Acacia Cottages
Acacia Cottages: Choose one of four budget self-contained holiday cottages, close to Stanthorpe (only 12 minutes away on paved roads) and the Granite Belt Wine Country and the Granite Highlands orchards and National Parks, in the wine and national park holiday destination of the Southern Downs in South East Queensland (Australia).
For your perfect Tree Change why not visit this part of the Granite Belt highlands. Stanthorpe tour operators can be booked for guided tours to the district wineries and restaurants. Aloomba Lavender Farm, gift shop and tea shoppe is just up the road from Acacia Cottages and well worth a leisurely visit.
Acacia Cottages are approximately 3 hrs from Brisbane and the Gold Coast when travelling by road, via the New England Highway, through Warwick and Stanthorpe. For an alternative scenic route home, it takes about 3.5 hours from Acacia Cottages, via Legume, Woodenbong & Beaudesert using the Mt Lindsay Highway. The cottages are approximately 10 hours from Sydney via the New England Highway, through Tenterfield and Stanthorpe.
NOTE: If you use your GPS you might be sent via Mt Lindsay Road or other secondary routes. Scenic, but some dirt and usually no centre lines. You will still see heavy vehicles particularly in areas where there are cattle, timber or other agricultural business activity. This is a nice way 'home'.
Each cottage has 2 private bedrooms with beds for 6 people in each cottage (a queen bed in one bedroom and 2 single beds in the other and a lounge/double bed in the lounge room). There is a compact kitchen equipped with a small electric stove, small fridge, utensils, cutlery, pans and crockery. There is a shower/toilet and a separate lounge/dining area with a combustion log fire in each cottage. A small verandah is attached to each cottage and a bigger verandah on two of the cottages.
The 4 cottages are located on a 2 acre block in the small mountain village of Liston, just 12 minutes East of Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia. They are close enough to allow friends to share, and far enough apart to give privacy. There is an outside BBQ. The block is externally and internally fenced and there is a small dam between the cottages. As the cottages are situated in a small rural village, we sometimes use 'organic' lawnmowers, more commonly known as horses. You may get to see the echidnas walking around, yellow tailed black cockatoos, crimson rosellas, galahs, eastern rosellas, satin bower birds, apostle birds, owls and other native wildlife including wild rabbits. The cottages are not fancy, but lots of visitors have found them good value.
Experience the sustainable Australian Country life as it used to be before galloping consumption took hold of us. You can even attend church at 5pm on the 1st Sunday of each month in the small old timber Anglican church. Help keep the church operational by keeping the numbers up during your stay. If you can't get a church booking in town, why not consider the Liston Anglican church and the Liston community hall for a quaint country wedding. Fancy accommodation can be found locally or Acacia Cottages are just across the road from the old wooden church.
The charge for Acacia Cottages is $250 per cottage per weekend, or up to 3 nights. **
Additional nights are $50 per cottage per night, with a maximum weekly charge of $400 per cottage.
(** Public Holiday long weekends have special rates, please check with Kevin on 0409 15 39 39. Please text Kevin if no answer on the mobile as service can be a challenge in the mountains.)
To book:
Contact Kevin Jaques 0409 15 39 39
Snail Mail to:
Kevin Jaques
Acacia Cottages,
PO Box 4168 Ashmore Qld 4214
Charges: Acacia Cottages
(beds for 6 in each of the 4 cottages)
$250 per cottage per weekend,
or 3 nights **
$400 per cottage per week **
(**Public Holiday long weekends have special rates, please check with Kevin on 0409 15 39 39)
We charge by the cottage, not by the person
BYO Linen, doonas, towels, drinks, provisions and friends.
The cottages rely on tank water and septic toilets.
New England Highway North to Warwick, Toowoomba & Brisbane or Gold Coast (via Cunningham's Gap)
South to Sydney
Photo of one of the cottages at ACACIA COTTAGES 
Photo of cottage 9 at ACACIA COTTAGES
We charge by the cottage, not by the person.
The cottages aren't fancy but they are comfortable.
We think you will find Acacia Cottages good value, particularly for a group on a short break or a longer holiday
********Things to do while visiting Acacia Cottages********
*Visit one of >50 Granite Belt wineries; taste the wine, take some home
*Leave room in the boot to take home an extra case: of local wine or local produce
*Bushwalk, swim or relax in one of the National Parks
*Visit Aloomba Lavendar farm, craft shop & coffee shop - just up the road from Acacia Cottages
*Have a coffee, cake or meal in one of the restaurants, pubs or coffee shops
*Climb Bald Rock, the monolith next largest to Ayers Rock, now known as Uhuluru.
*Go fishing at one of the dams or rivers
*Learn the history of the area: Cobb & Co, Bushrangers, silver, sapphire & tin mines, fruit industry etc
*Contribute to the Nation's 2nd 200 years at the birthplace of Federation - Tenterfield
*Walk Australia on the Bicentennial National Trail-section 7
*Buy some local gifts & food, or just mingle, at the Market in the Mountains
*Visit the Stanthorpe Art Gallery for many special exhibits
*See the collectibles at the Stanthorpe Museum
*Visit Tenterfield; birthplace of Peter Allen, Boy from Oz and the Tenterfield Saddler
*Participate in the local Festivals, events, shows , wine & food celebrations etc
*Enjoy our Red Letter and Saints Days
*Make sure you visit during
Apple & Grape Festival,
Wine & Food Affair,
Spring Wine Festival,
Flanders Poppy Festival,
Stanthorpe showtime,
Olive Harvest Festival,
Opera in the Vineyard etc
*Enjoy the different experience during each of the four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter all have different experiences)
*Taste the local produce; stone fruit, berries, apples, vegetables, honey etc
*Watch (& hear the calls of) the yellow tail black cockatoos, the satin bowerbirds, crimson rosellas, white cockatoos, owls, and all the less flashy native birds.
*See if you catch a glimse of the echnida, wallabies, wallaroos, rabbits and other local wildlife.
Why Not:
Stop over on your way from Sydney to Noosa or from Adelaide to Cairns.
Check out our countryside as part of your Short Break and recharge your emotional batteries
Experience the old fashioned country lifestyle
Have a personal TREE CHANGE
Hang out in the Granite Highlands
Have a safe break in your trip
Have a look around and enjoy the Altitude and Australian style country attitude.
Come for a short break or a long weekend, especially when staying on the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, northern NSW or in Brisbane.
Some Useful Links for your TREE CHANGE at Acacia Cottages.
TPG internet/mobile phone Maps : go on line, put Maryland St, Lison, NSW in the google search box and scan in and see where Liston really is. While Liston is in NSW, our closest business centre is Stanthorpe QLD because the NSW/QLD border is nearly north/south at this point of the Great Dividing Range watershed (headwaters of the Clarence River)
Aloomba Lavendar Farm: close by Acacia Cottages; craft and gift shop, coffee & snacks, B&B accommodation
There are lots of Southern Downs and Granite Belt Winery activities, Festivals, Brass Monkey Season, Markets etc, every month, season and year around our local area.
The Market in the Mountains is held in Stanthorpe Civic Centre, close to Acacia Cottages, each month & each public holiday weekend "Make it, Bake it, Sew it, Grow it"
www.holidayrentals.com.au
http://www.theholidayhost.com/
http://www.australiatourism.ca/
http://www.halenet.com.au/~jvbryant/stanthorpe.html
http://www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au/events_monthly.asp Check out the many local festivals and events, based around Stanthorpe and the Granite Belt.
http://www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au/pages/tourist-drives - try out the Granite Belt tourist drives including Oracles Way (Tourist Route Number 7)which leads the way to Liston from either Stanthorpe or Tenterfield.
CJJ December 2011 acacia.cottages@gmail.com