Montville and Melany, Blackall Range

Clare decided to go for a Sunday drive towards the Glass House Mountains and then up onto the Blackall Range. This meant we got good views over towards the Sunshine coast and down over the bushy, farmland of the Hinterland. We drove through Maleny which is a small, scenic town 90 kilometres north of Brisbane on the Blackall Range. It is very much based on one main street and has a 'hippy / new age feel' to it. Unfortunately, it was quite busy and we could not find a parking place to stop and look round. So we headed on along the range to Montville, which was first settled in 1887, it has grown into a thriving shopping village with an interesting array of art galleries, gift shops, stylish cafes and restaurants set in the picturesque surroundings of a shady tree-lined street with incredible views all the way down to the coast.
It has quaint European architecture and a unique character. Some might say Montville is the creative soul of the region. We spent a pleasant time wandering through the various, sometimes unusual or quaint shops picking up postcards and finally trying some of the locally brewed drinks at Wild Rocket @ Misty's Micro Brewery - A Black Jack Stout for Trevor and a James Squire Orchard Apple cider for us girls and we shared some chunky chips with Aioli dip. It was a lovely setting in one of the more 'historic' buildings and with live music from a young man playing guitar and trumpet. On the way back to the main Bruce Highway we were able to stop at a view point and see across the hinterland to the coast all the way from Bribie Island to the right of where we were standing all the way round to Caloundra in front and Noosa to the left - quite a panorama, though the weather began to close in on the coast and it got a bit breezy up where we were.
Luckily we just got back before it tipped it down, with a short, sharp shower - the weather has clouded over though the temperature is still in the 20's. Tonight is footie - Rugby league with the family, probably supporting the North Queensland Cowboys against the Melbourne Storm. It rained most of the evening and there has now been a few flash flood warning rather than fire in some areas of the state.
So we settled down on the sofa with Sloppy Joe's and Magnums for evening meal. However the match didn't really go as planned. Melbourne Storm beat North QLD Cowboys 34 - 6 they did monopolize the first half 18 - 0 but the cowboys did play better for the first half of the second half of the match. QLD were 8th in the table then won all of the decider matches to come through and meat the No 1 team in the championship - so it was almost expected!!Read more