Lamington NP – Green Mountains Section

We had never been to Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland. We had heard about O’Riellys but had little knowledge of the area. Recently we spent a week at the Cedar Lake resort about 10km south of Nerang, an ideal point from which to get to the NP, as well as to others in the area. The NP was excellent – even though we went up on Fathers Day Sunday. It’s a lovely drive with some delightful walks, which really gave us a taste of the area, even though we only saw the Green Mountains section. We will be back to Cedar Lake, and will then visit the Binna Burra section of Lamington and the other NPs in the area – Springbrook NP and Tamborine NP.

We visited the Green Mountain Section of Lamington NP on Monday 01 September 2019.

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

Getting There

We were staying at Cedar Lake for a week, about 10km south of Nerang. From there, we could have gone on a direct route to Canunga – about 20kms, then the slow haul to the NP – another 35kms. But we took the longer road via Beechmont, and then to Canunga, which was about 40kms.

We loved Cedar Lake as it is so central. It is not 6 star glitz, but a well spread out area around a large lake – it has a real bush feel – and is clean and very comfortable. It has it all available without charge – kayaks, tennis, pitch and putt golf (our favourite), putt putt, playgrounds, heated swimming pool and spas, games room and a reasonably priced restaurant.

History

For at least 6000 years, Aboriginal people lived in these mountains. The Wangerriburras and Nerangballum tribes claimed home to the plateau territory. Bushrangers Cave, which is close to Mount Hobwee and is 60 metres long, was once an aboriginal camp. This site shows Aboriginal occupation going back 10,000 years.

To read more about the culture and lifves of these First National people, click here

Captain Patrick Logan and Allan Cunningham were the first European explorers in the area. The timber cutters soon followed, including the Lahey family who owned one of Queensland’s largest timber mills at the time.

By the 1870s, a battle had developed between those seeking to clear more land and those wanting to preserve valuable areas of southern Queensland’s subtropical rainforest. In 1878, the dream of Lamington National Park began.

To read more about the progressive British development of the area and protection of the NP, click here

You can also read about the significant of the NP at that link

Today Lamington National Park is one of Queensland’s best-loved parks. Rugged mountain scenery, waterfalls (more than 500), caves, rainforest, wildflower heaths, tall open forests, creeks, varied wildlife and some great bushwalking are protected. Lamington is the core of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves Australia World Heritage Area along the adjoining Border Ranges National Park in NSW.

Drive up to the Park

Driving from Cedar Lake to Nerang, we took the turn onto Beechmont Rd without much thought. We quickly realised that this was the way into the Binna Burra section of the NP, but it would also lead us around to Canungra and the Lamington Range NP Rd. So we decided to keep going on this longer route and take in the amazing scenery.

And it was stunning, although there were few opportunities to stop for a photo or two – the road was tight, narrow and windy. A few times we had stunning views to the coast with the tall buildings of the Gold Coast providing a dramatic backdrop. But no photo. The drive then provided great views.

We had belatedly heard on the radio the day was Fathers Day – a picture perfect Sunday in the Gold Coast hinterland. Yes, it was all going to be crowded. The traffic was heavy and dominated by motorbikes – so many are out and about. This was driven home at the brilliant Rosins Lookout where we were lucky to get a car parking spot – cars and bikes everywhere, including one roadster. But the views to the south were brilliant – Mt Warning really stands out.

We watched the para gliders for a while – fascinating, and there were options available to have a go, but they can keep that to themselves.

At Beechmont we turned north for Canunga through some lovely country of rolling hills and farmlands. We were really pleased we had taken this longer drive to Canunga – really pretty countryside but not many places to grab a photo. Canunga looked a very busy and interesting town, but we did not stop to look around. We were meeting friends at O’Reillys at noon for lunch and wanted to get in one of the short walks before that.

Past Canunga we saw a small bushfire to our left – we assumed (hoped) it was back burning.

The road then started to get very narrow and windy, lots of one way sections and hairpin turns. Also lots of places were serious repairs had been undertaken – massive engineering works. It must be the tightest, narrow and windiest road we have travelled. At one point we stopped at a red traffic light for what seemed like an age. The sign says the wait was a max of 6 minutes.

Increasingly, the farmlands were replaced by the forests of the NP – our first glimpses of the stunning forests.

Around the Green Mountains section

We were lucky to get a parking spot at the Green Mountains day parking area – it was very busy with cars and people and motorbikes all clamouring for space. We looked at the Stinson replica of the plane that crashed in 1937 flying south from Brisbane to Sydney in bad weather. This led to a massive but fruitless search. Seven days after the crash Bernard O’Reilly set out to where he thought the plane must have gone down in the Lamington NP. He found the crash site and 2 survivors in dire need of medical attention. He made them comfortable and walked back out for help. The survivors were stretchered out 11 days after the crash. What an amazing tale. This can be read in his book “Green Mountains”.

After talking to the ranger in the National Parks office, we did the Rainforest Return walk, a very easy walk of about 1.5km, starting out on a timber walkway. The trees really are stunning – we loved the bark on the Box woods – and we watched many little brown birds scurrying around in the undergrowth. Very cute.

The tree top walk was great – built in 1986, the first rainforest tree top walkway in the world. It is on privately-owned land belonging to O’Reilly’s Retreat and was built by the Green Mountains and Lamington Natural History Associations. It as more bouncy that the other tree top walks we had done in Queensland and WA, but just as spectacular.

However, the climbing platforms to get us right into the tree tops were packed – both of the small platforms were full and other people were waiting. Having been up a few towers at the half a dozen or so other tree top walks we had done, we did not wait. We had friends to meet.

The platform path ends at the O’Reilly’s Botanical Garden, and we had a quick walk through this.

We then took the Border Track back to the carpark area and O’Reillys forecourt. As we were meeting friends Doug and Phoung for lunch, we checked in at the restaurant. Outside the guesthouse, many tables had been set up with “reserved” signs on them. I asked a waiter if we could get a table for lunch, but no – Fathers Day smorgasbord lunch at $45 a head and only one table free. I thought – NUP. So we wandered down to another area where the souvenir shop was and also found a cafe that had reasonably priced food. We grabbed a table right on the edge of the verandah looking out towards Mt Warning… gorgeous views.

At about midday, Doug rang to say they were still miles away, having mistakenly gone down a minor road to nowhere – easy to do in this country. We postponed our lunch with them until the next time.

Morans Falls

After our lunch we drove a couple of kms back to the parking area for the Morans Falls and Python Rock walks. There we decided to go down to the Morans Falls – a total of 6.2kms return, down and back up again. And it was definitely a walk downhill, on a good track.

It was a really lovely walk, through some magnificent trees. And it was mostly quiet, with only the occasional group near us, so we saw many little birds scurrying amongst the tree roots.

We heard the falls as we approached, then came to a great lookout – excellent views to the Falls.

I walked on so as to get closer to the Falls. I came to a delightful river with a crossing just upstream of the Falls and walked down river to see how close I could get. It was delightful, with rock pools and bubbling little rapids taking the river to its big drop.

I ended up just above the sheer drop of the Falls but could not see the Falls itself. Stunning views over the valley ahead.

I walked around to another viewing platform next to the Falls, but again the views were across the valley and you cannot see the falls.

There is a track and gate to one side which provided a private walk for O’Reillys guests. I walked back across the river and then up to where Kerry was waiting to walk out. It certainly felt a lot further walking back uphill than on our descent.