2 Texans Down Under

Brisbane’s location, between the Gold Coast’s beaches and nearby national parks an hour or two south and the Sunshine Coast and nearby national parks an hour or two north, is great for weekend trips.

Australia Day at the end of January provided a long weekend and Kristi and I took advantage of it by heading north to visit Mapleton, Montville, Maleny, Mooloolaba, Caloundra, Buderim, Tewantin and various beaches and mountaintops in between.

No worries if you don’t know where any of these places are. With one or two exceptions, they were unknown to us, too, before we used the holiday weekend to celebrate our birthdays (if you ignore the year designations, Kristi is about a week older than I am).

Two very different kinds of natural beauty were on display before our eyes (a) the ocean and its beaches and (b) the lush countryside a very few miles inland along the Blackall Range of small mountains.

From a two-lane highway that runs mostly along the ridge of these mountains, we enjoyed grand views of the green meadows and forests of an area some have described as “the calm behind the Sunshine Coast.” Not far away in the east, we often saw, was the ocean.

We found interesting forest trails in Mapleton Forest Reserve and in Kondalilla National Park. We briefly visited tourist shops in Montville and then drove to Maleny, where everyone backs into the parking spaces along the main street instead of driving forward to the curb. I mean, kerb.

We played tourist, had ice cream, and inquired at an information kiosk about pronouncing “Maleny.” It’s pronounced “ma-LANE-e,” as if it’s “e” were an “a.” Why? The two information ladies discussed that fact and announced their conclusion: “It’s to confuse the tourists.”

From a small park in MaLANEe, we had fine north-side views of the Glass House Mountains, which we usually see from the south or east. After a quick visit to the local cheese factory, we headed east toward the ocean.

Certainly the coast was more lively on this warm and sunny Australia Day Saturday. After being lucky enough to find a parking space, we walked along King’s Beach and its full but not over-crowded parks.

Commemorating the landing of the first fleet in Port Jackson, New South Wales, in 1788, and the establishment of the first European settlement, a penal colony, Australia Day has also been called, by Aboriginals, Invasion Day and Day of Mourning.

For most non-Aboriginal Australians, though, it is as much a time for patriotism as July 4th is in the US. So Australian flags were everywhere.

Small flags were fluttering from car windows and waving in the breeze from the tops of little tents on the beach. They were on flag poles and in people’s hands and incorporated into clothing. At least a few were prominently displayed as strategic parts of bikini bathing suits.

The beach was definitely the place to be for the young and the restless, but not only for them. These holiday crowds were, like most of those we’ve seen in Australian parks, multi-generational.

The facilities provided near the beaches seem well designed for whole families, for children, for older folk, and for young single people. The barbies were smoking, dogs were being walked on leashes, games were under way, and, here and there, beer was being consumed.

The bed and breakfast we’d reserved was as calm and quiet as the inland regions, though, which is what we wanted. Give us peace, quiet, hiking trails, and a few birds to look at and we’re happy.

On a hilltop in a residential area, the Buderim White House is run by two Australians, Diana and Keith Johnston, who reared a family together in California and then returned home a few years ago to build a Queenslander with great porches overlooking tropical vegetation.

We don’t normally seek out lodgings with five-star ratings and this was a two-birthday splurge for us, but it was worth it because of the quality of the food, the surroundings, and the service. Elegant is the only word for this B&B.

Fearful of traffic congestion is what we were on Monday when we cut back on our plans to visit various destination farther up the coast. After climbing up to the Mt. Tinbeerwah Lookout, we decided to head home.

It was too late to get an early start on end-of-holiday traffic, of course, but when we saw a lot of vehicles slowing down ahead of us on the Bruce Highway near Caboolture, we took an exit and Kristi used our book of street maps to find a back way home.

We’re not sure we saved time, but we know we saved stress, and we were in the relative cool and calm of our own place by mid-afternoon.

It’s great to have so much beauty within a couple of hours’ drive, to be able to visit, and then be soon home again.