August on Mount Tamborine, Queensland

About one and a half kilometres from my house on Mount Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland, Queensland is the Tamborine Mountain Gallery Walk it is the Art and Craft centre of the region.

The galleries and craft shops sell paintings, sculpture, ceramics, porcelain, glass, jewellery, woodwork, fabrics etc. Crafty crap in other words.

But there are lots of good cafe's for good coffee and lots of fudge and ice cream shops for the sugar hit.

My favourite spot however, is located at the southern end of Gallery Walk and it is the new Tamborine Mountain micro Brewery.

This impressive open plan complex is perfectly designed for the sub tropical SE Queensland climate.

It is located in a shared premise with the Witches Chase Cheese Company.

The cheese is made by hand on the premises in the cheese factory, and you can view production through large viewing windows.

Right opposite the Liquid Amber Bistro & Grill restaurant in the same complex. Perfect for a gourmet lunch after a few beer tasting trays.

Another must visit place requires a little bit more travel and as you criss-cross the plateau you pass many of these roadside stalls, all operated on an honesty system.

Also there are walks to the many waterfalls in the national parks that entirely ring the mountain. This helps prevent the leggo land estates from the Gold Coast ever being able to reach the plateau.

The place you need to get to is the Tamborine Mountain Distillery.

This is Australia's smallest operating Pot Still Distillery, but of world renown, and has won many awards at contests all over the world.

With the combination of rich red volcanic soils and fresh spring water and the abundant fruit and produce of the Mountain is fermented and distilled here.

Lemon Murtle, Cherry ripe, Chocolate Chilli, Wattle Toffee, Turkish Delight and all manner of exotic flavours in a base of Liqueur, Schnapps or Vodka, all distilled and made right there.

Tastings are a real challenge if you are driving . . .

-27.90465 S, +153.204625 E

The main reason we went up to the sunshine state was to celebrate with our grandson on his 9th birthday.

Also its an opportunity to do some maintenance on the house and clear the lantana from the vacant block next door taking over our fence. Lantana is listed in Queensland as a 'Weed of National Significance'. A picture of a lantana flower below.Below is the view from the corner of our street to the Gold Coast. Just down the hill some 17Km and you run straight into the Worlds Sea World, Dreamworld Wet'n'Wild Water World, Movie World, Australian Outback Spectacular etc . .

A flower we found in the Botanic Gardens a few hundred metres from our house. although its over some steep terrain :-)

The traditional owners are the Wangerriburras, the area has a history of logging and Advocado , kiwi fruit and ruhbarb farming but is now largely rural residentail surrounded on all sides by by the Tamborine National Park made up of 12 separate reserves. The platue has lookouts, gorges, cliffs, waterfalls, rainforest areas and wet eucalypt forest.

Another interesting feature is the Fig Tree roundabout at the top of the Gallery Walk a Km or so from the house. This tree was planted by a local in about 1926 to provide shade for the many bushwalkers that came by this way and stands here in the roundabout today.

The must see here is the new Brewery and cheese factory.