Lamington National Park

After three exhausting but brilliant days of conference, Ben and I headed out from the Gold Coast last night, me still holding on to my horrific cold which has cost me my voice. We spent the previous evening being entertained by Bond University on the 78th floor of the skypoint observatory with free drink and canapes overlooking the kilometres of gold coast beaches - very pleasant!

The drive from the Gold Coast to Binna Burra was a little under an hour but the landscape could not have been more different. From clear seas and golden sands, we wound up narrow mountain roads overlooking huge cliff edges and jawdropping views.

Our B&B is a spectacilar little cabin nestled just outside of Lamington National Park, home to trees over 2000 years old. We "popped" in to the local village (a 30 minute undulating and ear-popping downhill drive) for supplies and spent the evening planning today's walks with an Aussie beer in hand and backdrop of odd wildlife noises.

Our day of walking began on the wrong foot, waking up at 11.30am! (...Nothing to do with Ben getting up at 4am to watch the World Cup...). But, a quick breakfast later we headed into the rainforests of Lamington National Park, sadly not passing any koalas or kangaroos on the way despite hundreds of signs!

We walked three different routes - the rainforest circuit, Tullawallal and Bellbird Lookout. Just five minutes we were greeted by a pademelon (something to us which looked like a very small kangaroo!) which was hugely exciting but apparently quite common. The huge towering trees, similar to those in and around Angkor Wat, dominate the views, and strung between and beneath them are roots upon roots and ferns. The water kept in by the canopy created a beautiful misty atmosphere and for the most part we had the trails to ourselves.

Bellbird lookout was a little way from these trails and a 1500m similar walk gave way to a cliff-edge clearing over the whole of the valley below, lot up beautifully under the winter sunshine.

This evening brings a Japanese meal in the "local" town before heading out tomorrow to the Border Ranges National Park.Read more