If Kalbar is to be the next Katoomba, no one has informed the locals. There are barely 1000 of them and only one tells me Kalbars changing. Getting too bloody crowded, she says. One morning, I pull out onto Kalbars main street (George St) with more than 300 metres of space in front of me and a local farmer driving towards me at 45 kilometres per hour. He throws his arms up as if I cut him off. City drivers, Ill bet hes muttering.
Kalbar and its slightly larger neighbour, Boonah, are part of Queenslands Scenic Rim, a vastly under-rated area of South East Queensland that snatched the only Aussie spot on Lonely Planets illustrious list of Best regions on Earth to visit in 2022.
But get this: The Scenic Rim (so named because it runs along the edge of an enormous extinct volcano) stretches all the way down to the most popular Gold Coast Hinterland destinations, such as Tamborine Mountain.
Here in Kalbar, Im barely an hour from Brisbanes CBD, yet not even many Brisbane locals know much about the place which means, in effect, Im visiting one of the 10 hottest destinations on the planet, and I barely have to share it with anyone. Think of it, maybe, as Brisbanes Blue Mountains minus the people.
Dont go supposing this part of Queensland is hick, mind you. While theres a country quality about the place, there are dining and sleeping options as good (and fancy) as any regional spot in the country. Its just that youll have to drive down dusty country roads, with farmers on tractors for company, to reach them.
Im here to celebrate my wifes 40th birthday. Were looking for peace and quiet, but the right amount of it we dont want to be bored. Mount French Lodge seems the right sort of place to base ourselves for most of our trip. My GPS tells me to take a sharp left turn up a dusty red-dirt road, till I reach a gate. When it opens, I drive to the end where an open-plan house sits on a huge lawn with views over everything.
The landscape around these parts is like nothing else Ive seen in Queensland. There are mountains sticking clean out of farmland like the limestone karsts of Thailand, and there are mountain ranges all the way across the horizon, including the tallest mountain in southern Queensland (thats Mount Barney, at 1359 metres). From the lodge, the scenery reminds me of Arizona: dry, dusty canyons and orange rock escarpments, but then I look to my left and its all forest and lakes.
My hosts tell me there are hikes all over the region everything from knee-knocking scrambles along the sides of mountain ranges to easy strolls through the World Heritage-listed Gondwana rainforest. But thats for another time. Because this areas made for gluttony: Queenslands best produce grows by the side of the road and someones got to eat it.
And drink it. South East Queensland has some pretty decent wineries. Im starting our birthday celebrations at one of the prettiest vineyards, Kooroomba Estate. Its tasting room and restaurant are set beside six hectares of blooming lavender and rows and rows of grapes. Through floor-to-ceiling windows, I gaze beyond them onto mountains that look lifted out of John Ford Westerns.
The food is gourmet fare, using the best local produce (the panko-crumbed local pork belly is to-die-for) prepared by a German-trained chef with 25 years of international experience, yet there are just six of us in the restaurant. Its like a private party.
Not wanting to end the fun, we stop down the road in a brewery converted from a 130-or-so-year-old grocery store in another tiny town you wont have heard of (Mount Alford). Owners Mike and Wendy Webster left the city (Brisbane) behind for a better life. Why wouldnt you? Mike asks. You should see my commute.
Nothings far away in these parts. Mount French Lodge is around the corner and I dont pass a single car getting there. Youd better come hungry. Our hosts serve cheese and crackers and champagne beside a fire-pit set up on the lawn, as the sun lowers behind those big, green mountains.
Breakfasts are served under umbrella trees looking over the mist covering the valley below. But lunch today will be a suburban affair or, at least, the Scenic Rims version of it. The biggest town in these parts is Boonah, 15 minutes drive away. Its full of historic buildings and pubs with big covered balconies, but the latest, greatest offering is one of Queenslands best new restaurants. Not regional Queenslands thats all of Queenslands best restaurants. Blume Restaurant serves degustation-style meals minus the pretension. Chef Jack Stuart is young and fairly local, though he served his time in Europe learning from top chefs. Now, hes back three days a week staying at his mums place. His stepdad makes the crockery and his uncle creates the artwork for the menus.
The fit-out is simple but stylish and the diners around me look like they care more about food than the latest European fashions. Chef Stuart brings out rainbow trout that I dont even have to chew and barbecued quail from a neighbouring farm but the add-on $12 mutton neck and black garlic sanga is every bit as memorable. How very Scenic Rim.
There are only 20 seats at the restaurant so weekends book out fast unless, of course, you come here on Fridays, when theres no one here at all (like the rest of the region).
There are more gourmet treats all over: lunch events at the Scenic Rim Farm Shop, which is dwarfed by flowering jacarandas; or wine tasting and fine dining from two French chefs overlooking Lake Wyaralong at the Overflow Estate 1895. But its the little things about this part of Queensland that stand out the most. We move into Kalbar for our last night, to historic homestead Hermann House (where two tawny frogmouths sleep in the rafters of the verandah). In search of breakfast, we stroll up George Street and stumble on Scenic Rim Fruit and Veg at school drop-off time. We eat outside, as a procession of everyone weve met over the past four days walks past and greets us like old friends. I doubt youd get that in the Blue Mountains
Take me there
Drive: Pick up a rental car in Brisbane and drive one hour south-west to the Kalbar region.
Stay: Enjoy your own private estate with hosts at Mt French Lodge, part of the prestigious Spicers Private Collection (privatecollectionbyspicers.com), and have a night in town at Hermann House (herrmannhouse.com.au).
Dine: Book lunch and enjoy a wine tasting at Kooroomba Estate (kooroomba.com.au); sample the beers and European lunch treats at Scenic Rim Brewery (scenicrimbrewery.com.au); book early for a table at stunning newcomer Blume Restaurant (blumerestaurant.com.au).
Explore more: visitscenicrim.com.au
