We take several trips up into what the Australians laughingly call mountains, but what we call hills. The Glass House Mountains, formed by volcanic activity about 27 to 26 million years ago, are thirteen hills that rise above the coastal plain of the Sunshine Coast. When he first saw them in 1770, James Cook thought they looked like the glass furnaces of Yorkshire. Needless to say, they already had more meaningful names to the local Aboriginal people. There are lots of walks, both long and short, a plethora of lookouts, and if you are up to it, climbs. The views are sensational and there is a special blue light that infuses the landscape.
While Scott punctuates our stay with a dive trip off in Papua New Guinea, I find more cerebral offerings at a yoga retreat at the Chenrezig Buddhist Institute/Monastery. It is a forty minute drive from the coast winding up through the Blackall Range through beautiful eucalyptus bush. As I get closer the road is gravel and narrows rather alarmingly: I hope I don’t meet any oncoming traffic as there is nowhere to go other than over the side of the bank. It turns out I took the road untravelled – there is a much easier route to nirvana, and it’s sealed.
The Institute itself is more extensive than I expect, sprawling over several acres with temples, stupa, prayer wheels, an art centre, and it also offers both short and long study courses. If you need longer to find enlightenment there is accommodation, and there’s the Big Love Cafe for those seeking more bodily nourishment (although I agree, the name sounds a bit dodgy). There’s also the Dharma Gift shop so you can take your new found tranquility with you. It is a serene and beautiful place. and I’m happy I get to experience it.
At this time of year it is possible to go to a different country show (along the lines of my last blog including Maleny Show). There are also markets galore and our local at Caloundra is a Sunday routine. It tumbles down the main street and in the middle, under a massive shady tree there’s live music showcasing local musicians. The food carts circle this area so it’s great for brunch.
However the reigning champion of markets remains Eumundi, running since 1979. There are two markets each week, on Wednesday and Saturday, but through Winter there’s a Friday night market once a month. So, why not? We decide to stay up there for a couple of nights and drive up on the appointed Friday. The night market promises a lantern parade and expectations are high for something along the lines of a Chinese lantern festival. Instead of grand we get cute: children make their lanterns and shyly parade along to show them off. There’s also music and food carts, but the full extent of the market is not open until Saturday.
This is what I wrote in this blog four years ago: On Wednesday we head up to Eumundi for the famous mid week market, hoping for fresh fruit and vegetables, homemade chutneys and interesting people. Yeah Nah. We park about a kilometre away as the entire population of Queensland has descended on the place. The market area is bigger than the town itself and contains vast amounts of useless (read macrame dream catchers), useful, tasty and/or tasteless crap, miles of womenswear, yards of menswear, hats for all the family, and a fortuneteller, palm reader, medium or psychic so you can get in touch with someone who knows better than to consult these charlatans. If that’s not enough, there’s gallons of snake oil available to cure your sleeplessness, stomach disorder, eczema, arthritis, back pain, and neck pain, but not enough to cure my scepticism as to their efficacy.
Nothing has changed. The genuine artisan goods, food and, I hesitate to use the word crafts as it feels like it diminishes the skill and beautiful workmanship of many items, but yes, crafts, get lost in the many, many stalls and outlets of other stuff that is factory made and available anywhere.
Now about ten minutes away from Eumundi is Yandina, a place worth visiting for at least three reasons: lunch or dinner at the Spirit House if you can get a booking; the Macadamia Nut Nutworks; Buderim Ginger Factory.
To get to the Spirit House dining area, set in a U shape surrounding a small lake, you walk in through lush greenery including towering stands of bamboo. The whole setting is very tranquil and the food is both visually stunning and delicious. The crab and coconut soufflé, see photo, is so light it is what eating a fairy must be like.
Zingiber officinal – edible ginger. Go on, ask me anything. We do a tour of the planting and growing process, which in this climate seems remarkably easy. The young ginger has virtually no skin, is very pale and milder in flavour. What we see in the supermarket is generally older, and the exposure to oxygen means the skin is thicker and darker, and the texture is fibrous. In the processing plant vats of ginger in syrup simmer away before becoming anything from crystallised and chocolate covered ginger – highly recommended – to chutneys, syrups, marmalades, ginger beer, beer flavoured ginger, and more. The dark chocolate covered ginger we buy – exit through the gift shop – is made with young ginger so the texture is softer and not fibrous- very delicious. Turmeric is in the same family, along with galangal. That is fresh turmeric in the photo.
How many ways can you flavour and eat macadamia nuts? I don’t know, as we are yet to reach saturation, however as the three packs in the photo cost about $50 it’s unlikely we will ever find out.
