Agreed Mt Tamborine is a nice place to stop and shop. But you can't beat O'Reilly's for the view, the millions of colorful birds, and the great walks. Seems to many many of the tours out to O'Reilly's stop at Tamborine en route.

Just an update Ralph - the buses do stop at Mt Tamborine but only for about 20 minutes for coffee and scones and that is that. Actually the views from Mt Tamborine are far better than O'Reillys if you know where to go and the local trolly bus takes people there. Thunderbird park is now and fauna park with great wildlife in residents and Pavilions restaurants is on 1 acre of grounds and has every known bird come in for feeding and that includes the Regent Bower Bird which is so spectacular in its stunning black and yellow outfit.
There are also 2 tourist offices which will be happy to give out any information and help needed and my suggestion is that renting a car and coming up, staying at a B&B and then doing the Lamington plateau is the best way then you can get to see all the other little wonders that abound like the plata[us at the Canungra Valley winery.

Just by way of explanation folks on why I plug Tamborine - other than the reason that it has sooooooo much to offer is that it is not part of the Gold Coast shire areas and therefore is not plugged by the $$$$$$$ and big business of the Gold Coast in the way the O'Reillys is. We belong to a farming shire who could not care less about us. The Lamington, Binna Burra and O'Reillys have the big bucks behind them - we are just a community that has tourists interests at heart.

PPS: hobbes, I sold my shop some time back so am not there anymore but I have an outlet elsewhere with wholesale items. For once to plug myself, write me at [email protected] and I can help out with ideas and help etc for your trip if I am not in Sydney when you come. I would also be delighted to show you what I have to offer, at wholesale of course, and to introduce you to any of the shops on the mountain.
Folks please forgive my typos which I do frequently but this morning its 5AM and the coffee has not done its trick as yet!

Liz: Been to Tamborine on numerous occassions and think I have seen it all. Great views, but still not in the league of O'Reilly's in my opinion. Regardless, Tamborine is certainly worth more than 20 mins for sure.

Hi, Liz,
My coffee is beginning to kick in now - the second for the day. By the time I have had the 3rd cup I'll be sparking on all 4 cylinders - after all it is Saturday!!
Sadly, we didn't have the time to go to Mt Tamborine this October, so I didn't make it to the 'terrible' fudge shop. Last year I ordered a variety of fudges from them which arrived back here in Wellington in pristine condition. Luckily, they were for gifts so it is now my friends who have been trying to shed the extra pounds. The shop I am referring to sold little hand-painted cats and dogs that sit on shelves, etc. All are black with delightful faces and markings that identify them as individuals - a lot like my cat and dog! They are created by "Anita", and I bought them 2003. Was this your shop? I didn't see any Sth American crafts then though. Lucky you, having so many trips to Argentina, but I must not side-track!! I wish I had known there were platypus up there - I will definitely be up there next year!!

Ralph, I issue you an invitation to come to Mt Tamborine one weekend and I will show you what you most likely have not seen or knew about. I am sure that when you leave you will have a different view of things.
Liz

Hi Dotty,
I think that you were there before I bought the shop - I did not have it for long as I found it was impossible to be a shop keeper as well as an Importer, especially when you have to go to all those countries to find your goods, hense I sold the shop. When I was there we also had cats that sat on shelves but then they were different colours and designs and styles. Things come and go so often that it is hard to catch up with the stock of some of the shops.

Hobbes, While it is certainly a lot of fun to go up to Tamborine and do all that stuff, there is another little thing you might do when you have had enough shopping.

Get on a local bus and head south to Currumbin. Ask the driver to let you off at Currumbin Alley. That's where Currumbin Creek meets the ocean. It's a dear little beach where you can watch surfers catch the swell near the rocks, and it's a great photo opportunity, cos you are on the banks of this pretty creek, and are close to the ocean, and can see back to the towers of Surfers Paradise.

From there you can stroll around the corner and along the street which runs along the main surf beach, and have lunch at either Elephant Rock Cafe or the cafe at the surf club itself, which is at the base of Elephant Rock. They have a deck right on the ocean.

Then if you want to see Australian fauna, you can walk a bit further around the block and go to Currumbin Sanctuary. The sanctuary has a website which may interest you.

Currumbin is where I spent many childhood holidays, and I love it - as if you couldn't guess! :)

All of u thank u so much for the suggestions...we leave 21st so if anything else occurs in the meanwhile I would love to hear it...am sooo excited!

hobbes, you have my phone number if you get short of ideas but I am sure that you will find so many things to do that you wished you have 3 weeks. However I forgot to ask if you had a car when you are here? If you do then make sure that you do a drive out to the Numinbah Valley in the evening together with a torch ( flashlight for those Americans who are not bilingual) take a picnic and have it down near the Natural Bridge rainforest site. Wait until dark and explore the natural gloworm cave there which lights up with the little creatures when its dark. If you are there for a while all the tour buses will join you and you can count all the money you saved by going on your own.
We have had 17 inches of rain over the last few days so all the waterfalls are falling better than they have done for some time now and they are spectacular.
The Natural Bridge site is a beautiful swimming hole with a torrent of spring fed fresh water flowing over the roof of the cave into the waterhole. No need for conditioner for the hair and the it is so refreshing.
I hope you have a wonderful visit to our country and return with the idea that you need to come back again for a longer time for some more R&R.

Thanks once again Liz for another brilliant sounding suggestion...hope my husband can make the time as would love to see gloworms with him...sorry re delay in acknowledging as had house guests...oooh only less than a week!

Hi, Hobbes,
Have a wonderful safe trip to Aussie & the Gold Coast. Hopefully you will have time to make copious notes to share with us all afterwards!! If you get to Mt Tamborine do go to the fudge shop and try some.
Dot.

Dotty and others thank you...cannot contain my excitement...Sydney got added to my itinerary as an old friend invited me to come stay...Sat-Tues Sydney, Wed-Sat Gold Coast, Sun-Fri Melbourne including a couple of nights in Yarra Valley at Apple Porch...will def post a detailed trip report