EC-Rider Travels

When Diana suggested we should head into the Hinterland, I was not quite sure where she was intending to take me….. However, rather like when they talk about going ‘into the bush’ which simply means going to the country, the Hinterland is the inland region lying behind a coast or shoreline. It is lusher, cooler and the area along the Sunshine Coast is quite mountainous.

Paul Boyd had suggested we went to a place called Melany and Montville so we headed in this direction. Montville was a charming town, very geared to the tourist but with lots of interesting galleries. One incredible photographic one, Ben Messina, which had some really stunning images. (Tim you would have loved them). It also had the most divine chapel – would be so perfect Tatts!

On our way to Maleny, we stopped at the Mary Cairncross Reserve; a 55 hectare, subtropical rainforest with a lovely walk through an incredible collection of the most enormous trees – Australian Red Cedars, Black Beans, Piccabeen Palms, Alexandra Palm, Yellow Carrabeen, White Beech, Tulip Oak, Eucalyptus and scary Strangling Figs and a Giant Stinging Tree. There was an extraordinarily diverse plant life and apparently bird and animal life too. Although we were serenaded by the most amazing birdsong, we only saw a few of the 141 different species of beautiful birds who apparently live there. We were excited to see a little Eastern Whipbird, with its sweet tufty hairdo, a couple of fantails and a yellow-throated scrub-wren, busily scrubbing around on the ground, flipping over leaves hoping to find a delicious grub. We also saw a couple of pademelon.

We eventually made it to Melany, stopping along the way to take a few pictures of the extraordinary Glass House Mountains. These are a cluster of thirteen hills rising abruptly from the rather flat plain. Quite a surprise and very beautiful.

We parked the car and headed off on the Melany trail where we were told we might see the illusive duck-billed platypus. Along the way we saw some dear little silvereyes; birds which Amanda and I had failed to see in Heron Island. We came to the ‘platypus look-out’ where we met a charming local couple who told us what to look out for. And within a few minutes, the ripples started, just as they said, and suddenly we saw this little, long-nosed person dipping and diving – such a thrill!

We eventually dragged ourselves away from our new little friend and came home, via the supermarket, and cooked ourselves rather a fine supper. Such a lovely day.