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Monday 8 April 2013

On the way up to O'Reilly's in the Gold Coast Hinterland

photo showing the Scenic Drive to O'Reilly's in the Gold Coast Hinterland

Early morning, headed for the famous O'Reilly's Tree-Top Walk but first, we stop off at the Canungra Valley Winery after a 40 minute drive. It was a welcome rest break and we wander around the symmetrically-lined vineyard, and absorb the surrounding views. We looked for platypuses in the river and found out that they make hampers for lunch and Devonshire tea in the afternoons. Such a romantic place to be!

After navigating through what seemed like endless stretches of dangerous, windy roads, we reached the Mountview Alpaca Farm. In a comical fashion, a chicken ran across the road as we drove up and I was thoroughly amused at the Alpacas being very aware of the presence of my camera, turning to observe me just as much as I observed them! Tourists share the Alpaca feed they bought, we tried on Akubra hats, and had some photos taken from the balcony of the lush green vistas below.


Another 40 minutes of tree-lined single-lane roads takes us to our final destination - O'Reilly's. We tucked into a simple lunch of burgers and surprisingly, there were no views from our lunch tables but the fresh air and food recharged us. Being Queensland, I need not have worried about my lack of appropriate footwear as there were plenty of others who were kicking around in thongs. Thankfully, speaking from a fear of heights, the actual Tree-Top Walk only lasted 5-10 minutes but there was a queue to climb up into the actual trees, as it is only equipped to handle one person at a time, seeing as they come back down the same path.

The other attraction was 
Bird feeding time which we really enjoyed. Other generous visitors shared the bird feed they bought and everyone bonded as the Rosellas flew into awaiting palms, and even my head at one stage! I screamed in surprise as I felt the claws dig into my scalp. These were fantastic photo opportunities and definitely something people should experience.

As advised by the lady at the Information booth, there are more bush walks near O'Reilly's but you do need to have proper walking shoes to go on.

More Recreational Activities on the Gold Coast include:
To Fishy Adventures at Sea World!

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