A day out in the hinterland. “The green behind the gold”

So much to do and so much to see. I love showing the Goldcoast to visitors. It also gets us out and about.

Are you like me, when you have lived in an area for a number of years you stop seeing it? Day to day routine takes over and old habits just wrap around me like a comfy blanket. Then some one comes to visit and all of a sudden I am seeing my home town with fresh eyes.

It is about 5 years since we went for a drive up the mountain to Lamington National Park. It is a lovely drive the road twists and turns passing through a couple of small villages and up into the heritage listed rainforest. Our first stop was at Mt Tamborine village, a very popular tourist destination, to visit the gallery walk. A street lined with craft shops, fashion and jewellery  boutiques, cafes and restaurants.

Mt Tamborine

Craft and gem stones

Mt Tamborine craft shop. I could live here…

Lovely shady tree to have a coffee under

A shower came over as we left Mt Tambourine and I wondered if we would make it right to the top of the mountain. The road is quite narrow and in places only one way sections to negotiate through. But we carried on. A short stop at Canungra to buy sausages for a BBQ then it was into the rainforest.

Lamington National Park, glimpse down to the Goldcoast from a look out.

This cute alpaca watched us drive by

Rainforest trees tower above us as we drive along

The rain has stopped but it is windy and over-cast, time to put warm jackets on for a walk through the rainforest to the tree-top walk-way.

(I have found this terrific link about Lamington National Park and O’Reillys it has the virtual tour that I have included below. It is the next best thing to being there.)

                  Four years after the arrival of the O’Reilly Family, Lamington National Park was declared, thus effectively isolating the O’Reilly’s from the outside world. While Lamington wasn’t Queensland’s first national park, it is the most significant, and was regularly referred to as ‘Queensland’s National Park.’

World Heritage status was bestowed on Lamington in 1994 in recognition of its high biodiversity, and the fact it has a living museum of the evolutionary steps taken in the development of Australia’s modern day flora. It now includes 20,200 hectares of varying forest types, from temperate Antarctic Beech forest high on the border ranges through the sub-tropical rainforests, to the dry eucalypt forest of the northern escarpment.

Lamington National Park provides food and shelter for a huge array of sub-tropical bird life (over 160 species), reptiles, frogs, mammals and invertebrates.

This is the O’Reilly’s section of the mountain and the O’Reilly family have lived here for over a hundred years. It is now a retreat with various styles of accommodation. There are many walks through the forest and it is renowned for the bird life.

Rosellas

The most popular walk is the tree-top walk. Just a short 500 metres stroll from the car park a sturdy board walk takes you up into the canopy of the rainforest. Then for the brave a ladder is attached to one of the tallest, and hopefully, sturdiest strangler fig trees which takes you 30 metres above the forest floor and a magnificent look-out over the canopy.

Tree-top walk

Strangler fig

Climbing to the look-out over the canopy

Are you coming?

Walking way up with the birds

Garden growing in a fig tree

The plan was to have a BBQ at the area provided with tables and electric BBQ’s but by now the rain had started again and the wind had a considerable chill factor and dusk was setting in, it would not be a good drive down the twisty road, so we made the decision to go back down to Canungra.

What a difference when we arrived at Canungra the wind had dropped the rain had stopped and we settled in the park for our dinner on the free BBQ.

Canungra Hotel was plan b if it rained…

BBQ master chef, but it didn’t rain…

Waiting for the tucker

So ended a great day out…