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At any time, but on a late summer Sunday morning it’s irresistible.

A soft summer light bathes the classic city cottages in a honey hue; cottages that draw their inspiration from the old Queenslanders and Victorians of earlier times – gaily painted wrought-iron balconies and ornate trim adding a festive air. The streets are ablaze with purple jacaranda, miniature front yards scented with frangipani and jasmine and framed by neat picket fences. The morning air, already warm at this early hour, hints at the day to come.

Being in Brisbane always takes me back; back to a long ago Christmas when dad loaded his three tiny kids into the back of an equally tiny Morris, tied a canvas water bag on the front bumper, crammed camping gear and luggage into a trailer in back for a 1000 mile trip from Melbourne to Brisbane to visit Granny Ford. This became a tradition that we repeated for almost 15 years.

Back then Brisbane was a tiny back-water: locals were disparagingly referred to as “banana benders” by the rest of the country. Today the city is laid back, intimate and friendly. The Greek Revival buildings of the 19 th century have been preserved to feature as prominently as the modern glass and steel skyscrapers that frame the skyline. Strolling the hills that surround the river leads to serendipitous discoveries; hidden art galleries, antique stores, book stores, cafes and pubs. It’s a city made for rambling – difficult to get lost with local landmarks always in sight

On this balmy Sunday in April, fortified by a classic English breakfast, we follow Wickham Terrace past the old sandstone windmill (built by convicts to grind grain for the colony, and known as the “tower of torture”; when the wind died the convicts manned the sails) – along Edward Street, passing the high-end stores of Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, and Tiffany. Coffee shops and cafes bulge with locals enjoying a leisurely breakfast, the air is pungent with the aroma of the frothy cappuccinos that Aussies do so well

The penal colony was founded in 1824 at Redcliffe, about 17 miles away at the coast, and was moved inland a year later when the Brisbane River was discovered. And what a river it is. Seen from above it’s a beautiful serpentine ribbon of water; from the ground you are rarely out of sight of this lazy muddy watercourse, ebbing twice a day with the tide, snaking its way through the city.

The Sunday market in the fashionably hip neighborhood of Riverside, an area of trendy restaurants and pricey apartments, is bustling with shoppers jostling for position at stalls of jewelry, artworks, candles, soaps and beach apparel. Its location on the promenade by the river lends a festive air and joining the crowd, we stroll west along the river bank amid joggers, bicyclists and roller skaters under the sheltering Moreton Bay fig trees and stately Bunya Pines that fringe the botanical gardens. The grey steel of the Story Bridge spans the river behind us across to the massive cliffs of Kangaroo Point, chiseled by years of quarrying tuff for the construction of the early public buildings. CityCats zig-zag their way across the river ferrying passengers along the inner-city reaches and further up to St.Lucia (home to the University of Queensland) and beyond – motor-sailers and small yachts bob on their wake.

South Bank Parklands, created for World Expo 88, has been transformed into a popular public gathering place. A steel arbor covered with magenta bougainvillea meanders through grassy parks, all equipped with gas barbeques (a pastime the Aussies have elevated to high art), past cafes and restaurants, an outdoor theater, a swimming lagoon. The State Museum and Library along with the Queensland Art Gallery and Performing Arts Center are all centrally located here as well, creating a busy and exciting cultural hub. The Nepalese Pagoda, a gift to the city after Expo, is an exotic teak creation and a popular wedding venue. The view of the city across the river is a wonderful juxtaposition of old and new, the old sandstone 19 th century against towers of glass, with the freeway cantilevered out over the river, Buck Rogers style.

Brisbane has evolved from the sleepy backwater I knew. Vibrant, energetic and modern, it is endowed with almost perfect weather and miles of bike paths. It is the quintessential Australian city, relaxed, laid-back and lucky.

With over 17 miles of biking and walking paths throughout Brisbane and surrounds, (11km of walking paths in the city alone), it’s a welcoming, energetic and modern city that proudly incorporates its heritage. It’s easy to navigate, it’s friendly, relaxed and unassuming. But most of all it’s fun – and the gateway to Queensland’s tropical wonders.

Tropical Far North

Dreams of watermelon and mangos in the land of cane-fields.

A damp mantle of hot air clings to me as I stride down the covered ramp, open on both sides, into the terminal at Cairns. It stirs memories of the Queensland holidays I took in the 50’s, simple and sweet, memories of freedom and adventure, playing barefoot in the afternoon rain, devouring large slices of watermelon and mangos. At the edge of the airstrip, banana trees hang heavy with great clusters of green fruit, sugarcane fields stretch to infinity, the sky darkens under lowering rain clouds. It seems a fitting welcome to tropical North Queensland.

Unprepared for the tourist crush of Cairns and its back-packer hotels and souvenir shops of cheap bushman’s hats and knockoff didgeridoos, we opt for Port Douglas, an hour north. Once a sleepy fishing village cum sugarcane port, it’s now a quietly trendy travel destination, in the eco-belt, midway between Cairns and Cape Tribulation.

Hugging the center line of the Captain Cook Highway intently to compensate for the natural drift to the verge on the left, a natural tendency when adjusting to the “wrong side” of the road, we pass neighborhood stores and shopping malls, past signs that point to the highland towns of Kuranda and Mareeba, into lush pasture. The roadside is carefully shorn of cane grass, the invasive species that grows everywhere in the north, lush but useless.

Gradually traffic thins and we drive around mountains that thrust steeply out of the ocean, mountains smothered in thick rainforest, beside wide stretches of pristine beaches, trackless sand slapped gently by impossibly blue water – so completely deserted.

The approach to Port Douglas is a vast swathe of green median strip and swaying palms, a jungle of tropical vegetation hiding the resorts that line Port Douglas Road. Low rise, low key and understated, this fuels my fantasies of a secluded getaway, lazy days of exploring the rainforest and reef, of walking barefoot along Four Mile beach, alone. The village has a feeling of reluctant evolution over time, a hotel here, a bottle shop there, and to my mind it has a Hemingway-esque feel to it, a sort of Key West of the antipodes.

Sheltered by tropical plants and palms, coffee shops and restaurants spill patrons out onto the sidewalk to linger over coffee, to see and be seen. Tasteful boutiques sell au courant resort-wear, stylishly casual and relaxed. Construction has been sporadic, a decadal sampling of design from the ubiquitous Queenslander cottage, (the Court House Pub “The Courty,” constructed in 1878 with its overhanging wrap-around veranda, is a classic) to the dreaded blonde brick veneer motel. The more recent airy and open design under sail-like roofs, looking more like a South Pacific raft is a pleasing if ubiquitous Australian touch. Accommodations range from motel rooms and holiday apartments to five-star resorts, and most are tastefully hidden by lush tropical foliage maintaining the fishing village ambience.

Restaurants are good, the food is fresh and plentiful with the focus on seafood and at 2 Fish Restaurant on Wharf Street the baby Barramundi is fried whole or filleted – devine morsels of sweet, buttery flesh.

Australia is quite possibly the most ecologically diverse country in the world, splendidly unspoiled, an area the size of the US with a population of 30 million and Queensland (the “ Sunshine State”) has its share of World Heritage Sites. Nowhere else in the world do two – Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef – share such close proximity.

The largest rainforest in Australia, and the oldest in the world, Daintree Rainforest is home to species of birds and plants found nowhere else. The main public entrance to the forest is at Mossman Gorge just a half hour from Port Douglas, and its massive granite boulders orchestrate a sustained crescendo of rushing water. A short stroll through the National Park will yield an abundance of unique flora and fauna: turtles can be caught sunning themselves on the rocks while the elusive platypus can be found in the river below; honeyeaters, kingfishers and brush turkeys spread the seeds of the strangler figs; vines, palms and lichens provide shelter and food for the Boyd’s Forest Dragons – huge antediluvian lizards. Metallic blue wings of the Ulysses butterfly slice the air and flying foxes hang stoically from tree branches, asleep in the dim light of the under-story until evenin

At the entrance to the park the Mossman Gorge Aboriginal Community offers an interpretive guided walk along ancient tracks for lessons in traditional plant use and bush tucker sources. These Dreamtime walks are well worth taking, they emphasize the vitality contained in these ancient forests and our obligation to maintain it. www.yalanji.com.au

Further north, where the pavement meets the dirt, is Cape Tribulation. This comma of land, jutting out into the Coral Sea, was named by Captain Cook; he had wrecked the Endeavour on a reef a few miles south and had to pull in for repairs. The leisurely drive to Cape “Trib” leads through the oldest rainforest in the world, through small villages, across the Daintree River by old cable ferry (watch the crocs), past such places as Shipwreck Bay and Struck Island. The small community at the Cape is pleasingly rustic, with a sprinkling of Farm Stay and B&B accommodations, a small café and not much else. Sea kayaking and horse back riding are available but mainly it’s the quiet, the simple, and wildly satisfying, pleasure of walking a sandy path to a rainforest creek or a deserted beach fringed with graceful palms – not a soul in sight.

Great ribbons of coral stretch along the Queensland coast for 2000 kms making the Great Barrier Reef total about 1/5 th of the worlds’ coral. High-speed catamarans whisk you over miles of ocean to an activity platform on Agincourt Reef, to dive or snorkel. Any anxiety I felt about snorkeling in the middle of a choppy sea, less than a mile from the great abyss at the edge of the continental shelf, was lulled away with the gentle rocking of the ocean, entertained by this underwater garden of swaying coral, colorful clown fish, sea turtles, rays and giant clams.

Silky Oaks Lodge is the ultimate in quiet relaxation. Hidden beyond cane fields in the rainforest hinterland, this elegant spa retreat on the Mossman River, offers quiet solitude. The spacious rooms, all within sound of the burbling river, are elegantly minimalist with polished hardwood floors, oversized bath tubs, sparse furnishings and windows open to the forest. The Treehouse Restaurant, features fresh local produce artfully presented, activities are leisurely; spa treatments with native botanicals, a rainforest picnic, canoe or snorkel the river, or simply do nothing at all. www.silkyoakslodge.com.au

Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park is a window onto the rainforest culture: 40,000 years of legend and dreaming. www.tjapukai.com.au

This area too has a gold-mining history and the Kuranda Scenic Railway will take you to the cool highlands of Kuranda, through the rainforest, along track that was carved out of the granite mountainside by hand. www.ksr.com.au

A sense of timelessness pervades Port Douglas. I feel an almost smug satisfaction at having discovered it and am faintly worried that any more development will either price me out of it or attract the mindless hordes. I can only hope that the distance, almost as far north as the paved road goes, just maybe, will allow it to retain its charm for years to come.

Ecological Island

One of the few remaining urban rainforests in Australia is just an hour north of Brisbane.

Standing on the edge of the rainforest, listening to the bird-song, a lush, sweet invocation to a long gone era, it’s hard to imagine that once the whole continent was saturated in rainforest.

Here in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, aboriginal clans ranged these hills, gathering their seasonal bounty of fruits and nuts, snakes, lizards and crayfish - celebrating the excellent bunya nut harvest, the result of a cooperative effort by many clans. It’s not difficult to imagine a pungent screen of wood-smoke from their cooking fires, mixing with the blue haze of the eucalyptus canopy, while the supernatural sounds of a celebratory corroboree blend with the raucous birds of the bush.

Today I am in the Blackall Ranges and one of the remaining islands of rainforest close to the city of Brisbane. I can just make out lines of breakers to the east at the Sunshine Coast, just beyond the fragments of eroded volcanic cores, nominated the Glass House Mountains, the iconic image of this hinterland. Thrusting up through a carpet of tea-tree, banksia and eucalyptus, the highest peak reaching 1824 ft., they are a chimerical sight against their rainforest background.

Today only a small portion of the continent is rainforest – about .3%, and unless one is prepared to travel 1000 miles north to the Daintree Rainforest, (the oldest in the world) an example of this natural wonder is only an hours drive from Brisbane, easily accomplished in a day trip. Finally awakening to its value, there is a rush to preserve the small remnant pockets of rainforest, and the Mary Cairncross Reserve is an exceptional illustration.

The Reserve is an ecological island: it is not contiguous to any other rainforest and it has no rainforest pathways or links to other habitats. Although small – about 128 acres - the reserve is ecologically diverse. Massive red cedars, almost 200 ft. high and prized for their red timber, were once favored for furniture making and ship building. These giants are rare now, and in the rainforest they are sanctuaries for orchids, mosses and stag-horn ferns. Giant blue quandongs, some growing as high as 130 ft., develop their buttress trunks for support and host insidious strangler figs. Piccabeen palms and native ginger can be found by the creek and a healthy under-storey, endowed with the poisonous cunjevoi (its huge heart shaped leaves similar to the taro or elephant-ear plant) the endangered red fruited lilly-pilly and the roseleaf raspberry, make a sheltering thicket for small marsupials and baby brush turkeys.

Australia is renowned for its unique and distinctive birds, among them the emu, cassowary and the parrot family, and this rainforest is no exception. Dominating the chatter of the forest is the eastern whip-bird who, despite his small size and dull charcoal plumage, is thesoundof the Australian bush. Endemic to Australia and the rainforests of the region, the regent bowerbird provides a brilliant flash of color with his yellow head and wings, and builds ingenious bowers, a part of his mating ritual. Wampoo fruit doves and emerald doves hide out in the canopy along with the green catbird. Scrub wrens are commonly seen along the trail and with a little perseverance you’ll catch a pademelon (a small rainforest wallaby) nosing through the forest litter.

The walking track of decomposed granite, leads through the forest, past clearly marked points of interest, wheelchair friendly and highlighted with viewing platforms and elevated boardwalks.

An educational and creative diorama in the visitor center displays the rainforest through time, from the early cretaceous period, about 144 million years ago. Although the dinosaurs are long gone, many plants, including the southern beech, pepperbush and macadamia live on. A separate section of the diorama shows the drying out period, with the unavoidable changes to the landscape brought on by climate shifts.

www.mary-cairncross.com.au

Up until the mid 1800s, the gently rolling hills of the ranges were once lush rainforest, and played an important part in Queensland’s early history. The relentless land clearing by settlers in the 1860s; the ease of cutting and the value of red cedar made huge fortunes for a few and paved the way for a thoroughfare to the goldfields at Gympie 60 miles to the north. Dairy farming flourished in the lush meadows of fertile, volcanic land in the early 20th century and continues to this day.

Maleny is the quintessential country town, experiencing a resurgence in popularity, almost a bedroom community of Brisbane. Once home to a disparate collection of settlers, squeezing a living from the land, it’s now a destination getaway, a weekend retreat, a breather from the heat and humidity of the Brisbane summer, the place to go. The residents are an appealing mix of writers, artisans, farmers and retirees, unpretentious and friendly. The buildings on Maple Street (the main street) were mostly built in the 1920s and 30s and have been transformed into co-ops, cafes, a bakery, book-stores and restaurants. Stockman’s Warehouse still sells the necessities of a working farm town, and the old Maleny Hotel, built in 1907, across Obi Obi Creek on Bunya Street, still stands – the classic Aussie pub.

Motels, cabins, resorts and retreats spread out across the range, and bed and breakfast inns are plentiful. The Maleny Lodge offers a chance to savor the essence of rural Queensland life. Built in 1894 as a private residence it was operated as a guest house for 60 years. Now a bed and breakfast, the house is built in the classic Queenslander style: high ceilings, center hall and large windows, raised on stumps, allowing the cooling summer breezes through. It is original, although carefully restored and with a few new modifications, (en-suite bathrooms come to mind). Gables feature decorative battens while the surrounding verandas are enhanced with lattice and wrought iron, the roof is simple corrugated metal that lasts a lifetime. Located in the heart of the village, it’s an easy walk to restaurants and stores. Breakfast is wholesome, delicious and abundant, proudly showcasing local farm produce.

Side Trips.

Kondalilla Falls : An easy 1.5 mile hike down through a eucalyptus forest which is dotted in the wetter areas with subtropical rainforest species. Cascading year round, the falls fill a deep clear pool lined with huge basalt boulders, a magnet for local youngsters. Skene Creek then drops about 300 ft. into a rainforest valley. It’s a wonderfully cool respite in the summer, so take your swimsuit. Located two miles north of Montville, on the Montville/Mapleton Road.

Australia Zoo : Steve Irwin’s legacy at Beerwah; this dynamic park, spread over 72 acres, is filled with superb examples of Australian flora and fauna. Particularly impressive is an interactive kangaroo enclosure with resting areas for tired ‘roos, up close and personal habitats of Tasmanian devils, dingoes and wombats, and the brilliantly conceived, cheeky, Crocoseum.

Located at Beerwah on the Glass House Mountains Tourist Road/Steve Irwin Drive
www.crocodilehunter.com

Monteville: First settled in 1887, timber-getting cleared the land for pineapples, citrus, macadamia nuts, avocadoes and dairying. This captivating country town now centers around tourism and weekend retreats. The main street is lined with restaurants, gift shops, cafes and art galleries. Accommodations run the gamut from cozy cottages to bed and breakfasts, from motels to rainforest retreats. Stretched out over the ridge there are magnificent ocean and rainforest views, scenic walks and national parks.