Today dawned bright and beautiful.
Blue, blue skies. Not a cloud to be seen
and temperatures around the very mild 22+C.
So Tony gave himself a day off and we set off for Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane.
The highway to the Sunshine Coast is lined with pine plantations.
These trees apparently thrive in the poor sandy soil found here.
The trees are destined for paper mills, I believe.
The lovely little town of Maleny has become a mecca for those looking for a slower, back to basics sort of life.
People who like to grow their own vegies, raise chooks, sheep and alpacas, spin their own fleeces and sometimes produce lovely garments from them, make cheese, bread, jams, chutneys,
all manner of baked goods
as well as artists and craftsmen of all sorts.
There are galleries
and clothing shops
where you can browse
and sometimes find a treasure - old or new
This painting caught my eye in the window of a gallery.
Want a closer look?
(Sorry about the reflections from the glass in the window)
A little over the top?
even for sheep lovers !!
We made our way down the street until we came to a little cafe where we sampled a roast veggie stack for lunch.
(Sorry, forgot the photo !!)
Our last stop before setting off for home was to take in the view.
Maleny is situated on the Blackall Range - part of the Great Dividing Range that runs all the way down the east coast - so it has fantastic views.
In one direction it looks out over the Glasshouse Mountains.
These mountains are volcanic in origin.
Ancient volcanoes with only the centre plug remaining.
Can you see Brisbane city on the horizon?( click on the photo for a larger view )
Captain Cook named these mountains.
He could see them from the sea as he sailed past in 1770.
He thought they looked like glasshouses.
( perhaps the sun was in his eyes or glinting off them ???)
In the other direction you can see the coast - the Sunshine Coast we call it.
It is a series of lovely surf beaches.
A tourist mecca for southerners fleeing from the winter chill of Sydney and Melbourne at this time of year.
The buildings you can see are the holiday apartments spread out along the many beaches for miles.
Then it was time to turn for home to try to beat the afternoon peak hour traffic.
A very pleasant day.
Cheers.
It's winter in Australia now isn't it?!! I laughed that you mentioned a winter chill and 22 degrees in this post - 22 degrees has been our summer temperature over the last few days and that's hot here!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very nice day out, lovely views.
a little to the left and you could have waved to me! Great photos, a friend of mine and i recently went to Montville to buy some yummy jumpers! Its lovely up there.
ReplyDeleteLooks lovely and that lunar landscape is something else isn't it?! Hope the plugs stay put!! Your winter sounds rather like our summer here and anything over 20 is warm to us!! Guess you don't make many snowmen in your neck of the woods then?!! Your photos are truly amazing when enlarged - thanks for sharing your outing with us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a view of those Glasshouse Mountaiins!!! I love the name too. Imagine of that plug got pulled out - by what or whom I don't know. You had a lovely day, by the look of things.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the perfect day. Three cheers for retirement!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photographs. My husbands sister lives in Melbourne, we have been out 3 times to visit, so far we have seen Perth, Sydney,Melbourne, we have had a few Australians stay for B&B and quite recently 2 from Brisbane . Yes 22 over here is great weather, like today for example really warm.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog. We used to have a Border Collie until last year when she died......bless, hopefully we will get another maybe one that is looking for a new home.
Ann :-)
So close Helen, not too far from me, just a little further up the highway. It was a beautiful day yesterday wasn't it, and looks like another beautiful day today too.
ReplyDelete