Country landscapes and cultural life in Maleny

The year I turned 13 I lived in south-east Queensland for a year. My mum and I moved back to Sydney at the end of that year but over the years various family members migrated north. Now my Grandma, two aunts, two uncles, four cousins and assorted partners and children all live up there, either in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast hinterland. I am a Sydneysider born and bred but these days more of my extended family live in Queensland than Sydney.

So when we needed to vacate our apartment for a month to facilitate building works, it was an obvious decision to head north to visit family. It was our first major trip – Newcastle in July was officially our first trip but it was only two nights and only two hours away. This time we were flying and staying away for close to five weeks. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. I am also really glad we did it for the learning experience – we are planning to go to Europe next year and I now have some idea of how much better organised we need to be to travel successfully with the twins!

This was the longest I had spent in this part of the world since I was 13. It was wonderful to have the luxury of time and to have our own transport – it made for a very different experience to what I am used to. I was living overseas from early 2004 to late 2010 and visiting Australia every year or two. Every time I came I would spend most of my time in Sydney but I would always try to make it north, particularly to see my grandmother who is now in her mid-eighties (pictured with my son, right). I considered it a luxury if I had a week to divide between my cousins in Brisbane and the place where my Grandma and aunt live; often I only had a few days. And since I didn’t have my driving licence until the beginning of 2010, I was also usually stuck out in the country without my own transport.

I must say I really enjoyed the driving. We took the Kenilworth Road from Noosa to Crystal Waters, near Maleny. The drive is through the Mary Valley, with mile on mile of cattle grazing in lush meadows ringed by forested ridges. Kenilworth is a cute little town with a great little commercial art gallery selling gorgeous hand-crafted glassware and paintings. We also spent a lot of time up in Maleny and driving along the curving roads that lead to Montville or down to Peachester. This area is more mountainous with stunning views overlooking the Glass House Mountains – weird volcanic formations rising out of a coastal plain. It was great to be able to throw the twins in the car and go for drives whenever they were restless.

Maleny has changed dramatically since 1989 when I attended Year 8 at the local high school. Back then the shops in the main street stopped halfway up from where they are now. There was a milk bar called Nagy’s, a restaurant called Darcy’s, a food co-op, an IGA supermarket, a credit union, a second-hand bookstore and that was pretty much it. Now the town is full of life, with at least half a dozen cafes and restaurants and great shopping with everything from organic bed linen to custom joinery and carpentry. My pick for coffee and fabulous homemade ice cream is Colin James Fine Foods - I loved the cinnamon and ginger flavour.

Maleny seems to have an unusually rich cultural life for a country town. In the two weeks I was there, two events were stand-out. The first was the opportunity to see one of my favourite authors speak at the Maleny Community Centre. My uncle Steven, who is an award-winning fiction author, has funding to run a literary festival that runs throughout the year with periodic author events. I checked out the website prior to my trip and was thrilled to discover that Ann Patchett – author of books such as The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto (for which she won the Orange prize) and Run – was scheduled to speak. Patchett lives in Tennessee so this is no small coup – she was in Australia to speak at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival but even so, it was impressive to actually get her up to Maleny.

Patchett was a terrifically entertaining speaker and she was kind enough to personalise her inscription in her new book, State of Wonder, at the book signing afterwards.”Good luck with the twins and the writing – you’ll make it work,” she wrote. The inscription was appropriate since she had spent part of the talk explaining why she is glad not to have children so that she has more time to write! She also described the gore of watching a Caesarean section as research for her book and how that too was an effective form of birth control. (I had a c-section for my twins!). I was interested that she mentioned that her journalism funds her fiction writing and she prefers to write about shoes than serious issues because it takes less time and it’s far better paid, so I told her that I thought I might have to start writing about shoes. I also recalled this piece she wrote for the Wall Street Journal speculating that her expense account might have killed Gourmet magazine. (The answer: Probably not).

I have since read State of Wonder and recommend it highly. It is set mostly in the Amazon in Brazil and the main character is a pharmacologist from Minnesota. Her books are often told by multiple narrators but this had a single narrator, which helped with the suspense. It’s my fourth Patchett novel and my favourite so far. Patchett is pictured above – though it’s a pretty ordinary snapshot taken with my mobile phone.

The second notable event was the Real Food Festival on at the Maleny Showground. The last time I went to an event at the Maleny Showground it was to attend the Maleny Folk Festival, as it was called then. It outgrew the site and moved to a dedicated site at Woodford many years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens with the Real Food Festival. The whole concept seems to be tapping into the zeitgeist with so much interest in the provenance of food. The organisers would have been very happy – it was a gorgeous, sunny day and the crowd turn-out was excellent. People seemed to be spending money at the stalls, whether it was artisanal chilli sauce or books on keeping backyard poultry. The festival also included some off-site events such as cooking classes and food tours held the day before the show. My only quibble is that the $12 entry fee seemed steep when there are so many farmers’ markets around that are almost as good but free.

Still, I have never had a dessert like this at a farmers’ market. It’s a lemon tart with blood orange ice cream from Freestyle Escapes. Yum.

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