Days 211-215 – Glass House Mountains (11-15 Apr)

Onto Glass House Mountains to start our 2 month housesit.  The closer we got the darker the sky was.  Definitely heading towards a big storm.  Along the way stopped at the town of Kilcoy the home of the Yowie.  Last reported sighting was December 1979.  By the time we got to Glass House Mountains it was pouring, luckily it was only a short downpour and stopped shortly after we arrived at our house sit.  The house is a fairly typical Queenslander (ie off the ground) with lovely big verandahs and a green lush garden although we are told this is a result of the recent rains.  The block is 1 1/4 acres. It was quite a challenge to get the van down the driveway.  The block is subdivided with our housesit being on the back block and John had to manoeuvre the van along a narrow driveway about 100m long and then over a bridge over a little creek.  The van wheels only just fitting onto the bridge, all this whilst it was raining.  The next day he turned the van around in a really tight spot.  First time he has had to unhitch the car halfway through to turn it around. John is certainly very competent with the van nowadays.  Lydia and Bert (house owners) are a lovely couple and we spent a couple of days with them while they showed us ‘the ropes’ and some walking and sightseeing spots around the area.  Lydia works as a volunteer at the local visitor centre and is a mine of information.  Nearby are macadamia plantations and macadamias they can be bought fairly cheaply as can pineapples and other tropical fruit.  The Glasshouse Mountains comprises a total of 15 mountains over an area of 600,000 hectares.  Within walking distance is Mt Ngungun.  The tallest is Mt Beerwah at 556m high.  The other mountains are a short distance away.  Most have walks to their summits.  Lydia and Bert took us to the Glass House Mountains lookout which gives a great view of the mountains and surrounding towns, unfortunately it was a rainy day and not good for photos so we will go back and take some when the sun is shining.  The area is very lovely and we constantly have views of the mountains when wandering around.  One in particular is quite unusual looking and is described as looking like a hare tooth.  Glass House Mountains is 70kms north from Brisbane and takes a good hour to drive and the train also takes an hour. It is also the start of the Sunshine Coast.  The town itself has a population of about 4000 with many original residents being pineapple, sugarcane or tobacco farmers.  Over time these farms have been sold and subdivided into housing developments.  About 6kms away is Beerwah the business hub of the area and home to Australia Zoo.  One of the main drags on the Sunshine Coast is called Steve Irwin Drive (formerly called Glasshouse Mountains Tourist Drive).  One of our duties during our house sit is to take care of Bon a big sooky yellow labrador who just had his fourth birthday.  He is another very spoilt pooch and he and Coco are getting along just fine.  Bert, Lydia and Bon showed us his favourite walks.  There is a real nice one along a firebreak that edges onto the national park and literally across the road.  Very handy.  There is so much to do around here that the 2 months will just fly by.  We are going to make a list of what we want to see and do so that we don’t miss anything out.  Wendy and Rob, friends of ours from WA who moved to Pomona (75kms north of GHM near Noosa) are coming for a visit on Sunday so really looking forward to seeing them again.  Since we have been here it has rained everyday and consequently everything is soggy or damp.  My shoes have only just dried out!  Qld is known as the sunshine state (hmm not sure about that).  Although the recent rains are not the norm and April usually has a few showers but by the end of the month the rain should stop (so we are told).  Hope so.  It is very humid here particularly the first couple of days which makes the rain more bearable.  The daytime temperature is around the mid 20s and night time the lowest has been 14 so very pleasant.  The average humidity seems to be around 60%.  John found a green tree snake on the side of the road – it looked like it had been run over and was just about dead when he picked it up.  He bought it home so we could take it to a wildlife carer but unfortunately it died before we could get it there.

View Full Album