Budget Brisbane's chic and cheerful

Clare Fitzsimons gets closer to nature for way less in one of Oz's finest cities

- Clare Fitzsimons

Sitting on pale yellow sand decorated by imprints of dozens of tiny silver gull feet, with the Pacific Ocean lapping around my toes, the first hint of an orange and red dawn appears on the horizon.

It's hard not to think in cliches at moments like these and while "the best things in life are free" is an overused phrase, it does sum up my surroundings pretty perfectly.

Watching a sunrise on the Australian coast is one of those priceless moments people pay a fortune for - but you don't have to. We all know getting to Oz is never going to be cheap but there are ways to make that once in a lifetime trip Down Under cost not much more than a week in Spain.

I'll admit the thought of doing Brisbane on a budget at first brought visions of the I'm A Celebrity camp - with all those terrifying spiders, and snakes. But I needn't have worried as the east coast city's plush hotels and apartments are remarkably affordable, costing from £79 per room a night.

We stayed at the Oaks Brisbane on Charlotte Suites (from £94 for a one bedroom apartment sleeping two and £141 for two bedrooms) and it was the perfect place to rest up after the 24-hour flight. I flew with Singapore Airlines, with a three-hour stopover at Changi and yes, it's a long flight, but wasn't as bad as I'd feared and soon the jetlag was gone.

Brisbane hosted the British & Irish Lions this year and there's an Ashes Test this December, not to mention the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, but a slew of free and cheap activities are also on your doorstep. From the botanical gardens, the famous Brisbane sign and the Wheel of Brisbane (just like the London Eye but a lot faster), to miles of riverside to wander for hours - and it was all delightfully spider and snake-free.

Not a walking fan? You can jump on the CityCat, which is a boat service ferrying people along the Brown Snake, as the river is known, all for just 50 cents a trip - that's less than 25p.