Another week, another birthday - this time a big one for Jenny, so bushwalking was put on hold for another birthday bash. A delicious morning tea was followed by a city cat ride on the river, a walk in the park through the City Botanic Gardens and lunch by the river at the Stamford. Not a bad way to spend one's 60th. Now ladies, next week we really must do a serious walk! |
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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.
This week's outing with my bushwalking buddies was more 'talk' than 'walk', more focussed on 'eat' than 'feet', and more 'hanging about' than 'hiking'. And there's nothing wrong with that now and again! It all began with a couple of group members hankering for pineapple parfaits from their past. Apparently the Big Pineapple near Nambour used to serve the 'best' pineapple parfaits in the whole world, so the plan was to visit the Big Pineapple and walk (or eat) down memory lane, then do a hike in the vicinity. The Big Pineapple originally opened in 1971 and was a Queensland Tourism icon, but has had some ups and downs. We had read that it reopened in 2015 and its website states, " ... the Big Pineapple is proudly open and boasts iconic, heritage listed BIG fun. You can again climb the Big Pineapple and explore the process of pineapple farming from start to factory, on your way to enjoying the fabulous views of the observation deck." When we arrived at the big empty car park, we knew something was amiss. Our hopes for that perfect parfait were quickly dashed. A small cafe at the front of the complex was open (no parfaits on the menu), but the big function rooms, restaurant area, toilets and shopping area were all locked up and looking very sadly run down and neglected. The website says there are Saturday markets held here, so hopefully it livens up on weekends. We climbed the iconic Big Pineapple as the website suggested, but again were saddened by the run down state it was in. The displays look like the originals from 1971, shabby, dated and the cans all going rusty. What to do? What to do? With our stomachs rumbling to the tune, "Came here to parfait", we had to go in search of a fix. We decided to head up the road a few more kilometres to the Buderim Ginger Factory and test their restaurant. Eureka! We struck gold! A lovely lady served us the most delicious parfaits ever, topped of course with little gingerbread men. We were in parfait heaven and all past sorrows were forgotten (as were our plans to hike). Feeling just the tiniest bit guilty, we went for a little walk, exploring the beautiful ginger gardens and rainforest area on site. The variety of ginger flowers were spectacular. We also enjoyed browsing through the onsite shops and admit to making a few purchases of hard-to-resist ginger products. We cannot recommend this tourist attraction enough. If you are ever up this way, run, run, as fast as you can and grab yourself a gingerbread man. Oh, and don't forget to have a parfait as well or any of the other delicious foods available in the cafe/restaurant. After the Ginger Factory experience we moseyed on over the road to the Coffee Factory and the Macadamia Nut Factory where we indulged in some taste testing of more delicious samples. Then, surprisingly, we decided we could still fit in the picnic lunch we had brought with us, so we drove to Caloundra. We had our rather late lunch overlooking the beautiful blue ocean and all agreed it was a very enjoyable day out despite the low kilometre count clocked up on our pedometers. Oh well, there is always next week.
Today was very hot, so thank goodness we got an early start. We left home by 6:00 a.m. and by 7:30 we were walking through the Brisbane Botanical Gardens and onwards up to the summit of Mt Coot-tha via a steep trail in the energy-sapping heat. While recuperating at the summit cafe with a well-earned coffee and cake, the lovely view of Brisbane became encased in clouds and we were cooled with a delicious downpour. Mt Coot-tha was originally home to the Turrbal Aboriginal people and the name derives from the aboriginal word for honey, 'kuta.' It has had a varied history of logging, gold mining and as a military base. Today the area offers over 50 kilometres of walking tracks and it is a popular area for people training to do the Kokoda Trail in PNG. The trail down was much easier and we then spent a very pleasant couple of hours exploring the magnificent gardens, followed by a picnic lunch by a cool pond. 13 kilometres in all, but as I always say, hill kilometres count as more than flat ones. Brisbane is lucky to have two botanic gardens - the City Botanic Gardens on the Brisbane River near QUT in the city centre and the Mt Coot-tha Gardens at the base of Mt Coot-tha. The latter were founded in 1970 and include a tropical dome, a fern house, Japanese garden, bonsai house and a variety of rainforests and lagoon areas. The well-established 56 hectare gardens feature more than 20,000 plants. It is a peaceful haven to escape to from the bustling city. Throughout the Botanic Gardens are delightful pieces of art that blend perfectly with the surroundings. |
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