A DAY UP AT MT. TAMBOURINE,,,,

By Wednesday we were feeling pretty shopped out, so we decided to spend a day in the mountains and headed up to Mt. Tambourine for the day....
We left around 9.30 am and headed up to Mt. Tambourine...
The drive up was relatively easy, following our GPS. 
We stopped off at the Heritage Estate Vineyard and Wines.  We had planned on having morning tea here as this was where Jannett's neice Laura held her wedding reception and they all raved about the place.  It was due to open at 10am, and we were there by then, but for some reason they were late opening, and even after we wandering around their grounds for ten minutes or more they still had not opened so we moved on... A bit of a shame really as Jannett wanted to grab a couple of bottles of wine from there...

A visit to the Heritage Estate Wines.

We left here to head into Mt. Tambourine, when Jannett suddenly thought that we had taken the wrong road.  In turning back we went on and drove into the Coffee Plantation Art Gallery Cafe to do a turn to head back to the road we thought we missed.  From the car park the smell of coffee was amazing and since it looked quite busy, we thought that this was definately a recommendation that it was a good place to stop.
This became our morning coffee break and it didn't disappoint us.  The Mocha's were amazing.  they grow all their coffee on the plantation their, and they had home made cakes and slices and cheesecakes.  Once again we ordered a couple of treats and had them cut them into four pieces so that we could all sample them. 

Coffee break at the Coffee Plantation Art Gallery Cafe... very nice indeed.

We left here to head into Mt Tambourine only to find out that we had been on the correct road to start with.  We were very thankful though that we thought we weren't, otherwise we would never had ended up back at the Coffee Plantation Art Gallery Cafe for our morning tea. 

On the road into Mt. Tambourine, we saw lots of cars parked on the side of the road near this grassed hand gliding area... There looked to be a couple of people setting up to go gliding, so we decided to stop and watch.  The views were breathtaking, and it was nice to just sit in the sun on the hill and enjoy the fresh air and scenery.  

Enjoying the fresh air and scenery

What a gorgeous spot to stop and enjoy the sun..

We watched this guy suit up and set up his parachute.  He then just ran off the hill and took off.  It was amazing to watch and we sat their for quite some time watching him sail around in the sky...
It looked pretty amazing...

Setting up to take off...

Oh the freedom

Soaring through the air..

After talking to another guy who was setting up to take off we found out that their landing spot is somewhere near Beaudesert near Brisbane...  These guys were not young either.  they would have been in their 40s or 50s.....
They looked so free though....

After spending an hour or so here on the hillside, we took off into Mt Tambourine itself...
We parked in the main street and were very fortunate to get a park right in the middle of the street..  The first shop we went into was a lovely shop that specializes in Weddings and such called "Bygone Days".  It was kind of a Shabby Chic sort of shop and although there was not a lot their that I would want to buy,  I did appreciate looking at all the beautiful stuff. 

Lovely craft shop specializing in weddings. 

Browing through Bygone Days

Enjoying the beauty in this shop. 

 There was also a wine cellar attached to this shop. and they had wine sampling happening whilst we were there, so of course we had to get in on the fun and Jan ended up buying a couple of bottles of a lovely red wine. 

Views from the Wine Cellar

Beautiful Chandelier in the Wine Cellar...

 From here we walked along the street and came to a little shopping village called the "Whistling Duck Villare", such a pretty little spot and they had duck and geese all over the lawns of this little village. 

Whistling Duck Village

 There was a lovely antique shop in here where I came across this gorgeous teaset...

Seeing this teaset made my day...

I was so excited to see this teaset in here, as my grandmother had this very same teaset and it was a very special teaset that I remember from my childhood....   They were selling just a cup and saucer for $45.  I was so excited to see it that I just had to ask the owner if I could take a photo....
We wandered onto some other little home made craft shops.  There were heaps of knetted toys at this next shop we went too.  It was very colourful.  

Hand made craft shop we spied. 

 As we were wandering along the street we were also checking out all the little cafe and eateries,  looking for somewhere to have lunch. 
This next place really amused us as they seemed to have some sort of European Royalty sitting out the front of their shop face.
Of course another photo opportunity...

Checking out the cafes as we wandering the streets. 

 There were lots of lovely little art galleries along this stretch of road also, and we stopped to check out a lot of their work. 
This next little art gallery really took our fancy.  They had a couple of sculptures made out of chicken mesh.  They were amazing...
Both pieces that stood out to me were a couple of eagles make from chicken mesh.  They were amazing and I so wish that I could have taken a photo of the one inside the building.,  It was of an eagle also with his wings opened wide.

Amazing sculpture of an eagle made from chook mesh wire. 

 We wandered a little further along the street and found a lovely little dress shop.  It had some beautiful clothes in there, and a big sale.  I was oh so tempted but decded to be good. 

Windswept and Interesting was a clothing store....

 From here we wandered across the road to check out the little restaurants on the other side of the road...

More lovely shops...

Checking out new shops...

 We came across this lovely hand made craft shop across the road, where everything was hand made.  There are definately a lot of very talented people out there...

The Handmade cottage

 I couldn't resist buying a couple of simple little gifts here.  Some that I thought might be easy to make myself.   They also had the most adorable golly wog in a pram.  He was every so cute, and I hope they have more next time we visit.  I think I could be very tempted to buy one next time. 

 By now we were all feeling pretty hungry.  Christine had been doing a pretty good job of checking  out all the menus along the footpath as we walked countless little restaurants.   We decided to head back to the one who had the mannequins out the front.  They had a deal on Belguim waffles....
I really felt like something pretty healthy and ordered chicken and salad whislt the others ordered ice-cream and waffles.  My goodness you should have seen them  They were amazing... So glad I didn't oder any though.  Love the way they decorated the plates too and we just had to get a photo of it...

My lunch and the girls waffles...

 What a lovely message they left for us om their plates. 

Have a nice day....

Would definately go back here again. 

 From here we headed back across the road and visited the
Chuckoo Clock nest...
What an amazing shop.

The Cuckoo Clock Nest....

 The owner was very obliging and offered for us to take photos and even put a hat on our head for a photo....
They had lots of amazing clocks in there as well as beautiful beer steins, and lost of little wooden german toys.  A photographers paradise. 

Some of the many interesting things we found in the  Cuckoo Nest STore

Beautiful antique cuckoo clocks. 

Beer Steins

A hug with this little man...

 From here we wandered down the road until we found the fudge shop...
What an amazing shop, and they were so helpful, allowing you to taste any of the fudge you wanted.  I settled in a Creme Bulle  Fudge.  It was delicious.  It wan't cheap, but it was another of those treats that we cut into four pieces and shared....

The Fudge shop...

We wandered around a couple of more shops before heading back to the car.  By this stage it was after 3.30pm and we had hopped to get back to go up the Q1 again to see the night lights.  We also had to pick up some prawns for our dinner on the way home. 

Couldn't resist photographing this sign..

 We left up here around 4pm and headed back to the Gold Coast.  We had  a fantastic day in the mountains, and were keen to get home to see the night lights before heading home for dinner...

We stopped off and bought some prawns on our way home, and once we got back from the Q1, Christine made the most delicious Thai curried prawns for dinner.  She loves prawns but her husband is highly allergic to them so she very rarely gets to have them.  It was a wonderful treat for her.  We washed it down with a lovely drop of white wine...

Great meal to finish the day off with....

We only have one day left of our girls time away,,,,
The time has just flown...