Tag Archives: gold coast

The Historic Town of Stanley

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I’m going to say upfront and without having seen too much of Tas yet, Stanley is one of my favourite places in Tas to visit. The quaint town is set on a peninsula in Northwest Tasmania and its star attraction, other than being super quaint, is The Nut. The Nut is a rather large volcanic plug that looks like someone took one big hill and stuck it down right on the edge of a peninsula.

The Nut, Stanley

The Nut, Stanley

We drove into Stanley, after having a great homemade pie at the roadhouse, parked and set up Herc (the 4WD). Setting up camp is soooooo boring when you have so much to see and do, but we got it out of the way and finally started our ascent of The Nut.

There are two ways of getting to the top of The Nut, one by taking a paid chair lift to the top, and two by climbing an incredible steep 430mt stretch, which is of course what we took. I hadn’t realised how unfit I am until this point and now have vowed to run every morning.

View of the chair lifts from The Nut

View of the chair lifts from The Nut

Once at the top of The Nut, there is a km or so walk around the summit, super windy and cold, but stunning views of the town, ocean and farm land surrounding the area. Quite unexpectedly on various sides of the summit were different types of flora and fauna. On the less windy side was a strange little forest filled with butterflies. From The Nut I’d also spotted an old cemetery, I know this is a little freakish but I really like old cemeteries, there’s something about the history and the quiet that I really enjoy. So we started the descent down The Nut via the really steep path, rather than the comfy chair lift, and walked off to investigate the cemetery.

Another picture of The Nut because it's so pretty!

Another picture of The Nut because it’s so pretty!

Of the list of cemeteries that I’ve visited (don’t judge!) I’d say this is probably the second loveliest cemetery I’ve ever visited after Waverley Cemetery in Sydney. The Circular Head cemetery in Stanley had the most stunning views overlooking the ocean and The Nut. Lots of old graves with stories, lovely!

Circular Heads Cemetery_Stanley_A Girl A 4WD and A Trailer

As Stanley’s main street was just around the corner, it’s a very small town, we strolled down and read the historic trail information points. Stanley was opened in 1827 as a port and so there are many beautifully restored historic buildings in the town. The historic information points lead us straight into the historic pub with an old cellar, not much there so we made our way to the Pirate Oyster Bar where we ordered oysters and chips of lunch. The oysters were Pacific oysters grown locally in the next town over on an oyster farm. Unfortunately the farm is private and can’t be visited, but the oysters were lovely yum!

By this time is was getting to mid arvo so we headed back to the caravan park. As we were parked in a caravan park with washing machines, we had some domestics to do; however, I won’t bore you with that right now.

Photographs By Monica

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The other weekend I went on a lovely Landscape Photography Tour in and around the Gold Coast. The tour was organised and run by the lovely Andrea at Photo Tour Experts.

The day started at 8am on Saturday, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, we couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day. 12 of us hopped into a big van, driven by Andrea, and  headed out to Fingal Head for some amazing coastal scenery.

Next stop was near Murwillumbah, a long and winding road through some stunning hills brought us to a dilapidated old shed next to a field of cows.

A little further down the road we stopped at an organic farm and had lunch. I was introduced to these amazing Australian Native Finger Limes. They’re skinny like fingers but when you open them there looks to be hundreds of tiny green caviar looking balls which taste like lime.

From here we went to Springbrook National Park, Natural Bridge. Here we took photos of waterfalls and fungi.

Then we headed back to the Gold Coast for some marina, sunset and night light shots.

It was a fantastic day out, I learnt plenty of cool photography tricks and I met a bunch of lovely peoples.

Beer Review – Murray’s Craft Brewing & Burleigh Brewing Co

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So I’ve been soaking up some rays in sunny Gold Coast while I’m in between jobs. We found this fantastic little caravan park between the theme parks, which is where Johny is working at the moment. Since he needed to be here all week I thought, why let him have all the fun? So I packed everything up and came down with him. I have spent the last week sitting in the hot spa next to the pool, walking around, reading, writing, drawing and meditating. I feel fantastic!

On my travels I came across a Dan Murphy (One of my two favourite bottle shops) and decided to have a sticky. Dan did not disappoint as I found a large collection of local craft beers on hand. Since one of my goals during our trip around Oz involves tasting craft beers what better time then the present to start practising?

Beer number 1: Murray’s Craft Brewing  – Angry Man Pale Ale. On second look at the bottle I realised that this is actually a NSW beer from Nelsons Bay. So not a QLD beer at all, oops! Anyway since I’d cracked it open I didn’t want to waste it. This beer is featured as number 10/100 in 2011.

I must say that the label was the initial draw card from me. I like to choose bottles with interesting labels and stories on the back. The label features a man and boxing kangaroo.

Angry Man Pale Ale was a lovely golden colour and still retains the yeast sediment in the bottom of the bottle, which makes it a little cloudy. It smelt yummy, the beer maker calls is spicy-citrusy and if I smelt hard enough I got it. It is big on taste but it’s a bit harsh on the old tongue and I’m not terribly fond of the after taste.

Food matching is with spicy food, maybe some Thai. I would say that I probably wouldn’t go back for a second bottle. One with dinner would be quite enough.

Beer number 2: The Burleigh Brewing Co – My Wifes Bitter. This one is definitely from Queensland. Thankfully I found during my research on this beer that it’s name is a declaration of love rather then public jape.

Again, I loved the image on the bottle; this is what initially drew me in after the fact that it is a local beer. I had read some less then glowing reports on this beer which was a bit concerning. However being a VB girl, classy I know, I was willing to give it a go.

First sniff and I got burnt toast. Not a lot of head and a nice amber colour. I got a very quick short burst of bitter toffee and then nothing. After the initial mouthful it feels a little watery, but I don’t mind it.

I had this beer with a posh Mac & Cheese (with Chorizo) and quite enjoyed both.

Beer number 3: The Burleigh Brewing Co – Hef

This beer was my hands down favourite out of the 3 I’ve sampled.

Hef made in a German Wheat beer style. I read that this beer has banana and clove characteristics. How can you get a banana beer? First mouthful and all I could taste was banana lollies, sounds weird, and tasted delicious.

There was a nice creamy head to the beer. It’s a dull gold and a little bity bit cloudy and is lovely and creamy with a hint of sweet.

In true German style I had this beer with a sausage. It was a French style Toulouse sausage (made by the local butcher in Oxenford) on a fresh bun with mustard. I tell you what this foodie/boozie could not be a happier chicky right now.

If ever you’re in the Gold Coast region I highly recommend either stopping in at the Burleigh Brewing Co as they run tours of their brewery in Burleigh Heads or stop in at your local Dan M’s.