Less then a one hour drive from Brisbane or the Gold Coast you will discover the green behind the gold. We spent the October long weekend spoiling ourselves with an escape to nature, long walks, amazing local cuisine and browsing the picturesque boutique stores on Gallery Walk. So much to see and do, right on your own doorstep. Tamborine Mountain, part of the Scenic Rim is made up of a number of small villages that stretch 8 kms along the ridge of the mountain.
We stayed at Tamborine Gardens in a lovely cottage. This Wedding & Reception venue usually reserves rooms for the wedding party as it consists of 4 cottages hidden away in gorgeous garden settings. At the onset of Covid, the team at Tamborine Gardens really did pivot their business model from weddings and events and opened the 4 cottages up for mainstream bookings. So glad they did, the gardens on site are amazing! Seriously if you are looking to get hitched this is a great venue. One stop shopping with various locations for your ceremony, huge range of landscaped gardens for photo opportunities as well as several Reception venues.
Loved the cosy fireplace and balcony. The kitchen had everything we needed to cook in. A small BBQ on each balcony would certainly be a welcome addition but the cottage was roomy and I loved being surrounded by the trees which gave a sense of calm and peacefulness.
Exploring the outdoors, we did the Witches Falls National Park Circuit Walking Track. I had always wanted to do this walk. I would recommend starting clockwise (the southern end), the uneven steps on the descent are very steep indeed. Please look where you are going. We understand now why we saw people with walking poles as we made our way down from the Main Western Road entrance but if you take the track from the Witches Falls Lookout around and complete your journey walking past the cemetery (the northern end) you will find this section smooth with larger paths and still very hilly but just stop and take time to breathe in the cool mountain air and look around. You would be surprised by what you see, I was lucky enough to see Butterflies, a Parrot singing so sweetly and a Bush Turkey.
Once you descend into the valley you can enjoy the rainforest. Take the short stroll to the Witches Falls viewing platform. This waterfall is seasonal and rain dependent. I was expecting not to see any water at all, so it was a nice surprise to stop and see some water trickling down. The unusually shaped large boulders encapsulated by tree roots and seasonal lagoons I liked the most. Surprised this area is so close to the main road but it felt like I was a million miles from nowhere. The round trip with stops took us just under an hour. Main Western Road has parking, picnic tables and chairs plus BBQ’s so after your walk you can just sit down and chillax enjoying the scenery.
Dinner was at Three Little Pigs, highly recommended and I don’t eat pig which is their speciality, but this is seriously a wonderful menu, staff were fantastic, I found something yummy for me to enjoy, the wine and company was great.
Fortitude Brewing Company had some good tasting paddles to try, live music playing and a cool vibe about the place on Sunday. Gallery Walk was busy but not crazy so manageable and nice to see people still being Covid safe and practising social distancing. We ate lunch at a little café in the middle of Long Road, I am unsure if they were part of the Mt Tamborine Vinyard & Winery as the café is adjacent to the street but had an uncover awning to escape the heat of the day. Anyway, we grabbed a coffee which was fantastic, and salads (which visually looked awesome but sadly lacked flavour). Lucky Windswept and Interesting was a short walk away stopping in the various Galleries, Collectables, Fudge and Jewellery stores on the way, this made for a pleasant couple of hours. There are so many stores in Gallery Walk I think you would need a whole day to really enjoy this experience, sadly we had somewhere else to be.
Another nice walk but a much easier pace is that of Curtis Falls the Joalah section of Tamborine National Park. I find this quite an easy walking track past the Eucalypt trees before you are immersed into the lush rainforest. Around 100 steps but the round trip only takes about 30 minutes. Such a lovely place to visit and no matter if its day or night I always find this walk enjoyable. At night, the walls of the surrounding Falls are light up by endless numbers of Glow worms. During the day, I also like that I can stop in at Pavilion Garden Bar, enjoy Devonshire Scones or a cold Beer or Ice Cream whichever takes your fancy.
www.tamborinegardens.com.au
www.parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/tamborine/about
www.three-little-pigs.com.au
www.fortitudebrewing.com.au
www.paviliongardenbar.com.au
For other tourism related information visit;
www.visittamborinemountain.com.au
www.visitscenicrim.com.au
www.destinationgoldcoast.com
