dizzy1

Have 10 days to spend in and around Brisbaine and the south east. Like hiking, swimming, playing golf, going to wineries. Want to see lots of animals too and generally have a fun time.
Anyone with some good ideas?

tropo

dizzy1 - it all depends on what type of holiday do you want, do you want to high roller type holiday, or do you want a quieter more magical holiday visiting some of our unusual places in south eastern Queensland?
If you like the quieter type place, I would recommend, visiting the hinterland of both the Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast, and whilst talking about the Sunshine Coast, rent a car, tour Maleny, Montville etc, then go around the back of Maleny, to Kenilworth, then up through the village of Imbul on the "Mary Valley Way" to the town of Gympie, then across to the seaside town of Rainbow Beach, to enjoy a wonderful seaside place, that many people dont get to see, and whilst there, do a trip to Fraser Island. Then from Rainbow Beach, drive back down to Coolum, and play a round of golf at the Coolum Resort Golf Course, then drive to Eumundi (Saturday morning markets), and stop & have a coffee in the quiet village of Cooroy.
Over the years I have noticed a lot of Australians & overseas tourists mainly want to visit, the "major attractions or towns" & miss out on some stunning little places, that are overlooked. I call them the "gems" of Queensland, and sometimes i don't recommend them to too many people, as we don't want these places to become popular and lose that magic appeal.
If you ask every Australian on this Board, you will find that they each have magical "gems" of their own, whether it be restaurants, towns, or whatever.

Neil_Oz

dizzy1, just to ensure you get the most out of your web searches, the spelling is "Brisbane", with out the second "i".

(...and pronounced "brisb'n", stress on the first syllable).

dizzy1

Oh Tropo that sounds exactly us, that is just what I was after and do you know that I have my map and have printed out what you have suggested and we are going to do everything you suggested and just as you suggested it too, thank you so very much.
While I am at it I have started my one hundred lines of ------- I must spell Brisbane correctly ----- I guess it was because I have heard it called Bris-baine, as in pain, but as Neil has shown me now I will say it as Bris'bn, Brisbn, Brisbn - is that OK now?.

Neil_Oz

Brisbn, Brisb'n, Brisbun, no problem, dizzy. I knew that Americans tend to assume that it's pronounced 'Bris-baine' - I'm not much fussed about it, although personally I try to get the spelling and pronunciation of foreign place names right as a courtesy to my host country. The main problem, though, is that it makes web searches unduly hard if you misspell.

Brisbanite

Hi Dizzy. This is a web site loaded with information.

http://www.brisbane-australia.com/


There's not shortage of places to hike and defintely no shortage of golf courses in and around brisbane.

I can recommend Nudgee (not the Nudgee College course). It has 36 holes and is my favourite. Then there's Virginia, Redcliffe and Mango Hill. They're all good courses and all are open to the general public.

This site has a bit of a speel about the nudgee course. No pictures unfortunately...
http://www.iseekgolf.com/courses/cou....php?c_id=1953

There are some very nice courses on the gold coast too however i've never played there myself so can't really offer an opinion.

Brisbanite

http://www.iseekgolf.com/courses/cou...p?area=24&creg

This is the same site posted earlier, this page rates all of the Brisbane/SEQ courses. In this ranking Nudgee was rated with 5 stars (or golf balls rather).

RalphR

Dizzy: Have done a lot of hiking in the general Brisbane area, including the Sunshine Coast (Mt Coolum and the Glasshouse Mts), Springbrook and Lamington National Parks in the Gold Coast Hinterland, the Granite Belt (Stanthorpe area), and parts of northern New South Wales (Mt Warning). There are some fantastic hikes...here are my favorites:

Mt Barney (near Rathdowney and Beaudesert): an awesome hike, quite challenging, an all day affair, spectacular 360 degree view from the area's highest Mt.

Mt Warning (near Murwillumbah, northern NSW): mostly a graded path with switchbacks, steep at the top with chains. Excellent 360 degree view over the Tweed Valley and the coast. Quite popular.

Mt Beerwah, Glasshouse Mts. Like Mt Warning, a prominent volcanic feature. Very steep at the bottom, eases off a bit later on. Not a long walk, and well worth the view.

Daves Creek Circuit (Binna Burra, Lamington NP)...some nice views into the Numinbah Valley...relatively level hiking.

Coomera Circuit (Bibba Burra)...quite a long walk through rainforest, not much in the way of views, but some beautiful waterfalls along the way.

The Pyramid (Girraween NP, Granite Belt)...a massive granite edifice...hold on tight!

Bald Rock (Bald Rock NP, Granite Belt)...a huge granite monolith, not too unlike Ayers Rock though somewhat smaller.

The are loads of other walks, especially in Lamington, which has Australia's largest trail system. The walks in Springbrook are quite similar and a bit closer to Brissie. I believe there are also some decent walks at Mt Tamborine. Girraween and Bald Rock are probably the best for wildlife...relatively open country, lots of roos to see. The Granite Belt (about 3 hrs drive from Brisbane) is also a wine growing district.

Do a Google search for Queensland Bushwalking and I'm sure you'll find info on the places I mention and others.

dizzy1

Lovely, lovely ideas thank you all. It looks like my 10 days will be full and unique. I have been walking around the house saying Brisbn and Melbn but there are some places in Australia that I will not even try to pronounce or write. I will come back to Neil for him to give me the "good oil", is it?
I have also taken some ideas from other posts about the other areas which I am going to and have a lot of information. Once I compile the lot I will come back with more specific questions about each part.
Thank you all again,
Dee Rizossi

Neil_Oz

Dee, best not to ask about some of them - Goonoo Goonoo, e.g., which sounds like "Gunna G'noo"... but I don't recommend going there anyway. Enjoy your trip.

RalphR

Reminds me of another place Boonoo Boonoo Falls in the Granite Belt...another walk in the area. As Neil suggests, it's pronounced Bunna B'noo. Check it out, along with links to other bushwalking destinations:

http://www.geocities.com/qldbwc/walk...onoofalls.html

My understanding about place names like Wagga Wagga, Boonoo Boonoo, Ngun Ngun etc is that it is a means of pluralizing in aboriginal languages...i.e., instead of saying "rocks", you would say "rock rock". Curious to know if others concur with that.

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>My understanding about place names like Wagga Wagga, Boonoo Boonoo, Ngun Ngun etc is that it is a means of pluralizing in aboriginal languages...i.e., instead of saying "rocks", you would say "rock rock". Curious to know if others concur with that.<<<

Ralph, what I have been told is that a repetition of a word is equivalent to "very" in English. For example, "tilba" apparently means "windy" in one of the Aboriginal languages. So the place that's called Tilba Tilba is so named because it's very windy.

Extrapolating from that, I suppose a place also could be considered to be very rocky or whatever.

So, at the end of the day, I think the explanation I've received is somewhat similar to the one you've received.

dizzy1

No, no, no, you have these places named in such a way so that you can "catch" we lesser mortals when we try and say them. I know for instance that you insist on calling Launceston ( Lawn ceston ) when the English have called it Lar'n ston for years. :0)

tropo

NeilOZ - don't rubbish Goonoo Goonoo, as I used to be a resident of Tamworth. Most people probably don't realise that its a rural property, just south of Tamworth, and the name of a road in the city of Tamworth. You didn't mention Nemingha on the northern fringes of Tamworth.
Dizzy1 - I'm glad you like the journey I mentioned, if you do the trip, make a point of calling into the Imbul Hotel, and chat to the locals. This village is a gem, and if that part of Qld has had good rain, then the whole Mary Valley Way is very picturesq.
If you stay in Rainbow Beach, call over to the Surf Club, order a beer or cold drink, and walk outside onto the balcony, to take in "one of the best" seaviews in Qld, looking south you see the coloured sands going towards Double Island Point Lighthouse, and north you take in the coastline, past Inskip Point, right along the beach of Fraser Island. All this vista, just for the price of a beer. (unbelievable value). Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast is becoming very popular with the cafe set people....old buildings, and beautiful surroundings, and also an extinct volcanic plug in the background.

dizzy1

Oh I am going to do everything you said Troppo because that is how I like to travel which is likely to show me more of the place and people than anything else. Thank you oncec again
Dee