If you’ve driven between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, chances are you’ve seen the Glasshouse Mountains, 11 majestic peaks scattered across the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Harry Elks is a hiker from way back and well familiar with most of the trails throughout the mountains. His very first one was Mt Ngungun’s Summit Track at the ripe old age of five.
“It’s a good beginner hike,” he said. “It’s the first mountain that I ever climbed.”
“I grew up about 10 minutes from here and my parents got me started nice and early. It’s just a beautiful spot to bring the kids and the family.”
The Summit Trail is a grade 4, and 2.8 kilometres in length one way.
“It’s very significant with the local Indigenous population so millions of years ago the story goes that the Glasshouse Mountains are actually a family,” Harry explained. “Beerwah is the mother, Tibro is the father and Ngungun is one of the children so there’s a pretty cool story there.”
“There’s actually a good story about Mount Coonowrin or Crook Neck. He got in trouble once and got smacked in the head which is why he has the crooked neck!”
About halfway along the trails, you get a glimpse of some of the other mountains.
“There’s so many good options around here,” Harry said. “Mount Tibro which is probably one of the harder options, we also have Mount Beerwah which is my personal favourite. The views you get over there are next level. It’s the highest mountain on the coast. We’ve got easier ones like Wild Horse Mountain Lookout which gives you a good vista of all the Glasshouse Mountains especially at sunset and if you want to go further north around Noosa, there’s a few good options like Mount Timbeerwah and Coolum so there’s so many good options whether you want the coast or the bush, you’ll find something to suit everyone.”
While he’s travelled the world hiking, the beauty of local Queensland hikes isn’t lost on Harry.
“I’m pretty lucky to grow up in a place like this,” he said. “You take it for granted when you’re younger. It actually took me going travelling for a couple of years to come back and think I travelled the world to find places like this and it was on my doorstep all along.”
Whatever your hiker level, we highly recommend Mt Ngungun for yourself and here’s our list of must haves from BCF to begin with:
