The Carlo Sand Blow at Rainbow Beach

As the view of the Carlo Sandblow opens up, at the end of the forest track that takes you up there, the sheer size of it takes your breath away.  A vast expanse of golden sand covers the landscape in every direction; a 15hectare sandy "moonscape" whose colours change along with daytime's light.

It's impossible to capture the enormity of the sandblow in one single photograph. Instead, your eyes travel along and across and down; taking in the length and breadth and depth of an incredible natural phenomenon:

From out on the sandblow, formed over thousands of years by strong on-shore winds blowing grains of sand up and inland (My mind boggles at just how many tiny individual grains of sand there would be!), the views are stunning:

We visited in the late afternoon, when the day's warmth and light were fading, and stayed for the setting of the sun. 

Our legs were weary indeed after exploring the sandblow; walking, running, jumping and climbing its expanse of fine, deep sand left us with the contented tiredness that days out in nature, at a place like this, send you home with.

Meg

The Cliffs at Rainbow Beach

There's a spectacular place, about a three hour drive from here, where stunning cliffs of rainbow-coloured sands tower over the shore. Of course, it's called Rainbow Beach, after the more than 70 different coloured sands that make these cliffs, and this place, so very unique.

     A distant view of the cliffs at Rainbow Beach. 

     A closer look!

     A rainbow of colours  in the ancient sands.

Nature's earthy hues.

We are not long home from spending a few days exploring this part of the world. It's been more than twenty years since we were last there and, for our boy, this was his first visit. He found the array of colours in the crumbly sands captivating. Yellow, orange, red, brown, black and white and a myriad of ochre-coloured hues in between. 

Deep ochre colours in the rocks.

Ripples of colour represent the passage of time.

The cliffs are rich, not only in colour, but in indigenous and geological history too. While geology explains cliffs shaped and sculpted continually over time by wind and rain, and of sands stained by iron-rich minerals over thousands of years, the indigenous people of the area tell the ancient story of a spirit rainbow who, during a battle over love for a woman, shattered into shards of colour over the cliffs. Either and both ways, they are fascinating and beautiful.

Our days away at Rainbow Beach were filled with sands, from the earthy hues of these cliffs to the magnificent Carlo Sand Blow which I'll show you later in the week. It's an awe-inspiring place too!

Meg

p.s.  I found information on the geological and indigenous history of Rainbow Beach cliffs on the websites at the following links:

The Coloured Sands Beach Walk  (Queensland Government, 2017-2020)

Rainbow Beach Coloured Sands (Fraser Tours, n.d.)

Cinnamon Scrolls or Perhaps Scones

I woke up early and just felt like cinnamon scrolls.  Maybe it was because it was a weekend or maybe it was the beginning of the school holidays that swayed me away from our usual porridge or omelettes and toast. Most likely though, it was the thought of a warm scroll filled with tart apple, crunchy walnuts and the distinctive scent of cinnamon. I didn't want to fuss around with yeast and waiting though so cinnamon scrolls became cinnamon scones. Just as swirly and delicious!

Freshly baked cinnamon scones.

I gathered the ingredients, with a nod to this Thermomix recipe, decided I'd add chopped apple and walnuts too and more cinnamon, and set about making them while the day warmed up.

The makings of cinnamon scones.

While I made these cinnamon scrolls scones this time, I think I much prefer The Organised Housewife's version, for The Most Delicious Cinnamon Scrolls which doesn't require yeast either (or a Thermomix) and which uses thickened cream instead of milk in the dough. 

A sweet, crunchy and cinnamon-y filling.

While cinnamon scrolls often have an icing drizzled over their tops, I felt more like an apple and walnut filling to go with my cinnamon-y swirls instead. Apples and cinnamon always go together, don't they?!

Rolled & sliced and ready for the oven.

As they baked, the warm scent of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen, I waited impatiently and thought it may well have been quicker and easier to pop down to the little local bakery and buy a cinnamon scone scroll, one made with yeast and with icing on top, but then my kitchen wouldn't smell as nice and there probably wouldn't be apples and walnuts in such a scroll and I wouldn't have looked forward to it half as much!

Meg