The Glasshouse Mountains to Brisbane Forest Park

Monday 24 - Wednesday 26 April

A new week, and at last the chance to escape our beloved Kiss campervan for a few hours and do some proper walking.

Monday saw an early departure from our overnight camp, followed by a short trip to nearby Landsborough for coffee and breakfast before the onward journey to the Glasshouse Mountains. Here, the very helpful couple who run the local knick-knack shop-cum-Tourist Info Centre gave us heaps of leaflets about the area.

Feeling the need to break ourselves in gently we opted for the 2.5km ascent of Mount Ngungun, which offers spectacular views of its surrounding peaks.

Mount Tibrogargan seen from Mount Ngungun

Mount Beerwah, also seen from Ngungun

The day was warm and sunny, and the walk was beautiful taking in a steady climb through picturesque woodland and culminating in an easy scramble over the last few rocks to the ridge and summit. Here we met a very laid-back (literally!) local walker, who pointed out aspects of interest from our lofty viewpoint and kindly took this picture of us:

Scary couple seen on Mount Ngungun

Energised and exhilarated by this walk we decided to press on and do a couple more, this time at ground level. We chose the Trachyte and Tibrogargan circuits, coming in at just over 8km. The warm sunny weather made these strolls through scenic pine and eucalyptus glades very enjoyable; for me at least - Sharon was increasingly worried about seeing a snake...

All went well until we were within 300 meters of arriving back at the car park. A hitherto undisturbed snake, basking on the verge, zipped away into the undergrowth as we approached. Unfortunately Sharon spotted it and instantly freaked out!

We'd planned an afternoon ascent of Mount Beerburrum, but shelved this as soon as we saw that the route to the summit appeared to be an ordinary gravel road. Instead, we headed to the town of Caboolture for provisions before heading to our next overnight stop.

Tuesday 25 April - Anzac Day

Part of the conditions of taking our campervan from Cairns to Sydney was an obligation to call in for a safety-check in Brisbane.

Anzac Day is a public holiday in Australia, and we'd been unable to phone ahead to to confirm that the service centre was open, but after decrypting a reasonably useless map of a secluded suburb of Brisbane we found the place - happily open.

Central Brisbane was closed off for the Anzac Day parade, but we managed to park up and watch for a while.

We were impressed not only by the huge turnout of forces personnel and spectators, but also by the very tone of the proceedings; never less than deeply respectful, but upbeat - the atmosphere celebratory rather than mournful.

Another freebie rest stop this evening at a place called Petrie. Here our Kiss camper was joined by a Star Wars camper and a Lord of the Rings camper!

Wednesday 26 April

Time for some more walking. We set off early, and after a brief stop for an entirely enormous breakfast we continued on to Brisbane Forest Park

Here we took in another beautiful 8km ground level walk (comprised of two shorter circuits) beside a lake.

Sadly, this walk became a bit of a route march as Sharon was in no hurry to have a repeat snake encounter. Thankfully we didn't. However, we did get our one and only view of a Duck-billed Platypus here, although it was swimming about in a tank and avoided all my efforts to photograph it. (Apologies Platypus enthusiasts).

In the afternoon we headed back towards Brisbane in order to climb Mount Coot-Tha, which affords a panoramic view of Brisbane and its surrounds.

Our rest stop this evening was in a camp spot beside another lake. Here we really noticed for the first time that although the days were still pleasantly warm, the nights were becoming increasingly colder...