We arrived at Eagle Outdoors on Monday to find out they were short staffed (like most businesses at the moment) due to covid and they’d need the caravan for most of the week. It was booked in for some warranty work and a service, and we had expected it just to be a couple of days. However, our friends from our days in Mandurah, Linda and Barry, made us very welcome and insisted we stay with them all week at their lovely home on Tamborine Mountain.

I’d seen some of Linda’s Facebook posts and knew that ‘the Mountain’ must be a lovely part of the country. Indeed we discovered it is a very special place, definitely somewhere I’d enjoy living. Part of the Scenic Rim, Tamborine Mountain is surrounded by beautiful rainforest and national parks. There are beautiful drives and bush walks through the lush green forest to spectacular waterfalls. We loved that the houses in the area have been built with character and in keeping with the rural theme.

Over the week it became clear that there is a terrific sense of community here; everyone is friendly and supportive of everyone else. It is a very ‘arty’ and spiritual town with nice art galleries and lots of people selling essential oils, offering massages and reading tarot cards. Another friend from our Mandurah days, Sandy, lives here and makes her own beautiful products called Sacred Blends. (https://instagram.com/sacredblendsaustralia?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=). While we were there, she gave me the most wonderful hour long massage.

During our trip John and I have used a lot of book exchanges but on Tamborine Mountain, they go one step further- they have an Edible Exchange where community members leave home grown fruit, vegetables or herbs for others to use or swap. More recently they have also started a seed library.

John and I enjoyed a wander along Gallery Walk, a street popular with tourists that has quite an eclectic mix of shops and cafes including my favourite shop A Wee Bit of Scotland. There is also a very unique shop called the German Cuckoo Clock Nest which has some great clocks and nesting dolls. We loved looking through the vintage, gift and fudge shops, to mention just a few.

As we have done in most towns, we took a walk through the Botanical Gardens which were lovely. I liked that there were several areas set aside for contemplating!

The weather was quite mild all week but some evenings were quite cold. One of those was when John and I joined Linda, Barry, Sandy and their friends, Dianne and Alan, to watch the sunset. Luckily Linda and Barry supplied us with extra hats, jackets and rugs to keep us warm. And the red wine also helped!

What a busy week we had. Linda and Barry kept us entertained by inviting Sandy and her husband, Tony, for dinner and board games. They also took us to their favourite op shops and coffee shops. Their dogs, Ollie and Jet, allowed us to walk them several times to the dog park.

Linda and Barry are very much a part of their local community. Amongst other things they are both carers for people who need extra support; teach dancing; play the ukulele; enjoy singing with locals; help with and perform in local plays; and are very involved in a support group called “Mountain Mates”, created by the Lions Club of Tamborine Mountain for over 18s with disabilities and their families. Mountain Mates get together regularly to ‘eat, drink, laugh, sing, dance, paint, garden, make music, dress up’, cook and do craft. The highlight of our week was being invited to their monthly bowls night. We had a fabulous time. It was such a lot of fun watching members and their carers bowl. There was so much joy and laughter. Afterwards we all had dinner together in the bowls club before Barry announced the night’s winners. It seemed that everyone was a winner, there were prizes for all the members. The evening finished with one of the boys, Keegan, playing DJ and getting everyone up to dance. It did our hearts good to see these lovely young people having so much fun and we were so pleased Linda and Barry persuaded us to stay an extra night and go along.

Thanks to Linda and Barry for having us stay. Tamborine Mountain is certainly up there as one of the highlights of our trip. Thanks to Sandy, Tony, Dianne and Alan too. We had a wonderful week.