Have been waiting to explore the food and wine trail in the Hinterland of Gold Coast all these months and finally, we get to do so today! This part of Gold Coast is totally a different world from the sunny beach culture of the east. Further into the Hinterland and up Mt. Tambourine, it is hilly, surrounded by bushes & tree forests and wide expanse of land, about 40km away from the city area.
We went primarily for some wine-tasting today and a look-see at this different part of GC. Gold Coast is not super famous for its wines, as the weather isn't optimum here for vineyards, but there are some good boutique wineries on the hills that churn out decent bottles of fine wines at good prices.
We visited several wineries, one of which was the Cedar Creek Estate...
..of course not taste all you like, you were only allowed to sample 2 types of wine... and pay extras to sample the rest.
The Wild Duck Lake at Cedar Creek Estate
and also to visit the Glow-worm caves attached next to it. This is an artificially-built cave to cultivate and sustain glow-worms, a very strange creature with lights emanating from its butts..It seems they can be very useful things for cancer research as well as being an efficient bio-energy source for lights. It was only a small cave and very dark,
The entrance to the glow-worm caves..
but was interesting to see the 'starry' look on the cave walls. Unfortunately not allowed to take pictures so, this shot, I borrowed from the internet to show those creatures displaying their glowing bums...
A good educational tour, but methinks the New Zealand one might be better as it is natural and larger...
Next stop was the Gallery Walk at Eagle's Heights which has this row of interesting shops selling chocolates, handicrafts, art pieces, cuckoo clocks, yummy fudge squares and candies..
I loved the German cuckoo clock shop and Jordan thot all the clocks were mad as in 'gone cuckoo'..had to explain why they were named cuckoo clocks..
On the way, we stopped by a shop to buy avocadoes.. $2 for a big bag of 7...
We also tasted wine at Witches Fall Winery, another wine estate. I was joking that if the cops ever did a random breath test here, everyone would flunk miserably after all the wine-tasting!!
This was one of our first stops, we saw the word 'COFFEE' and our tyres screeched to a stop... gotta have our cuppa, OF COURSE! So here it was, the Mount Tamborine coffee plantation...
small but quaint place... lovely smooth latte and coconut cheesecake.
..Saw coffee beans for 1st time in their natural unroasted form. The skin is actually quite sweet like grape skin and the bean is pale yellowish colour and covered with gooey slime... one of the workers (or owner maybe) told me the birds do eat some of them but they get kinda 'high' so they don't worry too much about them eating too much!
Mount Tamborine also has quite a number of beer breweries but we didn't stop by any of those spots.. we were also on the lookout for the cheese factory but couldn't seem to locate it, unfortunately...They had lots of lovely lodges and holiday units in quaint cottages available for those who wish to stay the night. There are also some waterfalls in the nature parks, which we didn't get to explore. Nice place, would definitely come back to re-explore and recommend it as a laidback holiday outing for those who love foods, wine and scenic drives.
Have been waiting to explore the food and wine trail in the Hinterland of Gold Coast all these months and finally, we get to do so today! This part of Gold Coast is totally a different world from the sunny beach culture of the east. Further into the Hinterland and up Mt. Tambourine, it is hilly, surrounded by bushes & tree forests and wide expanse of land, about 40km away from the city area.
We went primarily for some wine-tasting today and a look-see at this different part of GC. Gold Coast is not super famous for its wines, as the weather isn't optimum here for vineyards, but there are some good boutique wineries on the hills that churn out decent bottles of fine wines at good prices.
We visited several wineries, one of which was the Cedar Creek Estate...
..of course not taste all you like, you were only allowed to sample 2 types of wine... and pay extras to sample the rest.
The Wild Duck Lake at Cedar Creek Estate
and also to visit the Glow-worm caves attached next to it. This is an artificially-built cave to cultivate and sustain glow-worms, a very strange creature with lights emanating from its butts..It seems they can be very useful things for cancer research as well as being an efficient bio-energy source for lights. It was only a small cave and very dark,
The entrance to the glow-worm caves..
but was interesting to see the 'starry' look on the cave walls. Unfortunately not allowed to take pictures so, this shot, I borrowed from the internet to show those creatures displaying their glowing bums...
A good educational tour, but methinks the New Zealand one might be better as it is natural and larger...
Next stop was the Gallery Walk at Eagle's Heights which has this row of interesting shops selling chocolates, handicrafts, art pieces, cuckoo clocks, yummy fudge squares and candies..
I loved the German cuckoo clock shop and Jordan thot all the clocks were mad as in 'gone cuckoo'..had to explain why they were named cuckoo clocks..
On the way, we stopped by a shop to buy avocadoes.. $2 for a big bag of 7...
We also tasted wine at Witches Fall Winery, another wine estate. I was joking that if the cops ever did a random breath test here, everyone would flunk miserably after all the wine-tasting!!
This was one of our first stops, we saw the word 'COFFEE' and our tyres screeched to a stop... gotta have our cuppa, OF COURSE! So here it was, the Mount Tamborine coffee plantation...
small but quaint place... lovely smooth latte and coconut cheesecake.
..Saw coffee beans for 1st time in their natural unroasted form. The skin is actually quite sweet like grape skin and the bean is pale yellowish colour and covered with gooey slime... one of the workers (or owner maybe) told me the birds do eat some of them but they get kinda 'high' so they don't worry too much about them eating too much!
Mount Tamborine also has quite a number of beer breweries but we didn't stop by any of those spots.. we were also on the lookout for the cheese factory but couldn't seem to locate it, unfortunately...They had lots of lovely lodges and holiday units in quaint cottages available for those who wish to stay the night. There are also some waterfalls in the nature parks, which we didn't get to explore. Nice place, would definitely come back to re-explore and recommend it as a laidback holiday outing for those who love foods, wine and scenic drives.
1 comment:
glow-worm caves. interesting.
hmmm...hehe...so, now your status is 'Explorer' besides 'PR'. ;-)
On a different note, let Samuel know that his 'long-lost' friend, Paul, came to visit the church at Jaya1.
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