Lamington National Park

Lamington sits on the rim of an eroded shield volcano on the border ranges behind the Gold Coast, and its rainforest is part of the Gondwana Rainforests listing, a set of remnant forests whose plant lineages go back to a much older continent. Two road ends give access. Green Mountains has a suspended canopy walkway and the waterfall circuits that most day visitors do, including the track past Elabana Falls. Binna Burra sits on a ridge with drier forest and long views. The Border Track runs about twenty kilometres between them along the caldera rim, through stands of Antarctic beech near the highest ground. Pademelons feed at dusk and the forest is loud with bowerbirds and lyrebirds.

History

For at least 6,000 years Aboriginal people, among them the Wangerriburra and Nerangballum, lived in and visited these mountains. A local man, Romeo Lahey, saw the value of preserving the forests, and the park was established in 1915, named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1902. The O'Reilly family opened a guesthouse near the park in 1926, founding members of the National Parks Association of Queensland built Binna Burra Lodge beside it in the 1930s, and in 1937 Bernard O'Reilly found and rescued the survivors of the Stinson airliner that had crashed in the Lamington wilderness. The park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Lamington National Park).

What's there

• The canopy walkway - suspension bridges strung through the rainforest crowns at Green Mountains.
• Box Forest Circuit - a waterfall loop passing Elabana Falls and mossy creek crossings.
• Antarctic beech stands - gnarled ancient-lineage trees along the high ridge tracks.
• The Border Track - the long ridge route linking Green Mountains and Binna Burra.

When to go

March to November is the drier and cooler stretch, and winter mornings are clear with mist in the valleys. Summer brings heavy rain, leeches and slippery tracks. The plateau is noticeably colder than the coast at any time of year, so bring a layer even when the Gold Coast is warm. Weekends fill the small car parks.

Things to know

The access roads are narrow, winding and slow, and unsuitable for large vehicles or nervous drivers. Rainforest means rain, so views from the lookouts are often closed in by cloud, and after wet weather leeches are constant and tracks are slick. Facilities at both road ends are limited, and mobile coverage is patchy to absent.

Nearby

Springbrook National Park lies east along the same rim, with the Gold Coast beaches an hour away.

Key facts