With many across the nation returning to work this week, the Mayor of Queensland’s Scenic Rim began the week at sunrise abseiling Mt Barney in a quest for a new year’s fitness resolution and to launch the 2022 Scenic Rim Adventure Festival.

“The Scenic Rim with its world heritage offerings on the doorstep of Brisbane and the Gold Coast provides an incredible experience,” said Mayor Greg Christensen. “With the recent recognition of the Scenic Rim in Lonely Planet’s Top 10 destinations in the world to visit in 2022, our great outdoors inspired me to abseil at daybreak this morning to keep true to my new year’s resolution.”

“The Scenic Rim Adventure Festival will kick off our month-long adventure, eco and nature-based Escape in the Scenic Rim event which will be staged across the Scenic Rim for the month of May 2022,” explains Mayor Greg Christensen, Scenic Rim Regional Council.

Also joining the Scenic Rim Adventure Festival team for this morning’s dawn abseil, was international adventurer, Ben Southall, who famously trumped over 30,000 candidates for “Best Job in the World”.

“This is such an ideal spot at the base of Mount Barney, Queensland’s 4th highest peak (1359m) and I can’t wait to share my expedition experiences at this year’s festival, “ said Ben. “It’s an inspiring way to start being back at work in 2022!”

The Scenic Rim Adventure Festival will include guided expeditions, walks, talks and wild adventures from the base camp of Mt Barney Lodge. The program includes survival skill workshops, an adventure film festival and internationally renowned guest speakers, sharing their experiences of challenges, inner strength, resilience, and survival.

“This is not a festival where you’ll experience hordes of people and the usual trappings of large festivals. This is an immersion experience where we’re inviting people to rediscover and relax in nature and challenge themselves physically if they chose to. It is something our minds and bodies are craving during this tumultuous time,” said Festival Director and owner of Mt Barney Lodge, Mr Innes Larkin.

“We want to share this special place and make a difference to people’s lives to be inspired and get back to the important things in life, spending time with each other, and nature.”

Innes Larkin, also Deputy Chair, Ecotourism Australia, and Gondwana Rainforests of Australia Community Advisory Committee member further explains, “With our Festival Coordinator, Jessica Bradley, we’re curating a program with inspiring speakers, including one of the best marathon runners in the world, Jacqui Bell. She became the youngest person in history to run an Ultra Marathon on all seven continents, and she will join us to talk about resilience and overcoming adversity.”

The comprehensive adventure program will include live music, food, adventure displays and children’s nature play activities, guided bushwalks, bushcraft and survival activities and epic guided mountain expeditions to the top of Queensland’s most impressive peak.

Be sure to mark 29 April – 2 May 2022 in the diary and get your hiking boots and sense of adventure ready.