Winter in Queensland is very mild, but there is one place where temperatures drop considerably. Our walking group decided to head to higher elevation on the Darling Downs for a few days of hiking, fine wine and good company. The cool, high country of the Granite Belt is located on Queensland's southern border. We ascended the Great Dividing Range through Cunningham's Gap, then by Warwick and Stanthorpe and Ballandean, where we had rented a lovely house, alone on top of a high hill with magnificent views. As we could not check in to our accommodation till afternoon, we parked our cars at the property entrance and took a wine tour for the day. We were the only seven on the tour and were able to pick and choose the places we visited. The mix of wineries and artisan businesses made for a fantastic day of sampling a wonderful variety of delicious tastes. Our drivers had organised lunch at Varias Restaurant. The Award Winning Varias Restaurant, Conference and Function Centre, together with the Banca Ridge Vineyard and Cellar Door, is incorporated into the Queensland College of Wine Tourism. In partnership with the University of Southern Queensland, Stanthorpe State High School and 27 other Gateway Schools, the College provides training from secondary to tertiary levels in viticulture, oenology, tourism, hospitality and business. We were delighted to help in the education of our state's young people. Before heading home we made a stop to see Stanthorpe's newest tourist attraction. Queensland's coldest town has celebrated its title by unveiling the Big Thermometer. It is set in Rotary Park and is so new its surroundings are still being landscaped. After our delicious day of touring local wineries it was time to settle in to our new digs. The house was big and warm, surrounded by bushland and gorgeous views. After all our eating and drinking and touring, we had an early night, retreating to very comfortable beds. While some of us continued to enjoy the comfort of our warm beds next morning, Helen and I braced the -4 degrees dawn and walked to the top of the hill to enjoy sunrise. After breakfast, we redid this walk with the others and enjoyed the view in a whole different light. After enjoying the view and a whole lot of posing, we returned to the house to hike down to the river. The sky was still splattered with an amazing swirl of cloud and wattle was riotous in golden bloom. We set off with confidence (mistake number 1) and no water or food (mistakes number 2 & 3) as we thought we would only be away a short time on a short hike (mistakes number 4 & 5). We wound our way along a rough, overgrown 4-wheel drive track and enjoyed the lovely bush with birds singing and kangaroos grazing, before hitting the creek. It was on the way back we found ourselves lost as there seemed to be tracks everywhere and we could not recognise any. Thankfully, after a few hill climbs and backtracking, good old Google maps helped us find our way out of the maze. We had a lot of thirst quenching and hunger sating to take care of when we returned. We had revived by sunset and made some more toasts to friendship, hiking and this beautiful part of the world. After a great night's sleep Helen and I once again took an early morning hike while the others slept on. We covered an invigorating 8 kilometres and returned just in time for breakfast before the others gave up on us and began. All too soon it was time to head home, but we made a couple of stops on the way. We enjoyed morning tea at The Bramble Patch and lunch at our picnic spot at Cunningham's Gap, then continued on home with full bellies and many happy memories. A perfect mid-week break to remind us how great retirement can be.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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