Maleny

Maleny sits on the Blackall Range at around 430 metres elevation, about 30 minutes inland from the Sunshine Coast and roughly 90 minutes north of Brisbane. The town has a population of around 4,000 and has a distinctive community character rooted in the cooperative movement that established many of its key institutions. The Maleny Credit Union, the Maleny Co-op (a community-owned general store), and the Maple Street Co-op (a collectively run whole-food shop and cafe) all reflect this ethos.

The town's main street, Maple Street, is a compact strip of independent shops, bookstores, galleries, cafes and restaurants that has resisted chain-store development and maintained a strong local identity. The food scene punches well above its weight for a town of this size, with several restaurants sourcing almost entirely from the surrounding dairy farms, market gardens and orchards.

The views from the eastern escarpment of the Blackall Range near Maleny are among the finest in south-east Queensland. From McCarthy's Lookout and the nearby Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, you can see across the patchwork of green dairy pasture and remnant rainforest to the volcanic peaks of the Glass House Mountains, with the Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay visible on clear days. Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve is a 55 hectare pocket of subtropical rainforest on the range edge, with a boardwalk loop, a well-designed rainforest discovery centre and regular wildlife sightings including pademelons and green catbirds.

The Maleny Dairies factory, on the edge of town, is one of the last independent dairy processors in Queensland and offers guided tours. The annual Maleny Wood Expo in May is one of the largest woodworking and timber craft events in the country. The Maleny Folk Festival (now part of the Woodford Folk Festival operation) was a pioneer of the Australian folk festival circuit.

Maleny is pleasant year-round but is at its coolest and most atmospheric in winter, when morning fog fills the valleys below the range and the dairy pastures are at their greenest. Spring brings jacaranda flowering along Maple Street and in the gardens throughout town. Accommodation ranges from farmstay cottages and bed-and-breakfasts to the Spicers Tamarind Retreat on the edge of town.