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Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town that thrived in the gold rush days back in the 1850’s. The region was originally known as Mayday Hills until regular findings of gold transformed the grazing land into a thriving gold rush town, officially being called Beechworth on the 1st of January 1854. The boom times brought in a large variety of industries to the town, this included a tannery, jewellers, boot makers, a brewery, blacksmiths and livestock sale yards. It had schools, a convent, hotels, a prison with imposing stone walls, a hospital, a mental hospital, court house, police barracks, stage coach companies and a powder magazine.
Echos of History Guided Walking TourThis is an Apple Box, But But Eucalyptus Tree measuring approx. 8m in diameter and standing at 23m high. It is said to be over 300 years old and the result of two trees merging together. In the gold-rush era the tree was used as a message board, with messages nailed to the tree. Evidence of which is still visible and is listed on the heritage national trust database.
The gold rush days brought people in from the United States, United Kingdom and China, all to try and get a slice of the golden cake. Mining Camps and leases popped up around the region, seeing a population of 3100 soar to 22000 people. Two well known figures of Beechworth are bushranger Ned Kelly, who had many links to the town and Robert O’Hara Burke, the local police officer who embarked on the ill fated Burke and Wills expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The winding narrow challenging roads from Canberra brought us into Beechworth in the afternoon, which welcomed us with blooming autumn flora and streets filled with Victorian Colonial architecture. It was extremely pleasant and even the caravan park was nestled in behind the local Lake Sambell, giving us a beautiful place to stay.
Ned Kelly Guided Walking Tour
The cell in the Beechworth Courthouse where Ned Kelly spent time prior to sentencing. It is still in the original condition, with the addition of electricity.
The our day kicked off with a run out to Lake Kerferd, which provided great views and a hard fall to the ground that left Gumby with a few nasty scars on the leg which are still with us to this day. The injury brought her much pain but she soldiered on refusing to let it stop any exploring. We got ourselves out to the town and enjoyed a walking tour by a knowledgeable local. The tour was hours of information on Beechworth’s eventful history. Every part of the town had a story to it, of course every building does, but things you would just walk past like an apple box butt butt eucalyptus tree that was used to pin messages on, or a hook on the wall of one of the shops, used to hang dead cattle so it could get pickled to avoid maggots and flies.
We got to know the notable locals a bit better. Robert O’Hara Burke was not just a famous explorer but one of the local policemen of the town. Although known for leading explorations, he wasn’t too good of a navigator when finding his way around Beechworth constantly getting lost out bush. Another well-known figure in Beechworth was Ned Kelly; the notorious bushranger had many links to the town. He was a regular visitor of the courthouse and spent two years in the local HM prison, where four of his other gang members and his mother also spent time. Beneath the town hall is a cell where Ned Kelly’s mentor and Bushranger Harry Power spent time in 1863 and 1864. One of his most famous Beechworth events was a boxing match with Isaiah Wright to settle an argument over a horse. The bare-knuckle match endured for an astonishing 20 rounds seeing Kelly come out on top. He created a lot of history in the region with countless acts against the law, from as small as riding over a footpath drunk to being part of one of the most famous gangs in Australian history. His life of 25 years has more documented history than Queen Victoria and most of it lies within the region. It was a big day on the history so we thought the best way to see in the night was a pizza from the local Bridge Road brewery. We also had our first ever beer together, which was the Bridge Road Robust Porter, unbelievably delicious! The only thing that we found disappointing about Beechworth is that we only spent one day there, we were in love with the town. It surprised us with beautiful architecture, scenery and endless chapters of history. The food is amazing and local beer so good that we even gave it a try.
 In local indigenous Gumbaynggirr culture the word Nambucca loosely translates to 'Entrance to the Waters.' The story goes, John Oxley surveyed the Nambucca Heads Region in 1820, although there may have been european settlers in the region prior to this time, with the logging of cedar beginning in 1842 and the development of the town occurring shortly thereafter. Nambucca Heads boasts one of the oldest Life-Saving clubs in Australia and holds the reputation as the club that started the junior life-saving movement, we now know as 'Nippers.' We walked, admiring the V-Wall, an outdoor rock art gallery located on the breakwall of the heads. Anyone and everyone has either painted or created an artwork in spray paint or mosaic in tribute to or in memory of a person or a trip to Nambucca Heads. It's an interesting assortment of colour and personal creativity and well worth a look. We then jogged a track called, The Nature Walk that lead us through a rainforest located right in the centre of town and up a hill towards Captain Cook lookout, which provides views out over the Pacific Ocean. We took the same path back traversing the boardwalk parallel to the River and back to our caravan park situated on the heads.
  In local Indigenous Bundjalung mythology, Flat Rock was created by the Dirawong a Goanna spirit. The Goanna and the Rainbow Snake had a fierce battle. The Goanna after giving birth left her eggs at Boulder Beach seemingly out of harms way, the Rainbow Snake however found the eggs and decided to wait for the Goanna to return. The Goanna was nevertheless exhausted after giving birth and fighting the Rainbow Snake that she lay down on the beach. The tide came in and she drowned hence creating Flat Rock. It is said the Rainbow Snake still waits for the Goanna to return and that fishermen are often tossed from their boats by a 'freak wave' caused by the Rainbow Snake at Boulder Beach. 
Using our 'Byron Trails' book we decided to jog the track from the Pat Morton Lookout (a great place to watch surfers tackle the notorious break) down to Flat Rock, about 5kms one way. The track traverses grassy headlands along the cliff edge and negotiates pebbly rocks at Boulder Beach before smoothing out onto a paved path that we were told had only recently been completed, much to the praise of locals. It was at times challenging yet stunning to be bathed in glorious sunshine jogging a gorgeous coastline. Shovel smashed the jog finishing it off bounding up the final ascent, back to the lookout, but I decided to end my jog there and slowly walk up the remaining section admiring the views.   It is said the 'right-hand point-break' at Lennox Head is one of Australia's 'most famous' waves with the 7 kilometre beach being declared a National Surfing Reserve in 2008. A National Surfing Reserve (NSR) is an "iconic place of intrinsic environmental, heritage, sporting and cultural value to a nation." To be demeaned a NSR site the quality and consistency of waves, the sacredness of a site to the surfing community and the environmental management plan are all assessed. At the time of writing there are currently 19 NSR sites around Australia. After our jog Shovel and I with boogie board in hand headed straight for this famous surf. The waves still receding from high tide were ferocious to say the least, living up to the reputation, but we persevered for a few hours and managed to ride a few pearlers back into shore.
Waking up in the morning at Beachmere was a pleasant experience after witnessing the “real life zombie apocalypse wasteland under the bridge caravan park” at Caboolture. Even more pleasant was the day we had planned so we’re excited to fill you in about it. We set off at a good time in the morning to go for a run around some of the tracks at the Glasshouse Mountains, which is nestled up in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland 64 kilometres north of Brisbane. The Glasshouse Mountains are plugged volcanic peaks that have been inactive for approximately 25 million years. Named by James Cook, he described them as Glass factory buildings with their close proximity to each other and impressive elevation. The rich resources in the area made it sustainable for Aboriginal people over thousands of years, it also has very spiritual significance, which made for large ceremonial gatherings that are still happening presently. We lapped around Mount Tibrogargan on a track and run along the Trachtyte circuit. The circuit took us up to the Jack Ferris lookout and gave us great views of five of the surrounding peaks. Stoked with the views we ran ourselves back to the car park and thought we would go and find a beach.  Glass House Mountains National Park
We decided to make our way to Caloundra, a tidy popular beach town that is the most southern beach of the Sunshine Coast. Ever since 1875, it’s been a destination for tourists to soak up beach and sunshine. After an epic smoothie bowl at the Greenhouse Café, we strolled down to the beach and threw ourselves into the water. The beach was amazing to swim at; the waves were pleasant, no harsh rips and clear water that we could just sit in all day. Refreshed with an early afternoon swim we made our way over to Bribie Island for dinner.
 Bribie Island Surf Beach Driving on a bridge that takes us over the Pumice Stone River, it landed us on the island. With some time to spare before dinner, we went and had a look at Woorim beach, which had good views over towards Moreton Island. Watching endless waves of water took us to dinner at the Kai Restaurant. The views here were just as good, we got to watch the sun drop over the horizon and see the glare of the city lights rise. A beautiful storm made its way over and gave us a decent light show too. After nature’s performance, dinner made its way out with a garlic bread entrée and a pair of lamb shanks resting on top of a flavoursome risotto, finished with a brownie for desert. We certainly didn’t go home hungry.
The day was action packed but amazingly relaxed. It was filled with everything from running on dirt tracks between mountains to drifting between waves on the beach. Graciously eating acai bowls to devouring the shanks of a lamb. Highways to gravel roads and then parked back at Florence to hit the hay. What an awesome day!
 It’s an amazing place to be out in the water, kayaking along the ocean gives you the best view of the multi coloured sand phenomenon.
Rainbow beach is a fairly new town, only being gazetted in 1969. Originally known as Black Beach, it was renamed Rainbow Beach due to its 72 various colours in the beach sand. The town started off facilitating the sand mine, which ceased operations in 1976, since then it has focused on tourism. Its main attractions are beaches, 4WDing, fishing and walking tracks. Another attraction was the shipwreck Cherry Venture which was beached at double island point, sunk in 1973 and removed in 2007, it brought people in to graffiti and eat ice cream at the stand. Even though her rusted remains are removed, a prop is nicely displayed to represent its tourism legacy.  Around the town is nice and quiet, the beach is certainly the main attraction. The burger we had with a wagyu beef pattie well past the used by date gave us a hint that we should be out on the beach fishing for a meal. The beaches are wide, sandy and filled with colour. Wide beaches stretch up to Inskip point to connect to Fraser Island and down to the northern shores of Noosa, creating a highway for four wheel drives to commute sensibly along. Making for a spectacular drive on Double Island Point for a kayak tour, we felt concerned to see the layers of oil and black residue it leaves, especially up towards Inskip point. We drove to Searys Creek, which was a nice gentle 200-metre walk, with gorgeous tea coloured water and greenery made it great for dipping the feet in. 
We decided to jog the bush track to Poona Lake from the Bymein Day Use Area, located off Freshwater Road in the Great Sandy National Park. It's about 2.2kms to the lake, so we jogged there and back twice over, making for a fun, yet heart rate raising jog of about 8.8kms, the track of which climbs steadily towards the lake. Poona lake has a brownish tinge, coloured by the surrounding Tea Tree plants and although a beautiful spot with perfect white sand, the dark water didn't look appealing to venture into. During the jog, Shovel stood on what we think was a tree snake before it slid quickly up a tree and almost ran straight into a huge gonna, before it too hurried up a tree and he was almost knocked out by a falling branch. Just as well I let him jog in front.
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November 2023
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