spring bluff

18 kilometers in to the middle of nowhere, there lies a beautiful sight. Before reaching this lovely place, however, you must travel through dusty bush and the impossibly tiny town of Murphy's Creek -- which is notable for its one and only feature, a small railway station. (And by small, I mean a boxy rectangle of a building and a platform. That's it.)

There isn't a lot of hoopla surrounding this lush, hidden spot. One or two signs advertise a tourist attraction '18 km' off the main roadway. Nothing, however, gives a hint as to what it may be or even what to expect. The signs simply state, 'Spring Bluff, 18 km.'

The 18 km off the main road is, by the way, a long one. You travel through sparsely populated countryside, past a couple of languishing cows, and along eucalyptus and gum tree lined roads. It's very pretty in and of itself, in that empty Queensland way. It might even remind you of what the American wild west may have looked like, before gold mining and Billy the Kid took over.

After a seemingly long and unending drive, you reach one little sign for a turn off up a gravel road that simply says 'Spring Bluff.' The driveway doesn't look very promising, especially since the remote location feels all the more pronounced once you leave asphalt.

However, I can assure you that this drive up the gravel, through the bush and alongside cow pastures is very worth it. Why? Because Spring Bluff is like a hallucination, a dream. It is a lush green spot in the middle of dry bush. In other words, it is a veritable oasis.

Spring Bluff, a 130 year old railway station, rests on the main line that runs between Ipswich (outside of Brisbane) and Toowomba (yes, that Toowomba.) In 1914, Queensland Rail began a gardening competition that encouraged railway workers to make their stations pretty. Although Spring Bluff feel in to desrepair in the 1960's, it has since returned to its preferred, lovely state. The result? A beautified and flower happy spot in the middle of the bush.

There are flowers galore and a bamboo grove. There are prettily arranged boulders and a cascading waterfall. The grass is greener than almost anywhere else in summertime Queensland. The station platform itself is draped in baskets of hanging blooms. Everywhere you look, there is life, color and floral arrangements galore. If you're allergic to pollen, this is not the place to be. If, on the other hand, you are a plant buff, you've come to the right spot.

Train buffs may enjoy walking through the old station building and platform. Old equipment lies out in the open, allowing visitors to touch and actually feel history. A train car from a previous era is crouched down in to the earth next door, where you can run your hands along the wooden sides and peer in the dusky windows.

A visitor's log is of special interest. It seems that this remote little spot attracts quite a few visitors. Australians were especially well represented on the list. Americans? Not so much. I felt very cheerful when I was able to sign my name and country on the visitor's log.

I would highly recommend a stop off at the lovely Spring Bluff. The drive alone is worth it, as it goes through some interesting rural areas. It's a snapshot of Australian life that is worth seeing. The gardens of Spring Bluff are also worth a stroll.

driving in queensland

Distance takes on an all together new meaning when driving around the roads of Queensland. Maps are deceiving; two points could look like they're next to each other, but an actual drive will prove them to be anything but close together. What seems like it should be a five minute trip turns in to a rather epic journey that spans three-quarters of an hour.

This seems to be the case no matter what. In this respect, Queensland is for all the world like California, a state which should be nicknamed something like 'Land of The Sprawl.' According to the fine citizens of California (and Queensland, for that matter), things should be built far apart rather than close together. In other words, make everyone drive stupidly long distances, for the hell of it! Why put a shopping center down the road when you can make it really down the road?

In the defense of Australia's sunny state, part of the reason everything is so spread out is that the bush is very much part of the landscape. 'Bush', in Australian slang, refers to anything that hasn't been tamed by the hands of humankind. Any wild, woolly, overgrown, or sparsely populated area is referred to as the bush. And make no mistake about it -- the bush is ever present in Queensland. People don't seem to encroach on the bush so much as the bush creeps up on people. It's kind of the paradoxical inverse of most places.

A fine example of this is the lovely city of Brisbane. A bustling metropolis with a population of over a million people, a skyline studded with sky scrapers and a rowdy and fun reputation, Brisbane seems completely urban. There's a wonderful transit system, sprawling suburbs, and enough gawking tourists to clog up pedestrian traffic during the summer months.

However, take about a ten minute drive out of the city in certain directions, and you'll see plenty of eucalyptus forests and kangaroo crossing signs ... but not too many houses. Park rangers at the Brisbane National Forest, which is on the outskirts of the city limits, actually warn visitors to drive carefully on the road ahead, and not to proceed without sufficient fuel. Why? Oh, because it's so remote, there's no petrol stations for over an hour and a half. And this is within a national park that is on the edge of a major city!

The day Joe and I went driving in the Brisbane National Forest, we were mildly amused to learn that there were exactly two spots on the road where we could grab some lunch. Naturally, one of these places was closed, which left one quaint place as our only choice. This little cafe was located in a tiny (albeit adorable) town of about one hundred people.

Amazing, the bush. Simply amazing. And everywhere.

Another reason everything is so spread out is that Australia is so damn big. I mean, yeah, we all known from geography lessons that it's the world's sixth largest nation, yadda yadda. However, I don't think a tourist can appreciate this fact until they're actually in the country. Then it starts to dawn on you. Oh wait, this place is huge and rather sparsely populated. A sign in western Queensland made this point clear to me when I read that the next town wasn't for 200 kilometers.

So, we have the bush and the sheer size of the place. That's two factors in explaining why every stop at the grocery store seems to morph into an epic road trip. But then there's a third reason why everything takes forever to get to.

Queensland has a system where there's a main town for a given area, and then lots of little towns associated with it. These little towns may be thirty kilometers away, but no matter. They are somehow linked to the one major town in a given area. Of course, lots of these little towns lack what the main town has, namely access to the railway system, a decent grocery store, and commercial center. So, if you want to buy 'nice' groceries or catch a ride on the train, you're going to have to truck in a fairly long distance to get to the one major town in the region that has these exciting features.

Luckily, driving in Queensland is generally a scenic experience. There are some stunning landscapes. A lot of the region's beautiful scenery is relatively untouched by people, as well, making it an even lovelier experience. You can drive for kilometers and not see a single house in many places. (Cows, maybe, or pasture land, but not houses.) It's a refreshing -- and freeing -- feeling.