Sonny was invited, in October last year, to speak at Bubble and Speak, a breakfast seminar in Brisbane put on by the Design Institute of Australia.
I wrote his bio for it;
"Sonny Vandevelde is a Belgian/Australian fashion photographer. As a child he became intrigued with the mechanics of an old Kodak Box Brownie, and the images it produced, and has been snapping photos ever since.
His professional career evolved from leisure – on the Australian ski slopes, shooting free-style skiers. Before long, magazines and ski companies were taking notice of Sonny’s high energy, dynamic action photos.
From here, Sonny transitioned, through companies like Quicksilver, into what he refers to as “lifestyle fashion” photography. A blend of natural poses and energy as opposed to the static posing of models in studios at the time, this piqued the interest of magazines such as Dolly and Cosmo, and steered him more towards fashion photography.
After building a solid client base in Australia, Sonny returned to his country of birth and began to expand into the lucrative European market with editorial and advertising work.
Dividing his time now between the continents, Sonny’s backstage photography has become his calling card. Distinctively quirky, vibrant and colourful, he shoots all the major fashion shows around the globe, & regularly appear in titles such New York Times, V magazine, Grazia, Vogue, and Harpers.
It’s a fast-paced lifestyle, but Sonny’s doing what he loves – making beautiful pictures."
I was supposed to be going with him to take pictures, but was needed to work instead. As we already had the tickets, I met him at the Gold Coast the next day.
Nice view, shame about the place!
Not the hotel. It was comfortable, and the room was huge, just the Goldie in general does nothing for me.
So, after Sonny's three hour (!) surf, while I waited paitiently in the car (!), we headed for the hills, and what the locals refer to as the green behind the gold.
Mountain Edge Studios are four cute cottages at Mt Tamborine, all with a spectacular view eastwards, to the ocean.
The rooms were a teeny bit on the tired side, but they are priced well, and we didn't care because..
any room that has a spa bath next to a fire is a winner in our book!!
As the sun sets, that view from your balcony perched on the edge of the mountain, provides a constant reminder that although you are surrounded by some beautiful, sensory nature – the smell of jasmine, the song of the frogs and cicadas accompanied by the chuck chuck of the geckos – if you want the shopping and the nightlife, the glitz and brassiness, it's only a stones throw away. Across the dark night, it's true – all that glitters is gold!
Mountain Edge Studios offer delicious home-style meals, that are served to you in your room. I had the Piquant Prawns and the Chicken Kandinsky.
It's kind of odd sitting there between courses, wondering how they will know when to knock again on the cottage door to bring you the main course, but they seem to get it right. The experience adds a warm, yet quirky feel to your stay.
Mt Tamborine itself, is a really beautiful place. I have travelled a lot around the northern NSW hinterland, and just over the border, while visiting my sister Kathy, when she lived near Mt Warning, but I don't recall ever going to Tamborine. Of course, the natural surrounds of the Scenic Rim are very similar to those in NSW, having been created by a volcanic eruption from Mt Warning some 22million years ago.
I love the area and could easily live there! That rich soil and the subtropical rainforests. I even love the humidity! But unlike the tiny Chillingham (where I would happily bunk down), Tamborine has a bit more to it – like wineries*! And markets, shops and restaurants.
The nature, the lushness (no, it was not a reference to my drinking) is what I came for
And the food – always the food – cheese and baguette lunch from Witches Chase cheese company…
Followed by a walk down to Curtis Falls…
Magical spot for a swim…
…but there's no swimming allowed – it's actually home to to a colony of glow-worms. I wasn't going hunting back there that night to find them. Lucky for me there is a fake (yeah, pretty tacky) cave, at the Cedar Creek Estate Winery, filled with real (very cute) glow-worms that I got to see.
Tarzan?
Not Jane
Witches Falls Winery had a delicious chardonnay, the 2010 Granite Belt Wild Ferment, which means, well, I'll let them tell it…
"In a 'wild' ferment we encourage the juice to ferment with indigenous yeasts present on the grape skins from the vineyard around the winery. No commercial yeast is added. While the outcomes of such ferments can't be predicted, they are often spectacular."
I recommend it.
Restaurant bookings are pretty important as the area is very popular on the weekends. We discovered that a little too late, and settled rather reluctantly for 'George's Paragon Express Dining'. A name like that making us very wary, expecting something like Greek McDonalds, but we couldn't have been more wrong. We absolutely gorged ourselves on the hugest, most delicious fresh seafood platter, and there was nothing express about it. So, if you are in the area, don't be put off by the name (or the noise), the food is worth it!
The next day we drove towards the border as I wanted to show Sonny the Natural Bridge, which also houses a fragile glow-worm community, so again not a swimming hole, as tempting as it looks
Beautiful!
Ever get the feeling you are being watched??
Look at those staghorns!
Sonny was busting to go and see 'The Best of All Lookouts', at Springbrook. He loves vistas of the Australian bush, I find them pretty dull. I guess as far as lookouts go, it's pretty nice, taking in Mt Warning and the distant mountain ridge, but what I loved was the ancient Gondwanna rainforest – markedly different to the Tamborine rainforests, visually prehistoric, and home to the Antarctic Beech tree.
2000 years of history in a tree!
Absolutely awe-inspiring.
Being somewhere like that, experiencing that ancient forest, makes you feel humbled and very lucky.
*It's official. Everywhere I have visited in the last year (quite a few places I'm sure you will agree) is making wine. My goal for this year's travel should be to find somewhere that isn't!
Leave a reply