Last Night You Said You Know It Felt So Good

I "popped out" for "a quick drink" planning on "being in bed by midnight". Sober, of course.  Destiny had other plans.

I skipped the line (latest line to work on bouncers these days is a low-cut top, tight pants and "I'm with a party - Fiona's going away" said with all the breezy confidence in the world) and entered a maxed-out, glammed-up garden of Eden.  Cloudland is the newest bar on the Brisbane scene, and there is truly nothing like it in Brisbane. Designed by the folk responsible for The Press Club and Family, you can imagine there will be quite a bit of opulence (and tricky stairs - think the upper stairs at Family).  It's open air, with a glass ceiling activated at the flick of a switch. 

This place is like The Magic Garden (on an acid trip) for adults, with each component of the bar offering a gorgeous new corner of the world. There's the Middle Eastern harem inspired room in the upstairs lounge, with what looks like a mass of old Dahlek's bodies stretched across the wall right next door - a little Ned Kelly-like incision indicates that behind the Dr Who graveyard is a private lounge.  Plants wind themselves around the bar and appear in the most unlikely of places - tufts of grass poke through the stairs, and vines rope themselves around the bottles of gin. Thousands of glass balls arc their way across the upstairs bar, and hanging chairs that seat at least 5 swing around down below, and with the vines all around you could be mistaken for thinking you're in the Amazon (depending on the amount of absinthe you've imbibed...). There is also an unusual bronze wire statue which is part C-3PO from Star Wars, and part - depending on how you tilt your head - Jesus. Trip out. Without the tooth decay.

The bar is pitched at over 25s and Cloudland definitely lives up to that requirement. The bar itself was packed all night, and when I stumbled out at about 1am, there was a line stretching around the corner.  Personally, I'm not one to be that desperate to get into a club, but it is pretty amazing and the classiness of the crowd means you don't endure the sweaty, Red Bull breathing men, or 20 yr old girls decked out head to toe in matching Supre, shrieking to one another about Gossip Girl and "oh my god that picture is, like, totally going to be my new Facebook profile pic". I sound like a crotchety old woman, but I really find these vacuous girls tiresome.  They are clones of one another, they dress, talk and (assuming they engage in such activities) think the same. They are nightclub prey. Roadkill in other cases. 

Welcome to the jungle, baby

Anyway - get your good selves to Cloudland once you get to Brisvegas. The trippy, other-worldly vibe will have you forgetting well and truly that you're studying all day tomorrow so will be going home at 11:30. Sober. Bollocks.