The plan this week was to ramble around close to home and explore the countryside around Alberton and Stapleton, with a hill climb up to the Mt Stapylton weather radar tower. The radar is located on an isolated hill about 150m above sea level, just east of Beenleigh. Our house overlooks a golf course and the radar, which looks like a giant golf ball sitting on a tee, can be seen from our patio. The radar site provides good low-level coverage, ideal for Doppler observations, of the Greater Brisbane area. However, it is not accessible to hikers, so we turned away from the locked gate and spent the day on the lowlands instead. Staplyton was named after surveyor Granville William Chetwynd Stapylton (1800–1840). The area is partly bordered by the Albert River and we enjoyed the peaceful country feel this brought to the setting. We chose a delightful spot for morning tea where the Albert River joins the Logan River, about 12 kilometres from the mouth where it enters Moreton Bay. After morning tea we drove the car past the Gem Hotel (no, we did not stop), and rejoined the river further along in Alberton, where we parked and proceeded to explore more on foot. European settlement began here in 1863 when the first settlers arrived, mostly German immigrants. The rural area has many homesteads and farms with animals ranging from alpacas to sheep, goats and cattle. Rustic sheds and quirky letter boxes also drew our attention. We ended the day with a late lunch by the sea at Cabbage Tree Point. This meant a short drive through the canefields of Woongoolba and a slight hold up on a sharp bend where a semi had overturned. All in all, another fantastic day of hiking in our beautiful and varied countryside. Farewell for now. I'll leave you with a summing up in song.
1 Comment
We began our walk from Downey Park and made our way to Lutwyche Road, which we followed to Windsor Memorial Park, a green island surrounded by busy roads. From Windsor Memorial Park we crossed the street to the Old Windsor Shire/Town Hall Chambers. Its worn sign on top has the word 'town' superimposed over the word 'shire'. The building, now home to the Windsor and Districts' Historical Society, was constructed out of Brisbane tuff from the adjacent quarry. The hills had been fairly easy on us to this stage, but some serious climbing was in store. The city views were well worth the effort and many grand old homes were perched on these streets offering the best views. Once back at Downey Park we decided to clock up a few more kilometres by following the bikeway track along Enoggera Creek. The quiet path seemed more country than city, and offered a lovely green retreat from traffic and buildings. We enjoyed a late picnic lunch in Downey Park, a little fitter and a little wiser about our beautiful city after exploring another interesting suburb. And so to sum up with a song - What a Wonderful World. Thanks for visiting and remember to click on the photos for a better view.
|
Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|
- Home
-
Travel Tales
-
Australia
>
- Frazer Island - 2016
- Australian Road Trip - 2017
- Melbourne - 2018
- Warra Races - 2019
- Queensland Road Trip - 2019
- Brisbane to Proserpine - 2020
- Waiting Out a Pandemic in the Whitsundays 2020 >
- North Queensland Road Trip 2020 >
- Qld Road Trip 2021 >
- Uluru, N.T. 2021
- Southern Downs and Granite Belt 2021
- S.W.Qld - 2022
- N.S.W. Road Trip 2023
- Cairns Train Trip 2023
- Toowoomba 2023
- Tasmania 2023
- Byron Bay - 2023
- Train Trip to Adelaide - 2024
- China
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Greece
- Netherlands
- France and Belgium
- Romania
- Russia
- South America
- Sweden
- Turkey
-
Australia
>
- Cruising
- Classroom Quotes
- Poetry Place
- Photo Gallery
- Walking Blog