Mindfulness is all about being aware.
Aware of what is happening right now, in this present moment.
It’s something that takes practice, but after a while it becomes a habit.
A good habit!
My husband and I managed to grab a few days away recently.
We have a ‘rule’ now.
When you see something unusual, funny, different, weird, intriguing, mad, bonkers, etc – stop.
Look at it, find out more, take photos.
There and then.
So many times over the years we’ve seen something and said we’ll come back to it later.
Then, for whatever reason, we haven’t and realised we should have gone back at the time.
So now we do a lot of u-turns!
This trip was no different.
We were on our way to Kilcoy when a friend messaged that we should check out the Linville Hotel if we had time.
So off on a detour we went.
We were too early for lunch, but enjoyed a nice, cold soft drink and the quirkiness of the pub.
We also try to tap in to local knowledge when we are staying somewhere, often via Tourism Information Centres.
In Kilcoy we were advised to visit Peach Trees, a campsite in Jimna State Forest, where we were promised a few walks and lots of wildlife.
A campsite might not sound very exciting – but if that’s what a local tells you to do…
It was only a half hour drive out of town – and the drive itself was fantastic.
Being one of the highest spots in the Somerset Region – you really do (as the TIC person told us we would) feel on top of the world.
Again, it’s taking the time to engage with someone.
Be aware of their knowledge and allow yourself to be guided by them on an adventure.
Finding somewhere new – you may never have discovered otherwise.
On another day we were passing through the tiny town of Quinalow, when we both noticed a brown sign which usually indicates something of interest.
Muntapa Tunnel.
We both immediately said what’s that?
I did a quick search and found an entry on the Toowoomba Region website:
Muntapa Tunnel is 287m in length making it Queensland’s longest straight railway tunnel. Located 640m above sea level, it’s the only tunnel that crossed between the inland and coastal sides of the Great Dividing Range, and the only one that crossed the Range summit. While access through the tunnel is not permitted to protect an existing colony of bent winged bats, visitors can explore 30m into the space.
Neither of us had heard of the tunnel, nor bent winged bats for that matter, so it was a no brainer.
We hadn’t noticed how far away it was and just assumed having seen one brown sign we would see others.
We didn’t.
Searching again I found its locality and navigated us there.
The brown sign at the turn into the tunnel site was the only other one we saw!
There was an information board, a lookout and then a short walk to the tunnel itself.
We were escorted to the tunnel by so many different coloured butterflies – beautiful.
Just outside the tunnel entrance was a sign asking you to whisper so you don’t disturb the bats – which we could see flying around inside.
What a great find.
It was a short stop, but well worth it and would never have happened if we hadn’t been aware, looking around as we drove through Quinalow.
We only had three days away, but we both said how it felt we had been away much longer because of what we did, and what we saw.
Travelling mindfully around this beautiful great land is one of my most favourite things…
Ann 🙏