Words and photos Alison Huth, Editor at Large

Indulge yourself at Stanthorpe, where you can celebrate Christmas year-round!

Stanthorpe is reasonably well known for a couple of things. Every second year they hold a 10 day Apple and Grape Harvest Festival. It’s a major event and there are so many things you can do as part of that including grape stomping. I bet you’ve always wanted to get your shoes and socks off and jump into a vat of grapes!

The other thing I really know Stanthorpe for is that if anywhere in Qld is going to get snow, it’s Stanthorpe!

Well, those two items are all well and good, but we were there in summer at the end of 2023, so neither were on! Which meant we had to find some new things to do for ourselves.

Early November meant that Christmas was coming very quickly, so why not head off to the Granite Belt Christmas Farm? This place is just amazing. There are two ‘shops’ and both are packed to the rafters with all things Christmas.

Plus, because this is a farm there are real Christmas Trees growing in the fields around the shops and café. It doesn’t matter what time of year you go, it’s all things Christmas when you are there.

 

 

Indulge

One of our regular places to see is the Queensland College of Wine Tourism. They make their own wine and have a very professional wine tasting room. Plus they have a great kitchen which is also part of the learning here. We chose to have an entrée each, we don’t do big lunches, and each meal had a suggested wine to go with it. Well, the Belly Pork was lovely, but my wine went with the Chilli Octopus so well, I could have had a second round!

One more important place was Heavenly Chocolate, which is on the way to Girraween National Park. So, you can indulge in the chocolate and then feel good about going for a walk in the National Park.

I’m a white chocolate fan and have to say that the white chocolate here was like nowhere else. I was told that the difference is that some makers use vegetable oil in their white chocolate, whereas Heavenly Chocolate uses Coco Butter which means that it’s so creamy. The cup of hot white chocolate was so good and so rich.

Cruisy ’Roos

We didn’t go for much of a walk in Girraween National Park, I’m not into all of the climbing and bounding from one boulder to another. Plus it was quite hot, as we could judge because we saw plenty of kangaroos and they were all lying down to get through the heat of the day!

We had based ourselves at Sommerville Valley Tourist Park, a superb place to stay. Heaps of room, great amenities, and a lovely view of Storm King Dam.

There is so much to do in this area. I’m really glad we called into the Visitors Info Centre, they were so helpful. Plus they have made some lists that are designed to help you work out where you want to go without taking hundreds of brochures. There was one list that I reckon would be the best ever and that was a list of wineries that allow dogs! How good is that?

Our short stay in Stanthorpe was over very quickly but we really enjoyed our time there.

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“They [Visitor Centre] made some lists to help you … the best ever was a list of wineries that allow dogs!”