Mt Gravatt

Brisbane has huge sprawling suburbs that run for many miles - I read somewhere that it has the second largest suburban area in the southern hemisphere (beaten only by Rio De Janeiro) but that may just be a random factoid. This means that the city covers a wide variety of terrain, including some significant hills. One of those hills is Mt Gravatt, and yesterday morning we headed up there for breakfast.

The views of the city are wonderful

You can see Moreton Bay over to the East

and the ranges to the West of Brisbane stretching away in tempting green undulations

There are plenty of well signed walking tracks so you can experience a touch of the bush in the suburbsInsects chirrup and birds squawk, creating a silence and calmness in the woodland that somehow seems to sit seamlessly on top of the constant urban hum.

The 'Echidna Magic' restaraunt & kiosk has recently been opened at the top of Mt Gravatt.

This is a venture by 'FirstContact', a local indigenous support group that provides training and opportunities for young indigenous people. If you want to check it out be aware that the opening hours are a touch erratic - they open at 10am on a Sunday and do not have a breakfast menu, and this in a town which is famous for early starts to beat the heat and brisk family walks before breakfast. And unfortunately the food isn't that good, although it is relatively cheap. But the service is friendly, the coffee is good (even getting the seal of approval from my notoriusly fussy cappucino expert), the cakes look tasty and it's hard not to be impressed with somewhere like this

If you're in the area and feel like some fresh air and coffee, I recommend it.

Sadly mountain biking is not allowed on the hill despite the fact that you could build a fantastic urban centre that would be sustainable, low key and the envy of many towns in the US, Canada and the UK. The local 'greenies' over here seem to spend most of their time rejecting any development that may threaten to impact on their property prices instead of looking at encouraging sustainable public use of 'their' green spaces. Gates & bans are cheaper & easier than development plans and if the local kids are hooning around in hotted up cars on public roads instead of riding pushbikes in a managed environment - well who cares so long as they do it in a lower socio-economic suburb? It seems that NIMBYism is a worldwide trait, and sadly over here they have the ear of council. There was a public consultation on the use of Mt Gravatt that was overwhelmingly pro-mountain bike and this was dismissed as 'a lobbying action'. It seems that if enough people think something should happen and are prepared to take action to try to make it happen, it should be ignored as it's clearly been rigged. And if not enough people agree - well, we have to listen to the majority and maintain the status quo. And of course the property prices.