's due for completion in late 2012 and "will include a new parallel mall over two levels, a new full-line Coles supermarket, a relocated larger-format Target and a new dining precinct. Plus approximately 120 new stores including a range of Australian and international designers." Readers, dreams can come true.