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Four Days in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland
Peace and Quiet Awaits
The Sunshine Coast, Queensland might mean lots of beaches and tourist haunts to some, but for me it means rolling hills, glorious sunrises and sunsets, zero traffic and peace and quiet.
That’s exactly what we were looking for when we hired a car and headed for the Sunshine Coast hinterland for a much needed break.
To top it off, it was my birthday weekend, so a quiet break away was my choice of celebration.
Day One
We collected our hire car on Friday and set off for the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. What was supposed to be only a 2 and 1/2 hour trip turned into 4 hours! The traffic on the M1 was horrific, more like a carpark than a freeway.
Our home away from home was gorgeous and well worth the drive. We were greeted by a welcome breakfast hamper filled with muesli, locally sourced bread, butter, milk, strawberries, an avocado, mandarins, oranges and yoghurt, and some local coffee beans for our morning coffee. Enough food to keep us going for days!
Our sweet cabin had a super fun swing chair on the balcony which was surprisingly comfortable, and it was a great place to enjoy the sunrise and sunsets.
We were miles away from any main roads, and the only sounds we heard were of many varieties of birds, and of the cows in the paddock below our balcony.
Bliss!
Day Two
Saturday, we were awake with the birds. I set out exploring, walking down the local road. I came face to face with a wallaby mid way along the road. I don’t know who was more shocked, him or me!
Following the road, I came across another fun swing attached to a large tree and an old, very ornate gate leading to nowhere.
I did come a cropper as I was heading towards the swing, the leaf litter was super slippery and I ended up on my butt and sat on a prickle! Ouch!
After breakfast we headed out and came across Gardners Falls. We enjoyed a little rock hopping and watched a few guys jumping into the deep water. A quick dip of my toe told me the water was freezing, but I can see this place being very popular in summer!
From there we drove to the Glasshouse Mountains “official” lookout which was surprisingly underwhelming! We navigated tourist buses, and crowds of people to the lookout area, and the view was not nearly as good as I’d expected.
PS. We found a much better view 5 minutes drive from our place!
A sunset walk was in order tonight. And we were not disappointed. Everywhere we looked the colours in the sky just got better and better! Pinks and blues became reds and purples in a matter of minutes.
Later that night I wandered out to see if I could spot any fireflies, no luck, but I did almost step on a giant green tree frog. I managed to usher him off the path and into the garden without any dramas.
Day Three
We were awake before the birds and before the sunrise (try 4:40 am). So, I headed off to our “secret” lookout to see if I could catch the sunrise over the Glasshouse Mountains. Was it worth it? Absolutely, even if my pic doesn’t do it justice.
After breakfast, I wandered off for another walk, following part of the Obi Obi Boardwalk trail from the town of Maleny along the river, and past the golf course. I looked for platypus in the river — no luck there.
It was gearing up to be a hot day so an afternoon drive was in order. We followed the country road to Kenilworth where we grabbed a donut (my choice was lemon curd filled), and some cheese and chocolate mousse from the dairy. Yum! I highly recommend visiting both.
The vening rolled around and again I was hoping to find fireflies so headed to the nearby bench seat for a look. No fireflies, but the skies were super clear making my Plan B a success.
PS. Plan B was to enjoy some stargazing in the gloriously dark and clear skies.
I also enjoyed sharing my seat with this giant green tree frog!
Day Four:
We woke up a little late and WOW! The mist in the valley below was so awesome, I set up my camera and tripod to take a time lapse. The video below is filmed over a 30 minute period, the mist started to disappear the higher the sun rose in the sky. So beautiful.
I went for another walk down the lane before breakfast and could see that the spiders were very busy overnight. Everywhere I looked I saw spider webs covered in morning dew. They were on tree branches, along the barbed wire fences and even in the grass.
We decided to leave early in the hope that we would avoid the carpark (AKA the freeway). The trip home was only (?!) three hours.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and have definite plans to return. Next time, I plan to tackle some of the hiking trails.
