Nestled in the Sunshine Coast hinterland watching over the coast, are the towns of Montville & Maleny. Home to hippies and yuppies these towns are picturesque and perfect for aimless holiday wandering & that is exactly what was happening.
Maleny was full of tourists, but the more laid back sort, just happy to meander through town. Many of them would have come for a day trip from the Woodford Folk Festival up the road. Happening between Christmas and NYE each year, the 6 day 6 night festival attracts thousands of music-goers who camp out to watch performances by around 2000 musicians/acts And almost every year, it rains. Gumboots are an essential item to pack.
The main street of Maleny is where it is all happening. We wandered though organic food stores, second hand bookstores and stopped in for lunch at the local cafe / food co-op, The Upfront Club. Though the service was quite slow, the food was amazing – grilled vegetable and haloumi stack with pollenta – yum! I mean holidays are for eating.. Right?
Next destination along the hinterland ridge was Montville….after a few stops along the way. First was Maleny Mountain Wines where we tested out the local produce ($5pp tasting). The reds were much better than the whites, but I always find that with Queensland wines. Even our Malaysian guests were getting into it. Gerald tried out a few different wines, and walked away with a couple of bottles. The Maleny Cheese Factory was our next stop, where there was every type of cheese you could think of, and more. You can work your way through the numerous samples while watching the factory workers make their delicacies. The overpowering smell of a dairy was too much for me, so I was keen to move on. Our next stop (and we're still not in Montville yet!) was much more to my liking – Flame Hill Winery. Hidden up a winding road just over 2km's out of town, the winery was a perfect discovery. Set in an old house, complete with a restaurant and deck overlooking the hinterland, this was a place I could settle in to for an afternoon. The service was great & again, the reds outshone the whites. (For those interested – 3 free tastings, $6 for 8 or $20 for the whole range. Queensland insists on charging for tastings- much to learn from the other wine regions of Australia).
Finally we made it to Montville, a very pretty, but tourist orientated town. Selling everything from local art craft and foods, to the Candle Shoppe and the infamous Christmas Shop. Strangely enough there are also lots of toy, puzzle and kids stores. That said, most of these stores attract the big kids…we had an imaginary tea party on a mushroom… We walked our guests up the main street and to The Edge Cafe, with the most famous view in town. From here you can see all the way down to the coast. We took the obligatory tourist photos and then headed home. It had been a hard day of touristing.
