Queensland’s rock stars of the Granite Belt
There’s wine and many other wonders in the fertile southeast corner of the Sunshine State.
The screensaver on the computer behind the reception desk at my Granite Belt accommodation displays a snowy scene you’d expect to see on a European Christmas card, but is clearly of the garden I’ve just walked through. Owners Debbie and Scott Bradburn laugh at my wide eyes as they explain the image was taken five years ago on the day they bought 31 The Rocks, a smart collection of five spacious villas in the bush on the outskirts of the southeast Queensland town of Stanthorpe.
“So far, we’ve never seen it looking like that,” says Debbie.
Stanthorpe has some lovely heritage buildings and a smattering of street art, and calls itself “the coolest town in Queensland” — because it literally is, with winter temperatures dipping close to zero. When snow is predicted, visitors from around the region flock here for the novelty.
These days the welcome is particularly warm as tourism is providing much-needed relief from years of drought, bushfires and now the COVID pandemic. During my visit just before lockdown, it rains for the first time in three years and the smiles on the faces of local producers are joyful. This is a region that needs rain more than most, to grow strawberries and apples for which it is renowned plus the grapes that make the Granite Belt the state’s premier winelands.
Water restrictions were imposed last August, and in September bushfires ravaged much of the area, destroying four houses in Stanthorpe and licking the edge of the town. Blazes closed surrounding roads intermittently during December and January, keeping more visitors away.
Firefighting used up precious water, and by January the dams were dry and water trucks became a common sight. By early April, water regulations had eased a little but travel restrictions were keeping tourists at home. Now, the Granite Belt farmers, winemakers, retailers, hoteliers and everyone else who relies on tourism for their business want it known that despite some of the toughest years in memory, they are upbeat about the future.
A few days in this fertile region reveal a wide variety of things to see and do. Girraween National Park, known for its massive granite outcrops and balancing boulders, has long been a place for families to camp and burn off energy on the 17km of walking tracks. Girraween takes its name from the Aboriginal word for “place of flowers” and September and October are the best months to see wild blooms. Throw in clear streams, brilliantly coloured birdlife, wallabies, possums, echidnas and a few slithering reptiles and you have a nature lover’s dream.
The national park has been surpassed by the region’s 35 wineries as the top reason most visitors come to the Granite Belt. For those with epicurean leanings, the excellent food and wine offerings will not disappoint.
The sight of the Big Apple standing opposite Sutton’s Cidery and Juice Factory on the highway at Thulimbah, just outside Stanthorpe, signals our arrival. Sutton’s shelves groan with varieties of apple juice, cider, brandy and preserves, but it’s hard to resist a slab of apple pie, with a generous scoop of spiced cider ice cream, knowing the fruit has been grown in the orchard out the back.
Lush strawberries are ripe for picking from October to May at Ashbern Farms, where owners Ashley and Brendon Hoyle welcome visitors to their 10ha commercial strawberry farm. Pick your own to take home, or buy punnets from the cafe, which also does a scrumptious line in waffles, parfaits, ice cream, chocolate-dipped strawberries, smoothies, shakes and coffees.
Over a weekend, we drop in to cellar doors at Ridgemill Estate, Robert Channon Wines and St Jude’s, three of the 31 stops on the Granite Belt Strange Bird Trail, which showcases alternative varieties such as sangiovese or vermentino. At Robert Channon Wines, where the cellar door has views over the placid Singing Lake, we taste the intense flavours of a verdelho with hints of honeysuckle and lime, and the dark blackberry hints of a malbec. Wine making is so integral to this region it is also home to the Queensland College of Wine Tourism, part of the Stanthorpe State High School campus, one of several schools in Australia that have their own vineyard.
“Here we don’t talk about ‘food miles’ but ‘metres’,” says college chief executive Peter O’Reilly. “The grapes and fruit from the orchard never touch the bitumen.”
December and January saw “horrific” low tourist numbers to the area, he says, the worst in six years. “If it’s not one thing that gets you, it’s another,” he says. “We got through the drought, then the rain and the birds finished it off.”
And that was before COVID-19 hit.
One of the region’s newest foodie finds, St Jude’s Cellar Door and Bistro at Ballandean, which opened last year under owner/chef Robert Davidson, serves innovative Italian-inspired dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and coffee by Brisbane-based specialty coffee roaster Fonzie Abbott.
For brunch, I savour locally grown Eukey Road mushrooms with goat cheese, caramelised onions, olive tapenade, crostini and balsamic tar, but am sorely tempted by the pork and fennel sausage with artichoke. The cellar door is a satellite of Queensland’s award-winning Sirromet Wines southeast of Brisbane, which owns the neighbouring vineyard.
Davidson hopes to harvest his own grapes in the near future. “Until it rained, people here couldn’t raise their heads. But the rain has given some real hope — and now we can start planning for 2021.”
At the boutique Granite Belt Brewery, it is a similar story. Founded in 2012, the brewery narrowly escaped the bushfires but its future was also in doubt because brewing requires a lot of water, explains owner Geoff Davenport during a tour.
“In March 2019, the council planned to pull the pin on us because of the water usage for the brewery, but we need the tourists, so they changed their minds. But we have to watch everything we do very closely now.”
Beer-tasting paddles are complemented by a “brewer’s platter” of four dishes: wattleseed-dusted pork with local apple, roast garlic and pumpkin mash, spiced lamb tagine and a coffee-infused creme brulee.
On our last day, I rise early to take the easy hike to the top of the escarpment behind the villas at 31 The Rocks for a view of the countryside. The resident koalas are elusive but I’m rewarded by encounters with wallabies and native birds such as rainbow lorikeets and kookaburras.
After a few days of road tripping, our bags and car boot hold a stash of wine, sweet treats from Heavenly Chocolate at Wyberba (stop on the way to Girraween) and a boozy plum and shiraz conserve from Jamworks at Glen Aplin, which produces 120 preserves and condiments available for taste tests.
Months later, with my haul of Granite Belt goodies diminished, I’m planning a return visit to restock.
IN THE KNOW
The Granite Belt is about 230km from Brisbane or 250km from the Gold Coast. The Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest Festival, run annually since 1966, is held over 10 days in late February-early March and is one of Queensland’s most popular festivals, attracting about 80,000 visitors (check the website for next year’s plans). 31 The Rocks has villas from $380 for two nights (minimum stay) during the week, $460 on weekends, including light continental breakfast.
parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/girraween
Lee Mylne was a guest of Granite Belt Wine Country and Tourism and Events Queensland.