From the lush verdant Rainforest with majestic trees towering over our heads to the concrete and steel jungle of Surfer’s Paradise where man-made towers pierce the coastal skyline. What could be more of a contrast?
Clearly, Queensland’s Gold Coast is its premier beach front attraction coaxing countless visitors to its glittering shores to soak up sun, surf, adrenaline-fuelled entertainment and nightlife on an epic scale. And we were no exception (save the adrenaline rush and nightlife part!) Fortunately, in keeping with our preference for quiet, peaceful, natural environments we struck gold in our choice of accommodation – Cosy Romantic Cottage in the Tallebudgera Valley in the beautiful rural hills 15km inland from Burleigh Heads.
On leaving Lamington National Park we drove straight to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast to visit old friends Diana and John Playfair. We had met this intrepid couple ten years previously while in Bali and had kept in contact. So a lunch invitation at their lovely home near the beach at West Burleigh was an ideal opportunity to catch up after so many years. Tasty food, great company and easy conversations, sharing travel stories from around the world. Good times.
The hinterland region behind the coast is beautiful – rolling hills, forests, creeks and small holding farmlands. Our accommodation at Tallebudgera Valley was a gorgeous, rustic, wood framed cottage nestled in the hills in the garden of our hosts Arisa and Terrence. This deeply spiritual couple grow their own organic produce and run retreats in their home focussing on alternative, transformational healing. They were a delightful couple and their home, the cottage and gardens were imbued with a sense of peace and tranquility and adorned with interesting artworks and statuary from around the world, mostly SE Asia. When we weren’t on the coast, we spent our time here relaxing, rejuvenating and walking some of the nearby forest tracks.
Anyone who has seen Surfer’s Paradise will know that it is certainly no paradise – at least not us, anyway. Massive buildings line the seafront and the promenade is stuffed with shopping malls, bars and cafes etc. The beach itself is wide with squeaky clean white sand and dumping waves, giving the coast its primary attraction. We completely get it and understand the attraction to visitors, especially those coming from cooler, land-locked countries. We spent some time wandering the promenade and along the beach, stopping for lunch underneath Peppers, the tallest tower on the strip. Then we left with a consensus of opinion that it’s simply not our thing.
Our favoured spot along the Gold Coast proved to be Burleigh Heads. We liked the area and enjoyed walking the boardwalks and seafront promenades and particularly the pathway through the National Park, a little piece of unspoilt bushland high on the hilltop of the promontory overlooking the coast into the distance both north and south of the Heads. Residual smoke haze again restricted vision but the views were nevertheless pretty impressive. The Tallebudgera Creek runs out to sea just beneath the headland, providing a perfect sheltered, semi-shady beach where we whiled away a couple of warm sunny afternoons.
Leaving the bucolic rustic idyll of Cosy Romantic Cottage, we hit the M1, QLD’s main highway, cruising past the theme parks (Sea World, Dream World, Movie World, Australian Outback Experience etc.) en route to Brisbane and our final adventure in Queensland.
Earlier this year we had our first Luxury Escapes experience, staying in a converted stately home in the Cotswolds in England. Brisbane was to be our second, with a bargain priced three night getaway in a four-star hotel at Kangaroo Point. Dropping off our trusty hire car after two and a half weeks and 1200km, we successfully navigated the local train and bus transport system and by 1.30pm we were settling into a spacious room with floor to ceiling windows looking out to the city’s skyline. Situated conveniently in the middle of Kangaroo Point, The Point Hotel is a five-minute walk to two of the riverside jetties servicing the free City Hopper ferry. We took full advantage of this great public service to ply the waterways between the City and the Point, and also walking miles along the riverfront pathways from South Bank to Eagle Street Pier, through the City Botanic Gardens and across the Story Bridge.
The Brisbane River weaves a meandering path through the city that makes London’s Thames look almost straight. Several bridges span the river linking north and south and City Cats, ferries and private boats run continuously. Glass and steel towers grace the skyline and try to outstare each other across the water while grand old Federation buildings struggle to keep the modern monoliths from squeezing them out of existence. The South Bank area is a green oasis in this concrete jungle (as are the Botanic Gardens). Lawns, arbours, trees, a swimming pool with a man-made beach complete with on-duty life-savers provides welcome relief from the heat. And it is hot – we found ourselves doing the usual mad dogs and Englishman thing, walking the pathways and streets as the mercury climbed to 38C.
We took refuge from the heat in the City’s waterfront museum and art gallery, large modern buildings with interesting exhibits. Here we learned about Jon Molvig, a famous local artist of the 50s and 60s, at a temporary exhibition. So much good art that we have never seen or heard of.
A real treat for us was catching up with Cameron Routley, son of our good friend Trevor and a charming young man. Cam works backstage as the Technical Manager at QPAC, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. It’s right on the river at South Bank and we met during Cam’s lunch break one hot afternoon and were honoured with an impromptu tour of the Centre. It is an impressive collection of four auditoriums, including the concert hall with a $1.5M organ. Cam’s expertise is in stage lighting and we had a glimpse behind the scenes of the staggering array of equipment and technical wizardry required to stage performances, both large and small.
Brisbane is an exciting, vibrant city. Its river is its heart and in the sub-tropical climate the expansive parks, gardens and walkways take advantage of both banks as it flows gently through the city centre. The summer heat kept our activity at a slow pace and we spent considerable time in the air-conditioned comfort of our luxurious room and around the pool, so that although we got a good feel for the place, we didn’t fully explore everything this city of over 2 million people has to offer. And that’s quite OK with us. Our mission is to see but also just to be. The next little adventure from Brisbane should facilitate this goal more than adequately.
Clapmacks Foray into Retirement 