An Autumn Day At Mount Tamborine

An Autumn Day
With Dear Friends






Three weeks ago a very special friend and her little dolly (that’s what I call her baby daughter 12 months) and I spent the day together at Tamborine Mountain. Mount Tamborine is a beautiful place nestled in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Australia. It’s a favourite place of ours to go together when we both have a free week day. Nice places to eat, lovely little one off shops to get lost in along Gallery Walk, local produce (avocados, macadamia nuts, fruit and veg ) beautiful homes and gardens, lots of treasures to be found. There are some very talented Artists,Craftsmen and women who live on Mount Tamborine. My favourite season of the year is Autumn. The magical colours of the leaves: yellow, orange, red, burgundy and the faded browns that have fallen and carpeted the ground which crunch when you walk on them are a real delight to my sight and soul. You just don’t get those colours on the Coast.



On one of our stops we visited the Nardoo Lavender Shop. I absolutely adore Lavender with its wonderful purple colour and soft, sweet calming aroma. What a beautiful place to spend some time wondering around and having a little look and smell. The shop sells a vast array of wonderful gifts. You can find old treasures, garden accessories, pampering products, creams, scrubs, soaps, beautiful linen aprons and tea towels. They stock many different types of dried lavender and oil grown from all over Australia and the world. I did not know that there were so many different aromas of lavender. Some have a soft scent, some quite bold and some very spicy. I purchased some dried lavender and some oil to make some of my sister Kimmie’s special Lavender Baby Powder.



For lunch we had decided to have a picnic at the Mount Tamborine Botanical Gardens. What a pretty little spot this is, so peaceful and relaxing. There must have been 10 Kookaburras sitting in trees and perched on top of pergolas around us as we sat by the lily pond eating our lunch and watching the ducks swimming. What a beautiful sight this was. We were very spoilt as there was only a handful of other people there. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. After our picnic we walked off our lunch by strolling around the 11 hectares of gardens broken in to different themes, the cherry blossom walk, the fragrant rose garden, the wisteria covered pergola, the tranquil Japanese garden with a running stream and a vast array of other Autumn trees and plantings. It has the most beautiful stone bridge to cross. The gardens are run by a dedicated team of local volunteers; it is a real credit to them, a gorgeous pocket of paradise.



There is only one way of topping off a magical day like this before winding our way back home down the mountain. It’s a visit to the Witches Chase Cheese Company. I am the biggest cheese fan in the world! Let me tell you, I adore the stuff. If there were to be no more cheese in the world tomorrow well I would lie down and cry. Anyway back to the cheeeese, sorry I’m drooling. I purchased a 1/2 piece of Camembert and 2 cups of the most delightful homemade blood orange sorbet, another one of my weaknesses. In case you’re wondering if I ate both cups well I’II set the record straight, one was for me and the other was for my darling friend to enjoy on our trip home. A wonderful day was had by all.





Love Joey

xxx