CrookNeck

We're staying in a self catered cabin at CrookNeck Retreat in the Glass House Mountains, northwest of Brisbane. It's a quiet place; there's only 3 cabins nestled in a Macadamia Nut orchard. On the ground, there's nuts everywhere with plenty more still on the trees.

The nuts are harvested off the ground. Because the orchard is small, there's a walk behind picker that places them in a basket. The fruit has a green husk that needs to be removed, exposing the shell. Ideally, the shell needs to be exposed for 3 weeks, which allows the nut to dry. A cracker is then used to remove the shell, and the nut can be eaten raw, or roasted with a little added salt, if desired.

Our cabin, the Mountain View, is modern and very comfortable. It has electricity, countertop stove, microwave, 3 piece bathroom, hot-tub, air conditioning and a woodstove. We're hoping to not need the woodstove.

You might think the Retreat may not have the adventure element that we look for, but I need to tell you, there's the odd python around. Apparently, they prefer to eat rodents like mice over Canadian Tourists. They spend time wrapped up and around in trees. We haven't seen one yet, but there's lots of trees in the orchard, and I've taken a special interest in them.

As the name of our cabin, Mountain View suggests, we can see one of the Glass House Mountains. The mountain, Mount Coonowrin, is about a kilometer or so away, and looks like a crooked neck which leads to the name of the Retreat.

The Glass House Mountains are made up of 10 peaks. Some have trail access, and a few even require rock climbing ability. This morning, we hiked Mount Ngungun.

 It was an hour's hike to the top where we were presented a 360 degree view of the area.

After using the compass to orient ourselves, we could pick out CrookNeck Retreat, our home away from home.

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