Exploring the Tweed Hinterland in NSW

Journey through the charming NSW hinterland towns that surround the Tweed River long before it reaches the ocean at the gateway to Queensland. 
 

It’s goanna season and I’m travelling with friends into the Tweed Valley hinterland that shares its northern border with Queensland. We’re a world away from the nearby salt and brine of the coast, ready to explore this bucolic landscape of sugar cane fields, lush dairy pastures and ancient rainforests that have nurtured a vibrant artisan scene.   

The dual-named Wollumbin-Mount Warning makes a statement, looming from the Gondwana rainforest heart of the Border Ranges. It watches over us like an omnipresent ancient god no matter which road we take and is reputed to be the first place on mainland Australia the sun touches each morning.  

Captain Cook named this volcanic plug Mount Warning in 1770 to alert mariners to the offshore reefs. While it’s less than 1000 metres tall today, go back 23 million years and it stood more than double that height, spewing lava as far as Mount Tamborine in the north, Lismore in the south, Kyogle in the west and forming the reefs off Point Danger on the east coast. This circumference means it is classed as one of the largest calderas (a depression that forms when a volcano erupts and collapses) in the world. On Google Earth you can see its green disc pressed into the landscape.   

Deep-time storytelling at Minjungbal Aboriginal Culture centre 

We’re on the land of the Bundjalung people and to ground ourselves we call into the timber-and-tin Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre adjoining the Ukerebagh Nature Reserve in South Tweed Heads.   

This is how we know we’re in goanna season. Saltwater and Goodjinburra man, Uncle Franc Krasna, takes us into deep-time storytelling. His passion, along with his wiry grey beard, reminds me of another great storyteller, Thomas Keneally. Franc’s eyes flash as he tells us how brush turkeys sport their Aboriginal colours of black, red and yellow. He explains how Aboriginal seasons aren’t defined by months, but by climate and animal behaviour. Goanna season is when the winds turn to the north, snakes wake up, and silky oak flowers bloom, indicating that turtles are fat.  

We taste some bush tucker while Uncle Franc strips a coastal hibiscus twig and braids it into string that’s ready to weave into a fishing net. He leads us through the bush to the bora ring (ceremonial site) where the clapping of boomerangs, dull thud of possum skin drums and women’s chanting last echoed around 1908.  

Uncle Franc Krasna demonstrates making twine for fish nets and baskets

Uncle Franc points to the ever-watching Wollumbin that’s culturally significant in different ways to the many tribes who tell the mountain’s story. To some, it’s the Cloud Catcher for the weather it brings. It also has the profile of a sleeping warrior chief. Another story is of the brush turkey that a warrior speared as it stopped to catch its breath, which seeks to explain why brush turkeys can only fly short distances. 

Tropical Fruit World: A cornucopia of flavours 

Hankering for a taste of the tropics, we drive through volcanic, red-soiled fields as plumes of cane-burning smoke punctuate the horizon. Fifteen minutes later we’re at Tropical Fruit World in Duranbah. It’s a cornucopia of colour and an ambrosial perfumery for fruit-o-philes like me. The farm’s biologically-integrated story began in 1972, when owners Robert and Valorie Brinsmead planted an avocado tree. Today, it’s arguably the world’s most diverse fruit farm, growing more than 500 global varieties.   

We board the safari-tractor-train as our whiz-kid guide Andrew imparts his fruity gems. “Native stingless bees were introduced to pollinate the finger limes, as the European bee was too large physically to enter the flowers,” he explains. Andrew’s also a cracking dad-joke teller. When someone asks what a jackfruit tastes like, he quips, “Well, it’s like a mango marrying a banana and having a pineapple baby.”  

Guide Andrew on the Tropical Fruit World safari tractor ride

In their marketplace we sample a fruit platter and tuck into ice-cream made from pink dragon fruit, soursop, jackfruit and coconut, all while checking out what organic products we’ll buy in this slice of paradise.

A riverside retreat in Tumbulgum 

As afternoon slides to dusk, our group settles down for the night beside the Tweed River in the historic village of Tumbulgum. Our lodgings are at The Belle Riverhouse in a luxuriously renovated 100-year-old Queenslander.

While some retreat to the games room, the rest of us laze on wicker chairs, sipping locally distilled gin cocktails and cider while overlooking a backdrop of rolling hills. Across the road is a memorial to locally-born activist Faith Bandler, best known for her leadership in the campaign for the 1967 referendum for Aboriginal rights.  

Breakfast the next morning is a stroll along the river to the House of Gabriel. As owner Lee Kuhnell serves us, I glance at the nearby telegraph pole, which has so many flood markers it looks like a totem pole. I ask Lee about the previous year’s biblical one-in-500-year flood. He glances at the serene, benign river and sighs, “It’s our biggest asset, but our biggest liability.” 

 House of Gabriel owner Lee Kuhnell back after the floods

Flood levels at Tumbulgum on the Tweed River

Back on the Tweed Valley Way, we pass the Condong Sugar Mill with its steaming chimneys. A school holiday memory flashes back – as an ever-curious child, I asked my dad to stop the car so I could investigate how the sugar mill worked. My brothers, alongside me in the back seat, groaned and rolled their eyes, but I got my wish and was kindly escorted through the mill. 

Condong Sugar Mill on the banks of the Tweed River

Exploring Murwillumbah's Art Deco Charms 

Onwards to the hinterland’s hub, Murwillumbah, with its Art Deco architecture and infusion of the arts. Its historical streetscape, with geometrically-stepped rooftops and leadlight windows, is an advertisement for slow travel. Many of the cafés and shops selling antiques, curios and collectibles reside behind these handsome curved, tiled and ziggurat facades. 

“People fall in love with my shop,” says Scarlett’s Wardrobe owner, Jenny Turner. It’s like we’ve stepped onto a vintage film set. Jenny shows us an armadillo handbag and I gasp at its four clawed legs decorating its scaly and tan-coloured front.  

Jenny Turner owner of Scarlett's Wardrobe in Murwillumbah displaying a vintage armadillo handbag

Everything in Jenny’s shop is lovingly cared for; whether it’s the flapper dresses, antique jewellery, a diamante cigarette holder, or the cloche hats. Several in our group buy something: a retro lamp, handbag and a 1940s dress.  

Within another Art Deco edifice is the Bolt and Buckle, where the warm tang of leather assaults me. “The first smell is free,” jests owner, Patrick Fleming. He and his wife, Sharon, started their rustically-designed leather business for men with the philosophy ‘Simple. Earthy. Real.’ Men who hate shopping love the store, and so do their partners. 

Murwillumbah’s iconic Regent Cinema, with its glorious Art Deco facade, was also flood affected. Luckily, the first-floor cinema avoided the inundation. Its main foyer showcases Crocodile Dundee memorabilia complete with John Cornell’s director’s chair, which is a nod to his daughter, Allira Cornell, who has recently taken over the theatre’s reins. 
 
Foyer of the Art Deco Regent Cinema in Murwillumbah

Adjacent is M-Arts Precinct, a hub for local creatives. It took months to clean out metre-high sludge that the flood left behind.  

Art award winner Arna Baartz at M-Arts Precinct Murwillumbah

We walk through the fluorescent Healing Circle and enter the artsy haven of leather workers, framers, ceramicists, jewellers and even a seamstress. “It’s a little world unto itself,” says artist-sculptor, Phillip Hay. 

Healing Circle at M-Arts Precinct in Murwillumbah

Unearthing unexpected treasures at Tweed Regional Museum 

Before leaving Murwillumbah, we pop into the Tweed Regional Museum. Erika Taylor, the exuberant curator, loves visitors to find “unexpected things in unexpected places”. The museum is alive with exhibitions, interactive screens and huge puppets of the diprotodon and other megafauna that once roamed the area. Erika confesses she learned taxidermy while watching YouTube videos.  

We follow giant yellow diprotodon footprints around the museum and up to the second floor, where there’s a dedicated dig site for kids. Each mini-palaeontologist is supplied with a lab coat and digging tool. Whatever they unearth, a real fossil or gem, they can keep. I dig up an ancient shark’s tooth that becomes a primeval memento.  

Gourmet getaway at Tweed River House 

With lunch in the offing, we head five minutes out of town. Jacaranda, frangipani, flame and poinciana trees line the riverbank opposite the Chef Hat-awarded grand dame of restaurants, Tweed River House.   

“People come here to dine and step back 100 years,” says Greg, one half of the owners. Its zinc and copper pressed metal ceiling, panel prints of pineapples and palm trees, and opulent chandelier reflect its Raffles-style colonial features. French-based cuisine infused with native botanicals adds up to a gourmet getaway of the finest kind.  

It, too, was affected by the floods, which swept through the wine cellar and washed many fine wines downstream (they would be gratefully unearthed in silt weeks later). 

Tweed Valley Whey Farmhouse Cheeses and Burringbar Finds 

In 15 minutes we’re in Burringbar where we stop to pick up some snacks at Tweed Valley Whey Farmhouse Cheeses. I’ve drunk Norco milk for decades, yet only today do I learn  it’s an acronym for North Coast Co-operative and that Peter Clarke’s family has supplied Norco for over 100 years.

He looks to the undulating pasture where his blended family of Jersey, Friesian and Swiss Brown cows graze. “My cheesemakers are in the field,” he beams. “Blessed are the cheesemakers,” I reply. 

Paddock at the Tweed Valley Whey Farmhouse Cheesery in Burringbar

While in Burringbar we pop into Heath’s Old Wares & Collectibles, a packed-to-the-rafters warehouse of everyday treasures. I chat to impassioned owners, Eva and Ross, as rustic ladders, wash tubs, cane prams, milk cans and a wall of Akubra hat boxes teeter around me. They are the go-to people for those in the film industry as they’ve supplied props for movies including Unbroken (2014) and Elvis (2022). It’s well worth a fossick. 

Ross Heath's treasure trove at Heaths Old Wares Collectibles in Burringbar

Backtracking the Tweed Valley Way onto Numinbah Road, we head to Tyalgum. The quicker route is closed due to flood damage, but this becomes an Arcadian byway blessing as we meander emerald foothills dotted with russet cows, cross the Oxley River’s cobbled bed and make our way onto the ethereally-named Limpinwood Road.  

The cobbled bed of the Oxley River near Tyalgum

Tyalgum: A serendipitous detour 

Tyalgum is in the heart of Wollumbin-Mount Warning’s green caldera. At its centre is Flutterbies Cottage Cafe set in a restored bakery and butchery. With its dappled light and old-world charm, it’s like we’ve stumbled into a place where Alice in Wonderland meets The Secret Garden.   

We tuck into scones that almost float off the vintage plates and drink coffee skillfully prepared by barista Antoine from Buenos Aires. Flowers abound and butterflies flit to background music of indie folk and operatic arias. After our indulgent Devonshire coffees, we stroll through La Markette Lane for its artisan jewellery, vintage clothing and eco wear. More serious buying takes place. 

 

Our Tweed hinterland trip during goanna season concludes as we head back to the coast, but there’s still so much more to see and do. We discuss returning – perhaps next time we’ll set off in mullet season, when sea mullet migrate in large numbers, paperbark trees are flowering and the rains of the wet season begin to clear.   

More places to visit 

• Browse about in the Natural Wine Shop (Formerly Brooklyn Tasting Room) in Burringbar. You’ll be in owner Bron Harrison’s knowledgeable hands for sampling wine and craft beer made from organic and biodynamic ingredients. 
• Husk Farm Distillery, nestled in Tumbulgum’s rainforest, river and pastoral surrounds, is a cellar door with a difference. Sample the Ink Gin and Agricole Rum before a behind-the-scenes distillery tour.  
• With spectacular views, the Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre in South Murwillumbah is a tribute to one of Australia’s great still life painters and has a recreation of Olley’s Paddington studio. 
• Murwillumbah’s Imperial Hotel has a great bistro in Art Deco surrounds. 
• Stop off at the village of Uki for art studios, bric-a-brac shopping and a welcome pub meal. 
• Madura Tea Estates in Clothiers Creek comprises 250,000 tea bushes and offers 20 different types of tea.