Koh Phayam III

 The only mode of transport bar walking is the motorbike. Next to a main road.

  a minor road

 Cashew Trees

 Secondary Road

 Main Road and bridge

 Rubber tree

 The island is planted all over with rubber trees an d very old cashew trees

 You find them everywhere on the ground this time of year

 An unripe cashew fruit and nut pod

 An ripe cashew fruit and nut pod

The nut pod cut open to reveal the cashew nut.

Moonambel

We took the ute on a 4x4 trek today. We went from Redbank to the town of Moonambel via The St Arnaud Range National Park and the Redbank Nature Conservation Reserve. Moonambel is situated in a sheltered valley in the heart of the Victorian Pyrenees. Victoria's Pyrenees District is a wine region centred on the Pyrenees ranges located in Victoria, Australia near the town of Avoca. See our track mapped here on the MotionX-GPS site. I use MotionX-GPS on the iPhone.

 Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 13mm f8, 1/320 sec

Click on photo for larger image view

Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ ISO 200, 11mm f8, 1/400 sec

Click on photo for larger image view

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 . . .

Hello from QLD

Its August and typical 22 - 25 degree days, sunny and still. Mount Tamborine is very busy as all states school holidays have finished and everyone else can now venture out without being over run by screaming kids. The Tamborine plateau is about 8 kilometers long and about 5 kilometers across at its widest part and is about 600 metres above sea level. From the escarpment you look directly down on the Gold Coast.

Geologically it is very old formed by the volcano directly to the south the remains of which is a huge crater that can be clearly seen from the air.

Mount Warning is the volcanic plug near the centre of the crater. While taking a look at the sunset a short distance from our house we noticed a new addition to the mountains scenery.

Antone Bruinsma created "Visiting Earth Angel" at the Beaudesert International Sculpture Symposium in 2008. Sculpturs have now been placed at locations throughout the Scenic Rim area. The Sculpture, is located at the Hang Gliding Lookout at the top of the Mountain along Main Western Road with the valley of the Scenic Rim as a stunning backdrop. Meanwhile back at home I snapped this picture in the back yard while watching the creek being remodeled by a backhoe. This is a Mulberry tree and is just starting to shoot leaves after being bare all winter (6 weeks is a long time)