The recently departed long, hot and wet summer and early Autumn was far from ideal for travel. And after all, that is what my blog posts are mostly about.
Two planned trips to Queensland’s Granite Belt and New South Wales New England, were aborted for both family and weather reasons. Although that trip may still occur, it is not yet bloggable and may never eventuate anyway.
But good things come to those who patiently wait. The weather forecast for Queensland’s Labor Day public holiday was predicted to be a ray of sunshine between the clouds and so it proved to be.
Still hankering after Autumn colours, I recalled some Facebook comments from months ago, where a grove of trees near Kenilworth seemed to present possibilities. Unless you have word from the horse’s mouth, there can be no certainty about the timing of the appearance of Autumn colours.
We left home after breakfast, stopping at Wild Horse Mountain or coffee. At the north end of Nambour, we turned inland to Mapleton, followed the precipitous descent of Obi Obi Road and then Obi Obi Creek, to Kenilworth. Everything is so green at the moment. It was an enjoyable drive.
Lunch time had come, so we found a parking space after a bit of a search. Kenilworth is a poplar town on a sunny public holiday. We then walked the short distance to the Kenilworth Dairy, where lunch and cheese were both offered. Lunch first, then cheese.
As we waited for lunch to arrive, I took couple of photos and rested my camera on the table. Suddenly, like out of nowhere, a Blue-faced Honeyeater landed on the adjoining table. There was no time for bird photography settings. It was grab and shoot and the bird was gone. You be the judge of the resulting photo.
We walked around town, as you do, while I took a few photos. Then we drove out to the grove of trees that, if they possessed an decency at all, would have presented leaves with all the colours of the Autumn spectrum. But no such luck. I am sure the I had located the correct trees, but my timing was obviously out. But I photographed them I took some photos of Obi Obi Creek as well. The grove of trees is at the head of this post.
The day had improved from its quite reasonable start. There was more blue sky than clouds and the temperature was delightful. Of the alternatives available to us we chose to drive toward Noosa. A recollection of a desire to climb Mount Tinbeerwah, located between Cooroy and Noosa, surfaced, so that is where we went.
Ruth stayed with the car and I took the track to the summit, not sure if I would go all the way. But once on the track it was hard to turn back and the views improved as I climbed. The track is concrete with inlaid stones for most of the way with some sloping bare rocks and a few short flights with steps. Where needed, the stairs have handrails.
A roofed observation deck is at the summit. Rails enclose the area, as the peak is surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs. There were half a dozen people up there, all much younger than I am. One young fellow said that he was staying to photograph the sunset. The path down would be quite safe, even in declining light.
Dredging is currently in progress at the Mount of the Noosa River. We drove through Noosaville, appreciating the beauty of the river in the late afternoon and deciding that we would return for fish and chips in the twilight.
Noosa Heads was its normal busy self. We patiently made our way to Hastings Street and slowly followed, as part of the traffic, along its narrow way. Almost every parking space along the road that leads to the river was taken. Those vacant were too far back to allow for an easy walk to the river.
We turned and slowly progressed to Noosaville, securing a parking spot adjacent to the river, a short walk from the vender of fish and chips. We found a table in the alfresco dining area and placed our order. There are always too many chips, but there certainly was adequate fish and assorted sea food. Quite a feast
More photos were taken at Noosaville, of course, ensuring a pleasant couple of hours next day as I processed them. Some accompany this blog.
We always enjoy Kenilworth and Noosa. I think this was the first time that we had visited them both on the same day.
In case you were wondering, the day after the public holiday was another nice day, despite the forecast to the contrary.
