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The Bunya Mountains in Southern Queensland occupy an remoted portion of the Nice Dividing Vary and are recognized for having the world’s largest forest of bunya pines (araucaria bidwillii).
Encompassing an space of 19,600 hectares, this mountain vary is a hiker’s paradise, with 35 kilometres of strolling tracks to discover.
It’s additionally dwelling to quite a few native animals, from red-rock wallabies to squawking kookaburras and brush turkeys.
When you’re in search of some pure paradise to discover in Queensland, a visit to Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park ought to be excessive on the agenda.
When you’re undecided learn how to get there, what there may be to see and do, or what it’s like, that is our full information to every little thing it’s worthwhile to know together with our expertise of visiting.
In regards to the Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park
Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park is located between Kingaroy and Dalby, in Southern Queensland. It’s a spectacular wilderness vary overlooking the South Burnett area.
From the Gold Coast the Bunya Mountains are a few three and a half hour drive, and Brisbane to Bunya Mountains is a 3 hour drive.
The gateway’s to the Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park is Mowbullan.
Right here one can find guests centres at Kingaroy, Nanango and Dalby with maps and details about the place you possibly can entry the park’s strolling trails.
It’s an remoted part of the Nice Dividing Vary and is thought for its mountainous peaks, the very best being Mt Kiangarow at 1,135 metres above sea degree, adopted by Mount Mowbullan at 1,106 metres above sea degree.
Many of the mountains within the park have an elevation of round 975 meters, and are usually steep and craggy trying – no small feat for a hiker!
In addition to its mountainous terrain, Bunya Mountains are additionally recognized for being dwelling to the world’s largest stand forest of historical bunya pines on this planet.
I’d by no means heard of a Bunya pine earlier than, and as our host defined, they’re extra rounded on high than a standard pine tree, and so they produce giant pineapple-shaped cones with 50-100 edible nuts every surrounded by a thick outer casing.
The encircling plains are made up of grasslands (recognized regionally as balds), vine thickets, eucalypt forest, and dry rainforests, with a couple of hidden waterfalls dotted in between.
To guard these historical timber, Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park was shaped in 1908, making it the second oldest of the Queensland parks.
The Bunya Pines are additionally an incredible meals supply, providing bunya nuts, which have lengthy been harvested by the aboriginal individuals.
Immediately, these nuts provide a meals supply to the park’s 120 chicken species, together with some threatened species (sooty owls, black-breasted button quail, highly effective owls, and skinks).
Though Queensland is thought for its heat local weather year-round, these mountains have a pleasantly cool, sub-tropical local weather and are typically 7 – 10 levels cooler than different mountain ranges within the state.
The Bunyas should be one of many solely locations within the Sunshine State to expertise an actual winter.
Attending to the Bunya Mountains
Remember that GPS can go slightly haywire on this space, so it’s greatest to print out your travelling instructions or obtain an offline map akin to Maps.me.
- From the Gold Coast – we advise you are taking the Brisbane Valley Freeway.
- From Ipswich Highway take Toowoomba turnoff. At Blacksoil (80km zone) flip proper onto Brisbane Valley Freeway. You’ll undergo Fernvale; Esk; Toogoolawah; Moore; Blackbutt to Yarraman.
- From Yarraman flip left onto the New England Freeway heading for Cooyar – Toowoomba. Drive 21kms; flip proper signposted Maidenwell – Bunya Mountains. Flip left on the Maidenwell Pub onto Bunya Mountains Highway. There may be 4kms of unsealed part on this route. If you arrive on the high of the mountain, flip proper in direction of Dandabah.
- On the top quality move the TV towers in your proper. Approx. 1.2km from TV Towers flip proper into Bunya Avenue (signposted Dandabah).
- From Kingaroy aspect of mountain, roughly 10 km from Burtons Properly, flip left into Bunya Avenue (signposted Dandabah).
- From Ipswich Highway take Toowoomba turnoff. At Blacksoil (80km zone) flip proper onto Brisbane Valley Freeway. You’ll undergo Fernvale; Esk; Toogoolawah; Moore; Blackbutt to Yarraman.
Issues To Do In Bunya Mountains Nationwide Park
1. Have Breakfast at Bunya Mountains Tavern
After our lazy begin to the day, we headed to Bunya Mountains Tavern for breakfast.
We sat on the verandah by a log hearth with stunning views overlooking the Nationwide Park, with one dominant bunya tree close by.
From the menu I went for the salmon, ham, eggs and avocado on Turkish bread, while Caz went for the Huge Breakfast accompanied by a scorching espresso. And BIG it was.
2. Hit the Bunya Mountain Climbing Trails (Scenic Circuit Stroll)
The park has 35 kilometres of Bunya Mountain strolling tracks (from 500 metres to 10 kilometres lengthy).
We determined to begin with the favored Scenic Circuit stroll, a 4-kilometre return from Dandebah picnic floor.
It’s not usually we get to go bush strolling at an adults tempo and I often find yourself with little Savannah on my shoulders.
This stroll would usually take round 1 hour and 20 minutes, however we had been slowed down by the quite a few photograph alternatives.
The scale of the timber alongside the stroll had been spectacular, nearly as good as I’ve seen in Queensland, and Caz isn’t shy about giving them an enormous tree hug to really feel their vitality.
The Scenic Circuit stroll passes by the pine forest and a wide range of mountain surroundings.
By means of rainforest, eucalypt forest, previous Tim Shea Falls, onto pure grassland balds and to Pine Gorge Lookout giving us panoramic views.
And we simply acknowledged the dome-shaped crowns of bunya pines rising above the cover.
Now we have to return again once more and do that stroll with our youngsters, being appropriate for all ages and health ranges.
I’m positive they’d particularly take pleasure in strolling by the enormous strangler fig, which is on file as being not less than 400 years previous. Very cool.
Upon return we had a fast look inside Cedarvale, an previous slab hut situated on the Dandabah picnic floor staffed by volunteers from the Pure Historical past Affiliation.
Spend a little bit of time inside right here to realize a better perception into the Bunya Mountains’ historical past and get basic details about the mountain vary.
Making the most of the sunshine we sat outdoors for lunch at Poppies on the Hill Café with views over the forest.
At Poppies, they make all their very own meals from scratch on the premises.
I went for the signature Bunya Burger, which is a bunya nut and beef patty and was impressed at how tasty it was.
And to maintain with the theme we loved the Carrot & Bunya Nut Cake and a beautiful scorching chocolate to maintain the insides heat.
After lunch we did a small part of the ten km Barker Creek Circuit, accessed from the Paradise automobile park and strolled alongside slowly to stroll off that yummy burger and cake, passing by Paradise Falls and Little Falls.
3. Feed wild birds at Bunya Mountains
The Bunya Mountains rainforests’ are recognized for his or her various species of birds, and wild chicken feeding started within the 1970’s when Joe Walker (who constructed the kiosk), provided feed to the parrots to maintain them out of his veggie patch.
The Bunyas is lucky to be granted a licensed interplay plan, and you should purchase a tray from Bunya Mountains Common Retailer and for half-hour you possibly can feed and stand up shut and private with the King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas.
There are 4 completely different feeding instances all through the day, and bookings are really useful as locations are restricted.
4. Catch a Sundown at Fishers Lookout
Earlier than dinner, we jumped within the automobile for the brief drive again out on the highway too Fishers Lookout for a panoramic view and to look at the solar go down.
We received a pleasant silhouette of the Bunya pine timber towards the setting solar.
Oh, and when you’re after some cell phone reception while up within the mountains (which is proscribed), that is the place to go because it’s close to the large TV tower.
5. Have Dinner Bunya Mountains Tavern Restaurant
Bunya Mountains Tavern Restaurant is the place to go for an intimate, nice eating expertise within the Bunyas!
We arrived slightly early so ordered some pre-dinner drinks and soaked up extra of that log hearth heat and ambiance.
My drink of alternative was an espresso martini and Caz ordered her typical mojito.
Lyrics has loads of character and is a superbly renovated restaurant and the meals, high notch!
Bunya Mountains Tavern is just open on day by day from 9:00am – 5:00pm, so you should definitely get there early for dinner in any other case they’ll shut.
6. Watch a Dawn within the Bunya Mountains
As onerous because it was to crawl off the bed and away from our simmering log hearth the subsequent morning, dawn within the Bunya Mountains is value waking up for.
Once more it’s a brief drive to an open panoramic view of the valley beneath.
7. Embark on the South Burnett Wine Path
Leaving the Bunya Mountains, we headed dwelling to the coast by way of the South Burnett Meals and Wine Path, which begins about 45 minutes drive down the mountain in Kingaroy.
This area is dwelling to greater than a dozen family-run wineries providing cellar door tasting and gross sales.
With solely half a day up our sleeves, together with the drive dwelling, we solely had time to take a look at a couple of.
First port of name was Dusty Hill Vineyard, a small quantity family-owned and operated winery within the Northern part of South Burnett overlooking picturesque Lake Barambah, close to the small village of Moffatdale.
While tasting their wines we chatted with Joe, the pleasant proprietor who instructed us about how it began and the historical past of their wine making.
Dusty Hill is 20+ years younger now and the household commenced constructing their dream through the seventh yr of a drought, their vines planted on an unnamed piece of land on the aspect of a dusty hill.
From there they’ve grown to supply premium wines and constructed a property that may be a vacation spot in itself.
On website there’s a restaurant, a tavern, a marriage chapel and boutique lodging. I really like tales of ardour and imaginative and prescient like this.
There’s a good collection of wines, the cellar door is open Thursday to Sunday from 11:00am to 4:00pm, and you might be made really feel welcome.
Apart from coming again for extra wine, we plan on returning to style one among their designer beers of their Irish Tavern, the latest addition to the winery.
To not point out their Dusty Day Out Music Fest in October, that seems like enjoyable! Oh, and so they have a youngsters playground. What number of causes do you want?
We grabbed ourselves a favorite bottle from the tastings.
This Northern part of the wine path additionally affords entry to five different cellar doorways – Barambah Wines, Clovely Property, and Moffatdale Ridge.
From there we headed to Kingsley Grove Vineyard for extra tastings and lunch, stopping briefly within the city of Goomeri to seize a espresso.
Kingsley Grove Property is close to the regional city of Kingaroy.
It’s owned and operated by the Berry household, and Michael and Patricia have a captivating previous.
Initially from England, Michael is a former engineer and while tasting their wines we learnt how they’d spent a few years residing in locations akin to Vietnam and Hong Kong while Michael labored on giant scale tasks, such because the Hong Kong Metro system.
Settling in Australia, they based Kingsley Grove in 1998 while endeavor viticulture research at Melbourne College.
The superb factor is that they run the entire operation themselves from begin to end, together with their son, and now have ten vine varieties planted on the location.
Michael confirmed us round their wine making course of earlier than we sat right down to a wood-fired pizza for lunch, their weekend specialty, with views out over the property.
8. Store on the Bunya Mountains Markets
The Bunya Mountains Markets are a month-to-month craft maker’s market held on the final Sunday of each month from 9:00am to 2:00pm.
The markets are a celebration of all issues handmade, and have a whole lot of stalls the place native craftmakers and artisans can promote their merchandise.
From textiles to picket sculptures, each merchandise is made by hand and distinctive.
The place To Keep In The Bunya Mountains: Bunya Avenue Chalets
We stayed on the Bunya Mountains Lodging Centre, owned by the identical individuals because the Bunya Mountains Tavern. The hosts had been beautiful. Inform them Caz & Craig mentioned hello!
Our chalet was large enough to sleep eight and was surrounded by the well-known Bunya pine timber.
There’s not a whole lot of locations to remain in Bunya Mountains, apart from tenting, however these chalets are supreme – they’re clear, snug, and kitted out with every little thing you want.
Plus they’ve a log hearth, which makes them tremendous cosy!
It’s not usually we get the pleasure of a sleep in, and as a substitute of tiny toes operating by the home at 6:00 am demanding breakfast.
However what we liked about staying right here is we awakened naturally to the sight of wallabies hopping round outdoors.
Ideas Visiting The Bunya Mountains
- There’s no gas, ATM or alcohol on the mountain. Come ready!
- Cellular protection within the Bunya Mountains is proscribed / patchy (a part of its allure!)
- It will likely be chilly throughout winter, so pack heat clothes!
- Don’t neglect your strolling sneakers!The character trails are excellent!
Ultimate Ideas
Our getaway to the Bunyas was refreshingly completely different and the proper mountain retreat from the Gold Coast.
There aren’t many locations in Queensland you possibly can sit by a log hearth surrounded by nationwide park.
Subsequent time we’ll carry the children and I envision staying a couple of additional days to breathe that crisp contemporary air into our lungs, to discover extra of the character trails, and to learn a superb ebook on the again deck while the children run round amongst the wallabies.
Subsequent time you consider an escape to the Nation, take into account Southern Queensland Nation.
And in true nation type, the individuals are tremendous good!
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Are you planning on visiting the Bunya Mountains? Or doing the South Burnett Wine Path? Tell us within the feedback!
