We visited Brisbane before the floods and were really taken with this unique mode of transport. These little water taxis would chuff up and down the river, picking up and dropping off people at floating pontoons. When the flood came, all this was destroyed and has only recently been rebuilt. The new taxi ranks are still floating pontoons, but now they're state of the art (costing several million dollars each). If inundated by water, they actually lower rather than raise themselves, allowing the flood water to pass over them. When you look at the picture of Brisbane from the air, you can see why it is so flood prone. The river snakes throughout the city and surrounding suburbs and you can imagine it wouldn't take much of a rise in level to breach its banks. Melbourne has its trams and Brisbane has its water taxis. Great to see the tradition is being preserved.
