Monteville and Kondalilla National Park
Last week we went to Monteville, a small village located in the Mountains of the Sunshine coast. This village is very European and has nice shops with really special souvenirs. After having lunch we went to this bakery which had all kinds of chocolates and cookies. Furthermore there were shops selling opals which are mined in Australia. They are quite expensive but have really nice colours. The most special shop was the clock store, in which hundreds of ‘koekoe’ clocks were sold. All the clocks had different forms, paintings and sounds. There was a lot of noise when the time was two o’clock. There was even a water wheel which looked like it was from the Netherlands or Germany.
After this shopping adventure we went to Kondalilla National Park, this park has amazing waterfalls. The park got his name from those (Kondalilla falls). The Skene Creek is a dropping for 90m into the rainforest. Kondalilla is the Aboriginal for ‘rushing waters’. Due to the droughts the water flowing down was quite limited, although it was still really beautiful. There were also very nice views and all different kinds of birds and other animals. The park is surrounded by farms and towns and is seen as a refuge for animals and plants. In the park more than 107 bird species have been seen, 70 species of reptiles and 32 species of frogs. The Australian national parks not only have walking tracks, they also have camping spots which allow you to have multiple day hikes through the area.