Electoral relief

After almost 8 months of build-up Australia is finally going to the polls tomorrow. I think most Australians are viewing this with a sense of relief more than excitement as the campaigning has been long, hard and almost completely negative from all sides. Australia has a weird concept where scores of people stand on street corners waving placards and pictures of their selected candidates at passing traffic. Odd from a UK perspective because I've not seen that done over there, and odder still because it's hard to believe that anyone still cares enough to do it.

Another interesting thing is the role of the press over here. There is only one major newspaper published in SE Qld - the Fox / Murdoch owned Courier Mail - and it portrays a relentlessly negative image of the Labor (sic) party and in particular Kevin Rudd, the incumbent prime minister. In the UK the Mirror traditionally champions Labour and the Sun the Tories, but over here there is no alternate view and so most people only get to read what Rupert Murdoch wants them to read. This had ruffled a few feathers and a local lobbying organisation has produced the following excellent video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grqp-JQMFuM

This ad has been vetted by the appropriate TV organisations and has been passed as fit for broadcast, but it has been turned down by all three major television stations in Australia. So much for a free press...

Anyway, it's almost over and scarily it looks like our next PM will almost certainly be the mad monk , a man who can confuse a suppository with a repository and who will no doubt represent Australia well on the world stage.

This is all summed up best by this video, which is my tune of the week. The last third is more than a little over the top and is obviously just someone getting over-excited about their special guest, but it's worth it for the first section...

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWU6tVxzO1I

 

Me - I'm heading off to a remote island tomorrow in an attempt to avoid the hooplah...

Out & about in the Granite Belt

Just a quick finish to my Stanthorpe photologue with same random 'out and about' photos...

Heading through the Great Dividing Range via the Cunningham Gap - only an hour or so from Brisbane so somewhere to explore for future bushwalking opportunities

Service station in Maryvale

A pyramid just out of Ballandean. Why?

Maybe because a roadside dinosaur had already been done...

Classic Australian pastoral scenes. There was a nagging sense of British familiarity as we drove around, which I think was mainly due to the less humid weather (Stanthorpe is on a plateau just under 3,000' high) and the more open countryside 

 Or maybe I just spent too long in the landscapes section of the Melbourne art gallery

The not-in-the-least-bit tacky Castle Glen winery, which offer not just wines but liqueurs, spirits and beers. They have a preservative-free stance and an experimental approach to their wares, so definitely worth a visit for something a little different.

 Apple pie at Suttons Orchard with cream & spiced ice-cream

Goat!

We both had a great time and after 4 days didn't want to come home. So if you're after a long weekend away or a week to kick back and relax then think about giving the Granite Belt a go....

Closet ornithologist

The bird life at Happy Valley was also pretty impressive, especially to us city slickers. Give me a camera and some passing wildlife and I can be amused for hours...

Wood ducks & ducklings

Some resident ex-pet Khaki Campbells who happily wandered around the fields in a group making very relaxing low quacking sounds as they grazed 

Scarlet Rosellas

 Kookaburras

 Black cockatoos

 and a couple of magpies that we christened 'Dr Evil' and 'Dr Evil Twin' and who were always ready to pounce on any 'spare' food left lying around. This included toast you were holding at the time...

 Luckily I had a bird-scarer to hand

We don't know what caused this tense duck / kookaburra stand-off, but it went on for a good 20 minutes before the duck blinked first and wandered off pretending it wasn't playing the game anyway...



 

Wallangarra

Whilst we were out & about we stopped off at Wallangarra railway station. We originally went there to check out a local market - it doesn't look like much at first

But it turns out that Wallangarra is a historical railway town which lies on the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

Back in the day the railway lines for the two states ran on different gauges (3'6 for Qld & 4'8 for NSW) and Wallangarra was the place where the two lines met. Everything had to be off-loaded from trains on one line and carried across the platform to the other line. The rooves on the station tell the story - the flat skillion roof is on the NSW side and the bull-nose roof is on the Qld side 

One foot in each state... 

 The bush spirit is obviously still strong in Wallangarra

 but the modern world is slowly encroaching

Check out these great old places whilst you can...

Girraween National Park

One of the reasons that we visited Stanthorpe was to go walking in the Girraween national park. I've always been a bit ambivalent about walking in Australia as it seems that as soon as you're out of sight of the car park the view remains the same until you get back in the car, but Girraween was a little different.

At first you're in a maze of windscaped rocks, cold springs, and hidden forested bathing spots

 But in the far distance you can see the Pyramid looming

This is flagged as a 3.4km return walk which 'requires sturdy footwear' - but really, how hard can it be?

 

The walk started off easily as it winds through some amazing lichen-sculptured boulders

 but after some serious stairs it broke out into some open ground

made of bare, beautiful high traction granite

It required a fair degree of trust in your boots as you climbed

but I'm an ex-climber, so I should be right..... 

I was doing OK up until this point, where the ground slopes away and looks like it will spit you off the edge if you trip. At this point I was starting to remember why I am an ex-climber

I fought back my sudden attack of the fears and pushed on...one of these photos was taken on the way, the other at the top. Can you guess which is which? 

I was pretty stoked that I made it to the top but when I was up there I met this family, complete with three young kids and a handbag... 

Getting down was a little less elegant than the climb

But eventually we made it back to safer ground

We took a small diversion on the way back to check out the granite arch

along with some other beautiful scenery

Some locals turned up to greet us when we made it back to the car park

 They even bought their kids for a bite to eat... 

 

Happy Valley Retreat

We stayed at the Happy Valley Retreat in Stanthorpe, which was a beautiful restful place around 10 minutes drive from the centre of Stanthorpe town. The resort covers around 30 acres of bushland teeming with local wildlife and the accommodation consist of log-fired cabins scattered around the grounds. We stayed in a 'suite' (essentially a semi-detached cabin) with a great view from the back patio section

 

 

It was a lovely place to hang out in the evenings watching the wildlife (pictures to come), but sometimes the fauna became a bit overwhelming...

The temperature dropped overnight so it was time to take advantage of their iron-bark fired stoves. These were very relaxing...relaxing to the point where I was snoring in front of it by 8.30 every evening.   

It's a perfect break for a family break, as there's plenty of space at the resort for the kids to run around and play with their toys...

Oh, and did I mention they had an on-site microbrewery?  Thanks to Geoff at Granite Belt Brewery for taking some time out of his busy day to talk me through his operation. Sadly I don't think he was in need of an assistant brewer...

If you're heading down to the Granite Belt for a few days and you're looking for a great place to stay, check them out!