Ask any visitor to the Queensland Gold Coast what they like about the place and invariably the answer will be "the beaches." Australia has a huge coastline with many fine beaches but perhaps nowhere else does the carefree lifestyle that centres around sun and surf mix so easily with city convenience as it does on the Gold Coast.
It is after all Australia's most rapidly growing city. With a population of more than 500,000 now (2010) but which is expected to grow to more than 750,000 by 2030, it has transformed the area from almost nothing but mangroves in the space of 30 years. It was only a short while ago that development first started with the opening of the "Pink Poodle" – the first motel on the Gold Coast and which can still be seen on the Gold Coast Highway at Broadbeach – but not for much longer it seems; even that icon will soon give way to redevelopment.
The Gold Coast is strung out for 37 kilometres from Paradise Point in the north to Coolangatta in the south, But looking at the urban area from east to west, the width of development is barely 10 kilometres, leaving aside the communities nestled in the surrounding bush. It is the close proximity of the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range that hems development into this narrow ribbon.
And this is the hidden charm of the Gold Coast – known as the "hinterland" that for many locals provides the real appeal. There are not many places in Australia or elsewhere for that matter that you are so close to so much convenience and so much natural beauty – and, if needed, Brisbane is less than an hour away on one of the best motorways in Australia.
So when we have visitors, as we did last week, we make a point of showing them not only the beaches but also the lush green hinterland which after the heavy rains of recent weeks is looking particularly magnificent. There are many communities nestled in the surrounding hills and valleys and more often than not these villages are host to vibrant artisan communities from potteries to art galleries, folk museums and tea rooms.
One of our favourite "tours" for out-of-towners is to drive the Gold Coast Springbrook Road. To drive the full distance from Mudgeeraba to the Springbrook National Park is a 27 kilometre drive which, through the winding road will take a journey time of around one hour, despite the good road conditions. Along the way there are a number of places of interest, tea rooms and restaurants and usually we don't drive the entire length of the road opting instead to stop, relax and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the countryside. One such place, Polly's Kitchen, is a particular favourite of ours. It is an older style Queensland house converted into a restaurant and sitting out on its wide wooden verandas overlooking the bush is one of the best ways to spend an afternoon that I can think of. Sadly though it is only open three days a week – from Friday to Sunday – as we discovered last week when we decided it would make a perfect place for lunch. Because it was a Thursday, the place was closed.
Because our visitor had a plane to catch later that day we decided not to venture further and turned the car around. "Plan B" was to lunch at the Palms Beach Surf Life Saving Club where we are members and which provides an equally pleasant opportunity to sit on the veranda and dine al fresco but instead of the bush and the birds, you have the sea and the seabirds. The advantage of Palm Beach is that it is just a hop, skip and jump to the nearby Gold Coast Airport.
When we turned the car around that day, we did not have "Plan C". But very quickly another alternative presented itself to us and we are so glad we took it.
Driving back along the Springbrook road we noticed a number of cars parked off the road but without any obvious sign of a restaurant; curious and hopeful that something undiscovered lay ahead, we turned in. We had found the Tokonoma Gallery and Green House. What a surprising and charming find!
Tokonoma is unique; at least I have not discovered a place similar to it anywhere around here. It combines a modern Japanese-style art gallery with a fusion restaurant that presents Australian and Japanese flavours in an interesting combination and in a manner that only the Japanese can do – exquisitely!
There were three of us checking in for lunch last week and we opted for a veranda table overlooking the greenery. There was plenty of custom; both Australian families and ladies of Japanese extraction enjoying the afternoon with their friends. The chef was a Japanese Australian who looked decidedly Japanese but who spoke with a broad Aussie accent. He told us he had been in Australia since the age of 11 and trained as a chef in one of the top Japanese restaurants on the Gold Coast before striking out on his own.
My wife ordered Japanese style curry as she needed her "rice fix" for the day. I had been craving pizza all week and opted for the Teriyaki Chicken pizza with avocado topping and our visitor took the salad bowl. Sadly, and this was my only gripe, there were no diet or low calorie drinks available (other than the green tea) so I opted for a skinny Cappuccino. It was a good choice.
The meal was very reasonably priced and lunch for three people including drinks came in just under $60.
We dawdled over our meal as sitting at our table outside on a warm autumn day with a gentle breeze flowing along the wooden balcony gave us little incentive to move.
As a result we did not have time properly to explore the art gallery, the main part of which was located on the floor below; but we did manage to venture a glimpse of some of the exhibits on our way through.
As a place to view (and buy) modern Japanese art this place has no rival locally. The gallery housed a good collection of both traditional ink on paper, paintings on canvas as well as carved artefacts using Australian woods.
Tokonoma will now become part of our own tour itinerary for those friends visiting us on the Gold Coast. Sadly though while it has slightly better opening hours than our previous favourite, it is still only doing business from Wednesday to Sunday between the hours of 10am and 4 pm.
We did not ask if they had a breakfast menu but it would be a perfect place to stop by for an early or late snack on the way to the Purlingbrook Falls at Springbrook. With a round trip of less than 100 km, finding a better day out away from the beaches would be hard to find.
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