Gallery of Modern Art

Today we went out to the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. We hit the road to start with and then stopped closer to town and caught the train to South Brisbane. From here we took a short stroll to the Gallery at the end of the performing art's complex.

At present the Gallery of Moderan Art (GOMA) has the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Arts. It was very interesting with some significant pieces both physical and emotional sense. Well to me anyway....I don't have a particular artistic perspective, but enjoyed the cultural experience. During the school holidays there was a great kid's experience that linked in with the current exhibition. OUr daughter enjoyed kaledioscope painting, placing stickers on a number of buddha statues, playing with plasticine, mixing her face (photo) with both mine and her Dads, playing in the felt garden with 3D fish, fallen leaves, flowers and soft rocks.

Half way through the day we stopped for lunch at the River Cafe overlooking Brisbane City. The large expansive roof means that this facility is suitable for both wet and dry weather, even though most of the seating is outside. Also a significant portion of the grassed area near this facility was in the shade during this hot part of the day. The cafe also lends picnic blankets (I think for a small refundable deposit) that you can use to sit on the appealing green grass, rather than the comfortable seating arrangement.

After strolling the halls of GOMA for a fair few hours, headed to the State Library precinct where they again had some crafty children's activities and to the kiddie corner. Would have spent more time there but some of the party was getting a little tired.

Back to the train station at South Brisbane and with a convenient soft drink break at Central Station, as we needed to swap lines we spent a lovely day out and about in town using the convience of public transport and taking advantages of some of the additional activities that these public services have put on due to the school holidays.

Booloumba Creek, near Kenilworth Part 2

With half the day gone, we thought that we should continue our adventure. On the way into town we passed the Booloumba Creek sign and decided that this is where we travel onto. The turn off from the Maleny-Kenilworth Road to Booloumba Creek is well signed and not too far south of Kenilworth township. Booloumba Creek is primarily a camping area, with four designated areas within the State Forest. The entrance to the Kenilworth State Forest is signed that access is restricted to 4WD high clearance vehicles. However, the number of two wheel drive cars we saw entering the area and traversing the creek crossings was amazing. Guess they were taking adventure of the well graded dirt road (with a few creek crossings) and the summer weather.

Our adventure to this location was primarily aimed at sitting by the creek enjoying an afternoon of glorious south-east Queensland summer weather as well as lazing in the clear waters of the creek. The easiest access for us without going into the campgrounds was the second creek crossing after entering the State Forest. Here we parked the car right by the creek, raised our beach umbrella and lazed around. The creek offers clear to slightly murky freshwater, limited algal growth, pebbled base and well vegetated creek banks. We had a bodyboard with us and this was useful to swim upstream and visit some of the more isolated pools and search out interesting parts of the otherwise difficult-to-access stretches of the creek. We have walked up the creek a little way, but certainly the body board makes the adventure a little easier on the feet.

After a dip, we continued along the road through the Kenilworth State Forest and Conondale National Park. This is an easy drive (for 4WDs), although parts are signed as 'steep and narrow'. The drive passes through dry and wet eucalypt forests, as well as a nice rainforested area approximately two-thirds of the way through the drive, which still had some muddy strecthes despite no rain for the last week. There were a couple of lookout vantage points along the way, one overlooking cleared State Forest lands which gives you some perspective of the topography of the land you had just driven through. The end of this drive emerged near the Kenilworth State Forest office, with another campground area available nearby here.

Emerging back onto the Maleny-Kenilworth Road we headed home via Maleny and Landsborough (the more traditional route to the back of the Range), arriving not too far short of 5pm.

Great day out with excellent weather.

Booloumba Creek, near Kenilworth Part 1

Setting off around 9am we decided to head north from Brisbane to Kenilworth, exact destination unknown (as yet). Kenilworth is located approximately 33km west of Nambour on the Sunshine Coast and is what I consider a small country town with enough services to enjoy a day's drive to with all the required comforts.

Some of the comforts that Kenilworth has includes a lovely cheese factory, where you can taste and purchase some of the locally produced cheeses and yoghurts, a bakery (of sorts...pie was yummy), few cafes, a tourist information centre (open 10am-3pm), a service station, a pub, a local store and a great playground for the kids.

Our route took us along the Bruce Highway, then via Steve Irwin Way. Not the traditional and easiest way to get to Kenilworth, but certainly a new adventure for us. Once we had looked at a broad scale and not very informative map we had decided to go through Beerwah, Peachester, Conondale to finally then reach Kenilworth. Well, we managed the Beerwah, Peachester part with a requirement then to turn off towards Maleny (well signed), however the next turn off which should have led us to Conondale and avoid Maleny was not obviously signed and we headed up into the western parts of Maleny via a back road which we took because it looked like it had a nice country vista.

We then continued down the back road from Maleny to Conondale and then on to Kenilworth, with this stretch of our journey quite straight forward.

The roads between Peachester and Kenilworth are quite steep and windy (and I'm sure this includes the road we didn't take to Conondale). Maleny sits atop the Blackall Range and the road between Peachester and Maleny is steep in an upwards direction and the road between Maleny and Conondale takes you down the back of the Range and again can be steep in parts.

Once in Kenilworth we stopped for refreshments and utilised the children's park and lunch spot and the bottom end of town, opposite the cheese factory. This area has a number of tables for the civilised, well-grassed areas for picnicers and great playground areas aimed at a variety of ages for use. At the times I have visited this park it has all been well-serviced and maintained.