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A Weekend Away in Mount Tamborine: Exploring Queensland with Brisbane Commercial Photographers

The Must-See Highlights on a Weekend Away in Mount Tamborine

Exploring Queensland’s Mount Tamborine with Brisbane Commercial Photographers, LP Commercial Photography

With restrictions slowly lifting in Queensland, now’s the perfect time to plan a relaxing weekend away! My partner and I love exploring Australia, staying at homely Airbnb’s and exploring the nearby attractions, sampling the local food & drinks and immersing ourselves in the experience.

We recently travelled to Mount Tamborine for a long weekend away for my Birthday, staying at a gorgeous Chalet on the Gallery Walk on the top of the mountain. From the moment we walked into “Rest a While” we were greeted by the sound of birds, the fresh mountain air, forests surrounding the area and a gorgeous chalet amongst nature. Entering the space, we immediately felt at home…. with a gorgeous fire, gowns, everything we’d need in the kitchen and a lovely handwritten note from our hosts Narelle and Denise. See some of the little details of our stay below.

You can see more about the airbnb on their fb page HERE

What to see in Mount Tamborine

We ventured out and explored the Gallery Walk, visiting a number of businesses. We went to Fortitude Brewing and tried a tasting paddle and their delicious sweet potato wedges, tried the famous home made pies at Mt Tamborine Winery, did a tasting at Tamborine Mountain Distillery walking away with a lovely bottle of Wild Forest Plum Liqueur and finished the afternoon by the fire at our airbnb.

The next day we explored the wineries all within 5-10 mins from the Gallery Walk, Cedar Creek Estate Winery (also where the Glow Worm Caves are which are great to see), Witches Falls Winery doing a lovely tasting in the winery and enjoying the morning sun, and then having an afternoon lunch at The Polish Place with views to die for! After rebuilding after a fire, this business has created a spot you can’t miss with views over the mountain watching the hang gliders jump off the cliff and fly into the valley.

Some other great activities are the rainforest and waterfall walks, we loved Curtis Falls for a nice easy walk with gorgeous views. We also played a round of golf at the gorgeous Mount Tamborine Golf Course which was absolutely gorgeous with its views and fresh air.

We hope this gives you some ideas for your travels and enjoy being able to explore more of our wonderful country now that restrictions are easing.


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Southern Down's Tenterfield has a New Gem, a German Heritage Cafe & Event Location, Rosenhof Cafe: Brisbane Commercial Photography

Southern Down's Tenterfield has a new gem, a German Heritage Cafe & Event Location, Rosenhof Cafe

After spending a lot of time in the beautiful township of Tenterfield (my partner works here 5 days a week), I have started a little personal project recognising and photographing the small businesses and passionate locals of the township. I love the finer details, the stories behind their existance, the love behind their passion and I LOVE documenting this through imagery to tell a story.

I have been eagerly awaiting the opening of Rosenhof after seeing it in the making on my cold morning walks while I was in Tenterfield visiting my partner. I connected with the owners, Kirsten and Christian, to see if I could pop in to pay them a visit and experience the beauty and charm of this 161 year old building.

Hear the beautiful story sourced from Kirsten & Chrisitian Uhrig themselves below:

“The three-year long refurbishment project of Kirsten and Christian Uhrig has seen the heritage-listed building and garden be brought back to life, providing Tenterfield with a unique place to find traditional, homemade food in an inspiring surrounding.

Fully licensed, the Rosenhof makes all breads, cakes, ice creams, jams, and cookies in-house and champions local providers where possible.

Christian says the Rosenhof’s hearty European-style menu has a wide appeal and not everything is wrapped in sauerkraut.

“The Cafe was born from a vision to establish a place where people could find home-grown, homemade and still reasonably priced food in a stylish yet comfortable setting. There’s a strong focus on inhouse made bread varieties, rolls, cakes, tortes, ice creams and for the savoury lovers we offer a variety of German-style sausages, meat dishes, cheese and many, many accompaniments as well as German beers and wine, of course! Every day we do a Dish of the Day for lunch, for those who want to be surprised.” 

“It’s been wonderful to have already welcomed locals, families, motor bike tourists and road trippers from near and far. The German influence is as much in the menu as it is in the standard of service, the surrounds and the hearty fare we offer.”

“For us in Europe, mealtimes are when we come together as friends and family to enjoy, to take pleasure in good food and good company, and sometimes even to indulge! We wanted to replicate this, and we aspire to make food that’ll introduce you to what our German grandmothers used to make fifty years ago.”

The Rosenhof, which translates into ‘rose yard’, is situated on two hectares and features 400 rose bushes and 225 heritage varieties of fruit and nut trees. The market garden, raspberries, black and red currants, herb gardens all provide ingredients to be used in the kitchen. Fresh cut flowers from the garden designed by award-winning designer Carolyn Robinson, adorn modest wooden tables in the restaurant.

“Away from the Highway where it’s quiet, the garden is the perfect place to relax and rejuvenate. There are 100-year old natives as well as all the trees we’ve planted and have nurtured through the drought.”

Inside, the revamped building is tastefully appointed with an eye to its historic significance.

“It took over three years to restore a dilapidated building and we had to gut it out before we could bring it back to life. Restoring the floors, windows, walls, the exterior, basically everything including plumbing and electrical and all of that without destroying its heritage, which was very important to us. The homestead was established in 1858 as a farm at first, before becoming Tenterfield’s first bank. It was home to NSW’s first premier and Australia’s first surviving quintuplets lived here too from the 1960s. As the Rosenhof German Heritage Cafe, it’s now open to the public for the first time.”

And if that’s not enough to pique your interest, how about a hot air balloon over Tenterfield? Named ‘Rosalinde’, the balloon is operated privately by the Rosenhof Team, representing Tenterfield and the property far to distant horizons.

“A ride aloft Rosalinde has thrilled a lot of locals, guests and friends. Having birds-eye-view of Tenterfield and experiencing the land from above is a truly special experience. It’s a great ambassador for Tenterfield and the project.”

The Rosenhof German Heritage Cafe is initially opening four days a week for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and savoury food all day. It is available for special events and dinners by appointment.

For more information, please contact Christian Uhrig at christian@rosenhof.com.au or 0439640512.”


Refreshing the photographic creative juices

REFRESHING THE PHOTOGRAPHIC CREATIVE JUICES

Gosh its been a busy start to the year. Our busiest January ever followed on from our busiest December, and don’t even ask me what happened to February, I blinked and suddenly found myself striding into March.

I love it when we are busy and the shoots are stacking up and we are running from one job to the next. It’s exciting, it’s varied and it’s everything I love about the job.

But every now and then you have to stop and take stock, and in those quiet moments I love to pick up my camera and go shoot… I know that sounds backwards…. surely that’s when you take a rest from the camera, but for me one of the best ways to rest is to go shoot….. but shoot for myself and not for anyone else. Where you only ned to care that you like the images and don’t need to think about anyone else in your creative process.

There is a big difference between working photography and personal photography and no matter how busy you get you sometimes have to make time just to go out and have fun with your cameras.

On a job you don’t often have the luxury of time, but an important part of good photography is just taking your time… sitting and watching the world go by. Getting into rhythm around you and then moving through it looking for your images. Sometimes you just have to take your time. If you don’t you run the risk of reaching that point when your brain goes into work mode every-time you reach for your cameras. Too often that means you stop actually opening your eyes and mind to all the images around you and you just focus on the ones that clients need, and that is the start of the downfall of your own creativity.

One of the things I love to do to keep myself sharp is a “one-on-one” challenge…. In my work I have a myriad of camera bodies, lenses, lighting gear and so on that help me meet any challenge a client can throw at me and deliver the images they want…. but in a one-on-one challenge I strip it all back to one camera body with one prime lens…. one focal length, no zooms, no flash, nothing. It strips you right back to basics and makes you start to think about your shots a lot more.

So this morning was my first day in weeks where I had nothing to do for anybody else. It was wet and a bit miserable but what they hey. Leaving my car I jumped on a bus and travelled into Brisbane CBD. I love taking the bus or train when I do this kind of thing. That dead time in the journey gives me a chance to just gaze out the window and wipe my mind of everything and just let my eyes wander and properly look at the world as I go by. Something you just can’t do when you drive.

So I spent the day with my little Canon EOS M5 mirrorless camera with the wonderfully sharp and punchy 22mm f2 pancake lens (35mm full frame equivalent). When I first started in photography the 35mm was my go to lens and I would hardly ever take it off my old Canon AE1. These days I hardly ever use one so for me it was a nice step back in time as well as a good part of the challenge. Then with no plan I just wandered round the town going wherever my feet took me with no plan. Below are some of my favourites and it was only once I loaded up the images on my computer that I realised that today’s theme seemed to be mostly reflections… maybe because the rainy day put me in such a reflective mood today, who knows LOL.

No matter what you do for a living, no matter how much you love what you do…. every now and then just remember to take the time to recharge the creative batteries, find some breathing space and isn so doing keep that passion for what you do alive.

Andy