For arts and culture, the serious head to South Bank, home of the Queensland Museum, with its hands-on interactive displays, and the Queensland Art Gallery, its walls adorned with a magnificent collection of artworks. Or you can catch a world-class performance at the Performing Arts Centre where international theatre companies and performing artists take the stage along with Australian performing arts companies.

For exciting sports action, find a seat in the stadium to see local rugby league champions, the Brisbane Broncos, take to the field. During winter, rugby union fans head to Ballymore to watch the Wallabies take on the world. Over at the Gabba sports ground, the Brisbane Lions fight off challengers in the Aussie Rules football code. In summer, the Gabba lights up for international cricket tests and one-day matches.

If you want to shop, head for the designer boutiques and department stores of Queens Street Mall and check out the bustling markets around the city.

Music, dancing, partying, live shows, good times – there’s plenty more going on in the City of Sun Days and fun nights.

Creative menus offer local delicacies such as Moreton Bay bugs and fresh tropical produce alongside exotic Asian delights, simple Mediterranean meals and traditional European fare.

The choice of restaurant settings is unlimited. Watch boats pass by while tantalising your tastebuds at any number of the city's stylish waterfront restaurants and brasseries. Or head for Brisbane's inner-city precincts and peruse the menus of dozens of top outdoor eateries. You'll find Italian cafes, fast and fun noodle bars, all-day breakfast joints, wine bars and truly outstanding brasseries.

Fortitude Valley is home to Brisbane’s Chinatown where you can taste the cuisines of the orient from Chinese and Korean to Vietnamese and Malaysian.

Cafe-restaurants abound in West End, on the southern side of the river. A hub for students and artists, the bohemian, multicultural centre is best known for its delicatessens, Vietnamese and Turkish restaurants, grocers, coffee and tea merchants.

Many other precincts offer fabulous dining such as the fashionable Park Road Milton with its cafe terraces. Clusters of cafes and the city’s finest dining spots can be found on Racecourse Road, Ascot. While at the foot of the Story Bridge, a new precinct is emerging with bustling new restaurants and bars.

For a glimpse of the lively contemporary arts scene in Brisbane, head to the Powerhouse at the eastern end of Brunswick Street. Overlooking the river, this enormous structure is now the venue for live theatre and visual arts. The raw, industrial exterior of the building has been maintained, as well as the graffiti inside it, a leftover from derelict

times, but the space is now a complex of theatres, outdoor performance spaces, offices, meeting rooms, a gallery, restaurant, bar and function space. Take stock in the Spark Bar, directly looking over the wide brown riverscape.

As well as the dynamic modern developments taking place along the river, Brisbane is home to some exceptionally fine older civic buildings that have been restored to house cultural institutions. Visit the Customs House, the City Hall, the Commissariat Store and the Old Mill.

Brisbane is noted for the writers it has produced, and the Albert Street Literary Trail is punctuated by 32 plaques immortalising some of their words.

Try an Australian barbecue lunch and enjoy pelican and fish feeding at the Novotel Twin Waters Resort’s own lagoon. This is an experience not to be missed.

Head to Underwater World to enjoy breakfast with the seals. Meet these wonderful animals face to face, then enjoy Underwater World’s huge array of sea life including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in the Southern Hemisphere’s largest oceanarium. See giant sharks and stingrays swim overhead, be entertained at the Seal Show, marvel at the variety of marine life and hang on while you experience the Virtual Dolphin Ride. Continue to travel south towards Brisbane stopping at the Australia Zoo, home of TV’s Crocodile Hunter. See demonstrations of snakes, pythons and wild crocodiles or walk among the kangaroos and wallabies that roam free.

At Holt Street terminal in Brisbane you can board the Tangalooma Flyer and cruise down the Brisbane River and across Moreton Bay to the Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort.

Fringed on three sides by Moreton Island National Park, the Resort is subtly nestled amongst landscaped gardens and natural bushland. Tangalooma caters for all ages with Teens and Kids Club activities daily and offers the opportunity to interact closely with native wild life. Each evening the Tangalooma inshore dolphins swim up the beach, where they are hand fed by rangers and Resort guests.

You can hand feed the pelicans and cormorants on the beach. The day’s activities can include a 4WD Desert Tour to Tangalooma Desert; an enormous sand blow situated south east of the Resort and is reached by way of dirt track through some of the island’s most distinctive flora. The island supports over 500 different species of flora. You will have the opportunity to toboggan from the summit of one of the larger sand hills on Moreton Island. There is also escorted 4Wheel Quad tours that take resort guests on a scenic ride taking in the magnificent views of the island and Moreton Bay; or enjoy snorkeling, tennis, archery, fishing, sailing, scuba diving, bush walking, golf driving net or putting green.