Market mangoes, South Bank sand & 'Tum Mile' ...

... pretty much sums up my first solo weekend in Brisbane. Above is South Bank Parkland's riverside beach (with Brisbane's CBD looming in the distance), a remarkable engineering achievement that's roughly 500 metres from my South Brisbane apartment. Didn't partake of its cool waters today. But will soon.

Made a mistake yesterday. Busy morning but not-busy-enough afternoon left too much time to miss Aradhna, who's 1700 kms away in Melbourne tending to loose ends and pondering her next career move. Let me correct that: Aradhna doesn't ponder -- she acts. We stay in touch throughout each day but it's not nearly enough, especially when I'm staring into space conjuring images of her loveliness. Today was action-packed (if you consider 8 am laundry & vacuuming 'action') but yesterday had one clear highlight: Discovering West End Markets.

West End is one of Brisbane's few bohemian suburbs but after two 2 years in Melbourne -- where bohemia stretches from the CBD like crude oil from a ruptured offshore rig -- I'm spoiled. So it was cool to discover West End has a hippie-infused Saturday morning market (right) near the Brisbane River, about a 20-minute walk from my place. Handmade crafts, candles, incense, organic herbs, tie-dyed baby clothes & lots of fresh fruits & veggies brought people of every stripe in droves. A stall dedicated to locally grown mangoes was enough to guarantee my continued patronage. Last year at this time I was in Fiji, where mangoes grow everywhere and villagers sell plates of freshly picked fruit along roadsides for pocket change. Tom Robbins once described a mango as a "ripe peach doused with kerosene." One taste of the molotov cocktails of sensual fruit flesh I bought yesterday and anyone debating a trip to Australia would be racking up Qantas frequent flyer points faster than you can say "I just had an indecent thought about a Queensland mango!"

Today's early morning domesticity was followed by a walk to the South Bank beach shown at the top of this post. I'd visited it during the week Aradhna & I spent in Brisbane in early 2007 but forgotten its sublime design. It includes an extravagant kids' section that rivals the priciest of water parks. A fire hydrant is the closest most kids in New York City get to a water park.

Followed South Bank's bougainvillea-draped footpaths to the Goodwill Bridge that crosses the river south of the CBD (right). Veered right at the bridge's end to Brisbane's Botanic Gardens, a lush oasis on the CBD's southeast flank that stupefied me in 2007. Queensland was at critical drought stage then -- the state is still benefiting from record rainfalls that fell in 2008, which means the gardens are even greener this time around. The following photos show a lovely shade tree, frangipani flowers & a bamboo grove:Brisbane is Australia's third largest city but has a paltry CBD. Unlike Melbourne, which salvaged at least some of its gold-rush-financed Victorian architecture, Brisbane's CBD is mostly modern, and therefore largely uninteresting to me. It does have shops, however, and my studio apartment lacks certain amenities. Queen Street's pedestrian mall (left) is another Brisbane landmark that impressed Aradhna & I during our previous visit. Brisbane's universities are popular with Asian students so Queen Street was chock-a-block with pretty, light-skinned girls in short shorts, many carrying umbrellas. Map-clutching tourists walked slowly, like wounded prey (I'm not a pickpocket but know easy marks when I see 'em). Packs of dull Aussie teens added nothing but cheap clothes and bad skin to the streetscape.

Drifted to King George Square down Albert Street, where this church (right} maintains its dignity despite the encroachment of steel & glass heathens. If King George Square conveys anything about that member of the royal family, it's that he was an empty, joyless man. Hate to come off like a Melbourne crank but its Federation Square overcomes questionable aesthetics with a public space that's always buzzing with life. On a sun-kissed Sunday afternoon Brisbane's old Town Hall (left) overlooked a people-less public space. Maybe it's a matter of population: Melbourne has nearly 4 million inhabitants, Brisbane nearly 2 million. Melbourne doesn't have world-class beaches within easy driving distance, however. Who'd want to hang around a paved city square when white sand and turquoise surf are less than a quarter-tank away?

When I miss my wife I watch a Bollywood film and miss her even more. Go figure. Today was no different. Caught Tum Mile at the Brisbane City Regent on Queen Street. From a dour exterior I entered a relic of Brisbane's gilded age. Tables line a wall of a tiny cafe that could be found in a Melbourne laneway. I grabbed a coffee for the film and went up a flight of stairs. What I saw was astounding: A magnificently restored cinema lobby (below) that wreaked of 1920s extravagance & optimism.I downloaded Tum Mile's soundtrack weeks ago so already associated its music with weekends spent in the company of my pajama-clad wife ... but enjoyed the film nonetheless. Ironic that ads for 2012 are splattered across every Brisbane bus stand, as Tum Mile uses Mumbai's devastating 2005 floods as a device to bring a long-separated couple back together. 2012 -- Hollywood's latest CGI-instigated manifestation of a 10-year-old boy's classroom doodling -- is disaster porn. In Tum Mile, the mayhem of a natural disaster doesn't play second fiddle -- it lingers in the hallway, hoping to audition. Unlike many Bollywood romances this one features two believable characters portrayed by young & hungry actors. Well done, but likely to disappoint teenage Indian boys hoping to see chunks of Mumbai washed into the sea.

It was nearly 5 pm when I crossed back over the river via Victoria Bridge, which connects the CBD's north to South Brisbane. South Bank remained full of parents & kids & couples happily sprawled on footpaths and plots of grass as before. These photos begin with a Victoria Bridge-view of Brisbane's 'eye' (apparently a mandatory accessory for every major Aussie city):Late afternoon at Streets Beach, from a different angle.Brisbane CBD from along a riverside footpath in South Bank.The natural beauty of Brisbane is breathtaking. Now only if I had my equally breathtaking wife with me to enjoy it sange sange ...