Life on the plateau
Four ways down
Roads reach the plateau from four points in the lowlands. Tamborine-Oxenford Road winds 22.2 km to the M1 at Oxenford, Tamborine Mountain Road carries most of the Brisbane traffic, and Tamborine-Nerang Road heads east toward Clagiraba.
Wetter and cooler
About 1,550 mm of rain falls a year, mostly from December to March, and the mountain usually runs 5 to 7 degrees cooler than the lowlands around it.
A daily commute down and up
Many residents commute to the Gold Coast or Brisbane, so plenty of cars here do a descent in the morning and a climb at night, every working day.
Scenic Rim, Queensland rules
Tamborine Mountain is in the Scenic Rim Region, not the City of Gold Coast, but the state's rules are the same: a safety certificate from an approved inspection station when a car is sold, and no general mechanic licence.
Brakes feel wrong on the way down?
If the pedal goes soft, the brakes smell hot or the car pulls to one side, slow gently, pull over somewhere safe and stop. Let the brakes cool, and have a mechanic check them before the next descent. If the brakes fail outright, RACV's advice is hazard lights on, pump the pedal, change down gradually and use the handbrake gently only once the car has slowed.
Brakes on a mountain car
Going down, the brakes do the work. Ride them the whole way and the fluid can get hot enough to boil, which the RAA calls brake fade: the pedal goes soft just when you need it. Use them briefly and firmly instead, and let a lower gear hold the car back.
Brake fluid also pulls water from the air, which lowers its boiling point and corrodes brake parts. That's why most makers want it replaced on a timetable, about every two years according to RACQ, however few kilometres the car has done.
The wet months add the rest: tyres with decent tread and wiper blades that clear the screen. Have both looked at before December. Brakes explains what a proper brake check covers.
What we'd do on the mountain
We'd have the brake fluid changed on the maker's schedule, about every two years for most cars, and the pads and discs checked at every service. If the car is playing up, we'd rather a mobile mechanic came up the hill to it than take a doubtful car down the range.