Cheryl's Travels: Moving over to the Gold Coast

Unfortunately Friday dawned with weather very typical of what Queensland has been experiencing for the past couple of months ... grey skies and a good possibility of rain. Despite that, we decided to go for a drive into the Hinterland, the mountain range just north of Brisbane, and although the photos don't show off this area at its finest, it is a very beautiful part of the world.

The Glass House Mountains are a group of eleven hills that rise abruptly from the coastal plain on the Sunshine Coast. The highest mountain is Mount Beerwah at 556m above sea level, but the most identifiable of all the mountains is Mount Tibrogargan (364m) which appears like a giant ape sitting by the roadside staring out to sea. The mountains were named by explorer Captain James Cook in 1770. The peaks reminded him of the glass furnaces in his home county of Yorkshire.
The range was formed as molten lava cooled to form hard rock in the cores of volcanoes between 26-27 million years ago. The cores of the mountains contain columns of comendite from lava which cools quickly into a hard rock. The surrounding softer rocks have been eroded in the subsequent time, forming the spectacular volcanic plugs that remain today.

The Glass House Mountains are located in the traditional lands of the Gubbi Gubbi people. In the Aboriginal legend the mountains are members of a family with the father being Mount Tibrogargan and the mother Mount Beerwah. All of the other mountains are sons and daughters with the eldest being Mount Coonowrin.

Tibrogargan, the father, observes that the sea is rising and asks that Coonowrin, the eldest son, help their pregnant mother to safety. Terrified, Coonowrin instead flees. Infuriated by his sons cowardice Tibrogargan pursues him and strikes him so hard that he dislocates Coonowrin's neck.

Once the danger passes Coonowrin feels tremendous guilt for his actions and asks his father, brothers and sisters for forgiveness but all wept with shame. This is said to explain the many small streams that flow through the area. Tibrogargan turned his back on Coonowrin and gazes out to sea refusing to look at his son Coonowrin who continues to hang his head in shame and weeps.

We drove right by the base of Mount Tibrogargan so this will give you an idea of what these giant 'volcanic plugs' look like, just sticking right up out of the earth.

As you've probably gathered, Australian's are into "big things" and on my drive today there was another example --- the "Big Mower".

A little further along I had another very Australian experience - buying mangoes from a roadside stall, actually a trailor, fresh picked from his home near Gympie.

We had a picnic lunch at a place called Mary Carincross Reserve. The reserve is positioned in the mountain rainforests of the Maleny region overlooking the Glass House Mountains. I was lucky and the cloud cover did clear a little bit while we were having lunch, and if you look in the background you can just see some of the Glass House Mountains.

I had a visitor at lunch again today - a little bush turkey.

After leaving the mountains we went to visit a friend who lives in Caloundra. Isn't this a beautiful tree - it's one of two giant scribbly gum trees that are in her backyard.

And being at Caloundra was great because it meant I was back at the beach again! Moffat Beach is about a 5 minute walk from my friend's place, and fish and chips on the beach tonight was a great way to end the day.

The next day found me heading south/east from Brisbane, out to the coast again, and I'm now staying with a friend in Burleigh Heads which is on the Gold Coast. Unbelievably we actually managed a bit of blue sky yesterday and I definitely tried to take advantage of it.

This is the main beach at Burleigh heads, looking south,

and looking north. Off in the distance along the shoreline you can see the infamous "Surfer's Paradise".

Our drive yesterday had a very special end spot in mind, but en route we stopped at a little village called Bangalow. If you didn't know better, you'd think that the village knew I was coming to visit and prepared itself especially for me.

After leaving Bangalow we stopped at a lookout with a fantastic view over a nearby valley and out towards the lighthouse at Byron Bay.

Byron Bay has a population of about 5000 and Cape Byron, a headland adjacent to the town, is the easternmost point of mainland Australia. Captain James Cook named Cape Byron after John Byron, circumnavigator of the world and grandfather of the poet, Lord Byron.

Cape Byron Light is an active lighthouse located at Cape Byron. It is Australia's most powerful lighthouse, with a light intensity of 2,200,000 cd. Construction of the lighthouse began in 1900 and it was completed in 1901.