Well, the story is that John has a cousin in Brisbane. Cousin John (yes, the two Johns gets confusing) and his wife Val invited us to stay with them for the weekend. We arrived on the Friday and had a wonderful lunch followed by impromptu drinks at the new house that some friends had just moved into. It was a fairly big night but just a warm-up for what was to come.
The next day, a few friends were coming around for lunch. It was so good to catch up with Liam and Joel (John and Val's boys) and John's other cousin, Ann, as well as some other people we have met before.
There was lots of bubbly drunk. As the day wore on, there might have been dancing and singing.....
..... there might have been wooden spoons used as microphones, John might have done a Halki re-enactment by doing "the crane" on the edge of the pool and there might have been tequila drunk from belly-buttons!
John and Val sure know how to throw a party!
The next day, after a slowish start, John and Val took us out in their boat to Tangalooma, a series of wrecks off Moreton Island. It was weird seeing so many wrecks in one spot and it seemed that everyone in Brisbane who had a boat was out for the day. People snorkelled and swam but the water was pretty cool so, like us, they mostly stayed on their boats.
Moreton Island is a sand island like Fraser but, unlike Fraser, people must be allowed to run and slide down the dunes cos they were having a ball here. And yes, the dune was as steep as it looks!
We had a chicken and champagne lunch then motored home again. Wonderful!
With arrangements in place to catch up with John and Val again the following weekend, we headed out to Springbrook National Park. We had booked a gorgeous little (very little!) cabin which turned out to be right on the edge of the escarpment, where we could see all the way to Surfers Paradise, plus it was at the start of some great walks.
On one walk we walked above, below and behind two waterfalls......
Right beside the walking track, a pair of brush turkeys had built their enormous nest. Brush turkey nests are about two metres high! The eggs are incubated inside the nest and this brush turkey was madly clearing some litter from the top of the nest, presumably to regulate the temperature.
many stunning waterfalls.......
There was an outdoor bath in the back yard. It was fantastic! On that cold, rainy night we made a mad dash for the bath, soaked in the heat for a bit then had a cold dash back to the cottage. So much fun!
Springbrook really packed a punch for stunning natural things to see. Wow!
Next stop was Stanthorpe, a place high in the mountains with great walking and even better wine! It was sooooo cold!
As soon as we arrived, we went for a short walk on the property we were staying on and found this mock drum kit built entirely from wood in the bush.
The rocks here were amazing - huge boulders were everywhere. It looked like Mother Nature had been playing marbles.
We met another couple on the way up and walked with them for a while.
John decided this rock looked like a giant peachy bum. I'm just giving it a scratch :)
The next day we toured a few wineries. John found some nice wines and I discovered some lovely fortifieds. Yum!
Most logical people would have learned form the previous weekend with John and Val, but not us. We met up with them again for another huge weekend, this time around Maryvale as their friends own the pub there.
We started with a walk up Mt Cordeaux. It was a beautiful walk through more gorgeous rainforest.
Cousin John took us for a drive around the area the next day. We found a truly beautiful walk where we scrambled up a stunning river to a small waterfall.
We continued our drive and came to a track that had many river crossings along it. You can only drive along here if the water isn't too deep. This sign was up at the start of it. Classic!
The river crossings were fun!
The reason we came to Maryvale at this time is because once a month, the pub owners put on a pig on a spit and have a guy singing. People come from miles around for it. By the time the pig was ready most people in the pub had a few shandies under their belts and things were getting boisterous. The food was served, the singer cleverly switched his music from country to great rocky dancing music and the party was firing. People were dancing on the tables, strangers were dancing together and there was an amazing rendition of Living Next Door to Alice (a bit of Halki re-enactment there!). It was a huge night!
The music and dancing was outside and it was really cold. Hats and beards were the norm.
We said a sad farewell to John and Val the next morning. Thanks so much for showing us this great part of the world, guys!
We headed north to our last stop in the mountains in south-east Queensland - The Bunya Mountains. Wow- what a place! It was special for so many reasons. Firstly, the accommodation here is all houses so we had a whole house to ourselves! This was such a luxury and we loved every minute of it - well every minute except for those when I found fresh mouse poo on the bench and under my pillow!
The wildlife here is in your face as many of the birds and animals are really tame. You're not allowed to feed them, but the two cafes seemed to have special 'permits' and people fed the birds freely in the cafe grounds.
Kookaburras were everywhere and they seemed really big.
The most obvious animals though were the red-necked wallabies. These cuties grazed the grass around the houses and would let us get to within a few metres before cautiously moving away. They must be prolific breeders because every second one seemed to have an adorable joey hanging out of its pouch.
Sometimes the joeys seemed like a tangle of legs, tail and head inside mum's pouch.
Shortly after we first arrived I briefly saw a dog-like animal cross the road. Knowing that dogs aren't allowed in the national park, I wondered if it was a dingo. We soon learned that wild dogs are a problem here. There were signs up saying to not walk alone and to not let them go behind you, not unlike the dingo signs on Fraser Island.
One day, as we walked up to our house, we saw our first wild dog at close range. Its body was quite dingo-like in shape but it was the colour of a German Shepherd. The dog saw us and ran away from right beside our house. We looked where it had been and there was a freshly-killed wallaby.
We kept an eye on the dead wallaby to see if the dog would come back for it. It came back three times across the day but didn't eat much of it. It seemed very nervous to be so close to people in daylight. It appeared again at dusk and, like the possum at Maleny, seemed like a different animal with the setting of the sun. This time it was more confident and settled in to eat the wallaby. By the next morning there wasn't a lot of the wallaby left.
We didn't see that dog again but another one soon turned up and carted the remains off to somewhere more secluded so it could eat in peace. The whole experience was a somewhat ghoulish way to see some wildlife action all from the comfort of our loungeroom!
The Bunya Mountains are named after the Bunya Pine trees. These aren't actually pines but they were a really important part of aboriginal diets in the past. They're really high in protein. When there were bumper crops, aboriginals from other areas would travel for hundreds of kilometres to trade for bunya nuts. It became a big social event and an important way for different groups to meet, exchange information and meet spouses. Of course, white man soon ruined everything and the last Bunya Gathering was held in 1902.
We ate bunya nut pies and bunya nut ice-cream. They're really yummy!
The bunya trees were scattered through the rainforest. This is one of the few pockets of them left. There were also some around the village area where it was much easier to get an idea of their distinctive shape.
We had some wonderful walks again. One track was lined with cool grass trees.
There always seemed to be amazing views on the walks.
We found one place where the long strangler fig roots clung to rocks in a way very similar to those at Angkor Wat.
There was only one place to eat at night and that restaurant also happened to have Australia's highest whiskey bar! John had a great time sampling different whiskeys some nights.
We are heading back into the outback next and it was so sad to leave the mountains. The nights had been cool, but not so cold that we needed to light the fire, and the days were sensational. We have loved the green rainforests, the fabulous walks, the feeling of being out in nature and the peace and quiet. We really love this part of the country.
Tune in soon for our last post!
Heather and John :)
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