Girraween National Park

Girraween National Park, AKA the granite belt is located in the southern part of Queensland and it shares a border with New South Wales. The Granite at Girraween is actually a small land mass of only 60km, but it is jam packed with lots to offer from wine tours, amazing apple pie and plenty of hikes.

This area is known as the Granite Belt. The name is obvious, its a bunch of granite rocks/ boulders. I did the research for you, Girraween granite is part of a much larger complex of rocks that stretches over 250kms!! Its actually a very complex things that started over millions and million years ago. It involved magma, tectonic plates pushing together, heat, water, ice, plants and wind! Yea I'm no geologist, but rocks, and rock formations are cool. The granite didn't actually surface until only a million years ago after some erosion.

Okay, so enough with science that I really know nothing about. What on earth can you do in the coldest area of Queensland! This is one of the only areas that will get snow, on occasion, in Queensland! And its located about 2.5 hours from Brisbane. The area likes to advertise itself as a winter escape. Escape the regular all year warmish weather and cozy up by the fire and sip wine. Sounds great to be honest.

What did I do? Well, booked a wine tour of course! Now, I'm not gonna lie it was NOT the best wine I have ever had. Nor was it the best tour I have been on. The tour I had booked with was called Maxi Tours. It was 100$ for a half day, and we even got picked up and dropped off. So you could drink as much as you want. Well unfortunately you only got to test what they offered and not much more. I was disappointed in the history part if it, tell me about the grapes, when it was harvested and how long have you been in business? Will I listen to all of it, maybe not but it is nice to have the option. I was surprised by the fact that no food was served at these tastings. Most tasting I have been to often have, bread, cheese, crackers, olives, literally any snack/ finger food. In fact in most the of EU it is required to serve a complimentary snack when you order drinks. On top of the no snacks, our lunch stop wasn't a winery, and the food wasn't winery food, it was more of a roast dinner. The Lunch spot was called the "Blue Pot" which is a cute little spot, just didn't fit in with my warm winery attire. On a different day we had stopped at a different winery called "Balancing Hearts" on our own and it was absolutely fabulous! Amazing fire roasted pizza, and a free wine tasting!! (On the tour you had to pay 5$ at every winery if you didn't buy wine, what did my 100$ go to)? The tasting at Balancing Hearts was also a proper tasting. The gal told us about the wine and did pairings as well, and overall was a WAY better experience.

Now, getting right into the National park of Girraween. There are over 30km of trails in this area and some for all age groups. Having parks like these are so refreshing, I personally don't think anything is better then seeing the older generations still getting out and seeing new places because parks of made some of these areas accessible for everyone. One of the key hikes I wanted to do in the area was called the Pyramid. The start of the trail is a very well marked and easy path with rock stairs. You eventually reach an all granite rock area, and this is where is get STEEP. Tolerable but steep, maybe don't do this one if you are scared of heights! Oh and don't do this when its raining, the rocks get slippery and well, you'll just fall off the edge.

Once you get the courage to climb the side of the mountain, it has breath taking views from the top, and amazing boulders just sitting, balancing on the smallest point. It a wonder how it doesn't just blow over. Many amazing rock formations are to be found in the area, another one called the Granite Arch, you can't miss it and you see it very easily while just on a casual stroll.

Well, we have covered the wine, the granite and now we need to cover the apples! Yes the apples. Stanthorpe is known for its apples, pie, cider and all. So on the way home we stopped at this off the road shed known for its apple pie! A big apple is across the street so you can't miss it. The place is called Sutton's Juice Factory. The owner is know as "Queen of the Apple pie". You can't actually walk through the fruit orchard, but the very rustic shed is where you will find all the goods, including the famous apple pie. And it was delish!!

xo, Nic