BreakawayOffroad4x4.com.au

Hi All,
After the Cape York trip it is time for a nice comfortable.... indulgent trip..... with not so much as a drop toilet in sight!
The Stanthorpe "Market in the Mountain" is on Sunday 11th August at the Stanthorpe Showground from 8am till Midday.

The trip itinerary includes visiting various wineries, gourmet Jam, cheese, olive? etc establishments around the Stanthorpe area on Saturday afternoon 10th August, then staying overnight at a motel in Stanthorpe before visiting the Markets in the morning. For those heading back to Brisbane I'm planning to take a back way home from Stanthorpe along the border that includes a visit to a Lavender farm (assuming I can find it again) and the road through the Condamine headwaters.
The motel I'm proposing to stay at in Stanthorpe is directly across the road from the markets (1 High St) - we stayed there on our previous foodie trip 2 years ago and just walked across the road to the markets. They also have a very nice restaurant attached. However we can decide on a restaurant on the Saturday afternoon - there are some very nice restaurants in the area. Also if anyone has a preference for other accommodation in town we can easily work around that.

The motel does have rooms available for the 10th and a reasonable cancellation policy. Please make your own bookings if you are coming on the trip.
I'll post up the meeting details for Saturday morning a bit closer to time.

Where: Stanthorpe area
Cost: Accomodation approx. $125-$160 at the "High St Motor Inn" 07 4681 1533, meals and allow some dollars for purchasing wines / jams / beers / cheese etc at the market or wineries etc
When: Saturday 10th August and Sunday 11th August
Meeting Place: To be advised
UHF: Channel 13
Trip Leader: Don - 0407 030 693

Please let us know if you wish to come along. It should be a nice comfortable relaxing weekend.
If you have favourite establishments in the area that you'd like to visit post them up.

I've put my thinking hat on and this is my suggestions- Kathy not Cos- resident foodie in this house
breakfast/ coffee/ browse:
Brinx Deli 18 Maryland St Stanthorpe- best coffee and good deli range
Ideas for sit down mealsLunch or dinner- we'd need to book these ahead:
Varias (at Queensland College Wine Tourism, 22 Caves Rd Stanthorpe http://www.qcwt.com.au/varias-restaurant/- great food reasonably priced- awesome taster lunch and lunch share plates but dinner a la carte good too- supporting the future of hospitality & wine!
Barrel Room @ Ballandean Estate Winery 354 Sundown Rd Ballandean- http://www.barrelroomrestaurant.com/- Italian, new chefs and we'd need to drive 20 mins to get there from motel but always been excellent food.

Other spots to stop in:
Jersey Girls Cafe and Cheese- 4 Duncan L Thulimbah - https://www.stanthorpecheese.com.au/our-cheeses.html must do their cheese and thickshakes is to die for
Mt Stirling Olives 200 Collins rd Glen Aplin- awesome range of oils and marinated olives, dukkah, tapenade plus they have a fudge shop and sell Bramble patch jams while they're closed (website down but huge range)
Washpool Farm soaperie 16 Bents Rd Ballandean http://www.washpool.com.au/- Homemade natural soaps, handwash, cosmetics etc
Haven't tried Jamworks but they seem to be getting good reviews now Bramble Patch is closed and also do cafe food. http://www.jamworks.com.au 7 Townsend Rd Glen Aplin

Wineries:
My top 3 crowd pleasers which do quality reds/ whites and a mix of tastes would be catered for:
Symphony Hill 2017 Eukey rd Ballandean symphonyhill.com.au Won winemaker of the year Australia 2017. Good range- something for all tastes and price ranges. (I'm a member but don't know if EVERYONE can get my 30% discount )
Golden Grove 337 Sundown Rd Ballandean- really broad range of wines (lots of strangebirds) http://www.goldengroveestate.com.au/Our-Wines
Ballandean Estate http://www.ballandeanestate.com/ 354 Sundown Rd Ballandean- good range of award winning whites and reds incl saperavi, cab sav, shiraz, malbec, viognier, fiano, sem/ sauv blanc
Others which are good:
Robert Channons 32 Bradley L Stanthorpe (off Amiens)- verdelho and pinot noir and bubbly
Pyramid Rd 25 Wyberba L (off pyramid Rd) Wyberba- mouvedre, merlot, verdelho
Ridgemill Estate 218 Donges Rd Broadwater tempranillo, saperavi, pinot grigio
Tobin 34 Ricca Rd Ballandean
Ones i'd like to try and highly recomended but never been:
Boireann- red only- 26 Donnellys Castle Rd, The Summit http://www.boireannwinery.com.au/
Savina Lane wines- 61 Sevin L Severnlea http://www.savinalanewines.com.au/ (Groups of six or more are kindly asked to make an appointment 0419 723 755) Fiano, Viognier, Tempranillo and Graciano cool climate Shiraz.
Casley Mt Hutton wines- 94 Mt Hutton rd Greenlands http://www.casleywines.com.au
la Petit Mort/ Bent Road Winery- i dream of going but by appointment only-quite new and up and coming but recommended by sommeliers everywhere- i have some of their wine and enjoyed it http://www.bentroadwine.com.au/

now you've got me wanting to make an extra long weekend of it

Sounds like a great trip. Arie and I will be in on it. I will get in and book the accommodation tomorrow.

We will need to confirm our availability for that weekend. Looks like there are a few birthday parties that my kids are keen to attend for that weekend.

Cheers
David.

We both have Monday off work so we booked to stay at the motor inn Sunday night as well.

Cheers,

Cos.

Rosie and I have booked a spot. Should be a nice weekend.

Hi all, All we need is some nice weather for a great weekend.
Thank you for the selection of places to visit Kathy! We'll pick a selection then let you and Cos finish off the list on Sunday. And we will try get to Jamworks too - I hear they have terrific Tomato Relish.
It sort of sounds like you have been up that way before!
I'll post up the starting time and location this Sunday night. (I have one place still to sample... maybe a change from the usual Aratula meeting spot.)
Cheers,
Don

Mariana, Indy and I have also just booked a room for the Saturday night.

Greetings all,
For a change to our normal practice when heading south west we are going to have a simple navigating exercise this time.
The meeting place for this trip will be at "Mackaway's Cafe at Harrisville at 9:00am.

While it is not the only way to Harrisville - I'd recommend turning off the Cunningham or Centenary Highway on the Boonah Road and then turn right at the "Peak" Pub. Allow about 20 minutes from the turn off from the Cunningham / Centenary Highway. If you find Harrisville you won't have trouble locating Mackaways.

If you want to start the foodie trip with breakfast at this country café - be there earlier so we are still ready to roll from Harrisville just after 9:00. The café opens at 7am. I haven't tried the breakfast there ...yet - but the smells from the kitchen were definitely hopeful!

Cheers,
Don

I just checked the temperatures for the weekend. Make sure you pack your winter Willie's - -3 to 11 deg on Sunday.