Montville

Montville sits on the ridge of the Blackall Range at around five hundred metres, high enough for a noticeably cooler climate than the coast below, and its main street is a run of timber cottages and mock-Tudor shopfronts holding galleries, sweet shops, cafés and craft stores, with a lookout at the end of the street giving a long view east over the coastal plain to the Pacific. The village grew as a farming settlement and turned toward visitors from the 1970s. Nearby, Kondalilla Falls drops around ninety metres into rainforest on a circuit walk, Baroon Pocket Dam offers kayaking, and the range road continues south to Maleny through dairy country.

What you actually see

• The village street - timber and mock-Tudor shopfronts of galleries and cafés.
• The coastal view - the escarpment lookout over the Sunshine Coast.
• Kondalilla Falls - a ninety-metre fall on a rainforest circuit nearby.
• The range drive - the ridge road through dairy country to Maleny.

When to go

April to October for clear, dry weather; summer brings humidity and afternoon storms, and cloud often sits on the range. Weekends are busy with day trippers and parking on the main street is difficult.

Honest expectations

The village is small and thoroughly geared to visitors, which reads as charming or twee depending on taste. The whole street takes an hour. Roads up the range are narrow and winding, and weekend traffic is slow.

Nearby

Maleny lies south along the range; Kondalilla and Baroon Pocket are minutes away.