The Tropical Tweed Coast

Summer Issue: October 2009

I'd spent holidays baking myself on the beach in Surfers Paradise and I knew Australia's Gold Coast had a touch of green, up in the mountains, providing a tropical breather from the built-up coast. What I didn't know was that, just a short drive south, there's Tweed, a laid-back and welcoming oasis.

Our first fuel stop, and the ideal position to take in the 180 degree ocean views from the Tweed Heads, is Café D'Bar on Boundary Street - one of the roads that sits right on the dividing line of Queensland and New South Wales.

With its unpainted wooden interior, simple tasty fare served on plastic plates and uninterrupted views from the furthest tip of headland, Point Danger, it's the perfect place to soak in the surfer vibe.

We can't laze around all day, so we head for Tropical Fruit World. I'm a bit ho-hum about this, but when faced with the fruit platter, with slices of dragonfruit's bright pink flesh specked with black seeds, pale and slippery rambutan, Mexican mango and chunks of custard apple, I'm converted.

The tropicana is not restricted to Tropical Fruit World, either. The Tweed valley is part of the region's 'green cauldron', a fertile volcanic crater, circling out from its jagged focal point, Mt Warning (Wollumbin).

We pass fields of sugar cane as we drive towards Wollumbin. A steep public road flanked by bangalow palms snakes its way up the 23 million-year-old mountain. The area is a national park with bush walks and a climb to the peak, where visitors can be among the first in Australia to see the sun rise.

On the lower slopes of the mountain, surrounded by lush farmland, is a grand two-storey weatherboard house, which has been turned into Mavis's Kitchen, a restaurant run by partners Peter and Charlie.

We were there on Mother's Day, which was really quite suitable, as the restaurant is named after Charlie's mother to celebrate her legendary cooking.

Sitting on the sunny verandah overlooking the organic garden beds (which provides some of what ends up on the plates), we each have a guess at what's in the pilaf that is making it so deliciously...floral. We finally give up and ask Charlie, who happily tells us it's rosewater.

I can't wait to tell my friends at home about Tweed.What a nice surprise.

Jetstar flies daily from Auckland to the Gold Coast www.jetstar.com
www.tweedtourism.com.au

Story by Laura Crooks