We have been up north for quite some time since being whisked away by the Spirit of Queensland. I quite liked the 12 hour train journey, with seats like an aeroplane set up - spacious and reclining with trays and individual screens with a great selection of movies. The food was tasty and reasonably priced, as were the drinks. The one negative I believe is that it leaves Brisbane late afternoon and you miss a lot of beautiful scenery in the night hours. Our friend, neighbour and weekly walking companion, Helen travelled with us and spent a week in Proserpine before continuing further north to her brother. This was a great opportunity to re-explore and show off the old home town and surroundings. We enjoyed the sunshine, and some great coffee and food at Airlie Beach. We also got a few walks in, including the Great Whitsunday Walk, which I had completed for the first time last year. Completing the Great Whitsunday Walk this year was much easier for me, though still a challenging 30k mountain climbing trek. The first 17 km is especially challenging with many long, steep slippery sections. After Repulse Creek the going was gentler. We met some rangers on the trail and a few other hikers, a big snake and plenty of wild pigs who have dug up the area a great deal. (Click on the photos to enlarge.) I enjoyed doing this trek even more than last year. Perhaps this year I am fitter. Knowing the track and what lies ahead was also helpful. Maybe next year I will do it again beginning at the Brandy Creek end. For a more detailed look at this trek you can click onto May 2015 in the Archives column to the right. A highlight of our trip north was attending the wedding of my nephew Todd and the lovely Larissa. It was a beautiful setting overlooking the waters of the Whitsundays. A trip to Townsville for a few days provided a change of scenery. The north is lovely this time of year. Murray and I climbed Castle Hill a few mornings. Last year this nearly killed me. This year I loved it. After Townsville we had a few days in Mackay thanks to mum spending a week in hospital there, so my early morning walks took me on new trails of discovery. Mum is back on her feet now and we have returned home. It has been lovely catching up with family and old friends and exploring more of the north.
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Winter is here, but the country doesn't know it. The sky was blue and the temperature in the mid 20s as we explored Murwillumbah and surrounds on today's walk. An early start from home had us in Murwillumbah in time for breakfast, which was yummy of course. Murwillumbah is a lovely town with interesting old buildings, cafes, antique and clothing stores lining its streets. We followed the Heritage Walk and climbed up to the top of Lions Lookout where we were afforded beautiful views of the lush, green surrounding countryside, the wide, sleepy Tweed River and nearby Mt Warning (which I climbed a couple of weeks ago). Fun fact - Murwillumbah is the eighth town mentioned in the original Australia version of the song "I've Been Everywhere". A stop at the Visitor Information Centre was interesting. Inside one room the walls are painted with a panoramic 360 degree view of the Tweed caldera from the summit of Mt Warning. Jocelyn and Margot think that counts as actually reaching the summit, but their day will come. Next stop was the Tweed Regional Gallery in which the interior of Margaret Olley's Paddington home has been re-created.. Visitors are able to peer inside original windows and doors to view the eclectic assortment of belongings Olley kept in her cluttered and colourful home. As well as being a renowned Australian artist, Olley was also the subject of paintings by many of her artist friends, including Russell Drysdale. She was twice the subject of an Archibald Prize winning painting; the first by William Dobell in 1948, and the other by Ben Quilty in 2011. Although actual hiking distances were not great today, we did cram a lot in, including food. A late, leisurely lunch at the nearby Tumbulgum Tavern was a perfect finale to our ventures in Northern New South Wales.
On this mild May day our little group of walkers explored some suburbs by the Brisbane River. But first things first - and that means cake and coffee. Our group of Wednesday walkers has taken to calling ourselves 'The Hungry Hikers' as we work up quite an appetite on our walks and seem to balance eating and hiking quite well. Margot's recipe for the absolutely divine Persian Love Cake she served can be found on our Facebook page - The Hungry Hikers. After fuelling up we walked through Fairfield past the Dutton Park Cemetery and crossed the Eleanor Schonell Bridge to wander through the beautiful grounds of the University of Queensland. Eleanor Schonell made an internationally recognised contribution to testing for dyslexia and was renowned for her generous and humane approach to life. Her work with cerebral palsy children led to international recognition and she also contributed substantially to the education of children with intellectual disabilities. During its conception and construction, the bridge was known as the "Green Bridge" because it was a sustainable transport initiative and, since the naming, many people have continued to call it the Green Bridge in preference to its official name. A lovely outdoor market was in full swing on the university campus. This day was becoming better and better - a little hiking, a little eating, a little shopping under a whole lot of sunshine. Not a bad way to spend a day at all. Crossing back over the river, my friends kindly indulged my hunt for burial places of long lost ancestors and followed me through the Dutton Park/South Brisbane Cemetery. We were successful in finding the headstone of my husband's great-grandmother. Ann Martin (nee Hill), the daughter of a convict and the granddaughter of a convict, married a man whose father was also a convict and grandfather, a first-fleeter convict. After our cemetery sojourn, we proceeded to follow the river as it wound its way through Fairfield and Yeronga. The Corso nature reserve offered a peaceful walking area through manicured parkland interspersed with seating facing the river where one can linger a while. We admired many of the beautiful homes along the river, now renovated or rebuilt after the devastating Brisbane floods of a few years ago. One of our group is off hiking in Canada without us at the moment, so we posed in repose and sent the photo to annoy her. Helen thinks we slacken off when she is away. (She may be right.) After clocking up 15 kilometres we felt we deserved a good lunch and we were not disappointed by Cafe 63 in Yeronga. Not only were we served up the most delicious Turkish bread with slow baked lamb shoulder and accompaniments, but we received complementary bottles of water and no corkage charge. (Margot had carried a chilled bottle of wine in her backpack all morning, bless her little cotton socks!) A 5 star rating for this cafe and a 5 star rating for our day. Life's great in the sunshine state!
Autumn in South East Queensland is still seriously warm, but the sky and the air are clear and just right to lure you out walking. We enjoyed some beautiful parklands close to home this week, hugging a bend in the Logan River, not far off the Pacific Motorway. We clocked up 12 leisurely kilometres today and hardly noticed the distance as we were too busy admiring how lovely our surroundings were. The natural surroundings were complimented by local art works. Local artists and community members create works of art for Animating Spaces Logan - an Arts in the Park initiative of Artslink Qld in partnership with Logan City Council. It goes without saying that the highlight of our day was seeing koalas in the trees in Alexander Clark Park. Everything else was a bonus - blue skies, sunshine, fresh air, friendship. How blessed are we?
Back to the past today with a re-visit to Toowong Cemetery, this time armed with details of buried ancestors. With another warm day looming we met in King George Square to catch a bus to Toowong, but first a bit of fun with the forces of dark and light were in order. The new Star Wars movie is out folks, so we tested some light sabers and tasted some free coffee as part of the movie promotion before heading off.
I didn't find any actual graves of my many relatives, only the general areas in which they lie. The main office staff were very helpful and gave me more details of locating sites, so I shall return. After clocking up quite a few kilometres in the cemetery we decided refreshments were needed before walking back to the city along the Brisbane River.
An outing today, not with the bushwalkers but the neighbours. Helen always seems to discover hidden gems to enjoy around Brisbane, and the Rocks Riverside Park is a true gem.
The park has three major zones. There is the river flat, a formerly rich riparian environment, then market garden and industrial site; the bushland range, which forms the backdrop for the river flat area covered with dry eucalypt forest; and a major green link from the park to the suburbs to the south.
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