Binna Burra and Gondwana Rainforests

Ok, Jen is in Byron Bay and I have just been dropped off at Melbourne airport by Possum for 11.00 hours rendezvous at Coolangatta.

Jen is charged with packing up the campervan and luckily the rain stopped at 5.00am and she did a top job.

DRIVE: Byron Bay to Binna Burra, Lamington National Park via Coolangatta Airport (137km).

The drive up to Binna Burra, Lamington National Park is sealed road all the way but quite steep and windy. Rain had set in so slow and steady climbing 800m above sea level to our camping destination.

CAMP: Binna Burra Rainforest Lodge and Campground / 3N

Binna Burra is located on the eastern side of Lamington National Park with Green Mountains to the west. Our campsite is basically in the middle of a rainforest (part of the ancient global Gondwana rainforest) with tall Flame trees, eucalyptus trees reaching for the misty sky and Antarctic Bech trees interspersed with tropical plants and palms, each species competing for sunlight.

It’s a quick set up of the campervan as the mist and fog is surrounding us and we are heading for a big storm. I think we picked up a Bush Turkey at the start of our trip and every time we move to a new camp, the same Bush Turkey reappears... it’s like the Road Runner... beep beep.

After setup, we did a a short hike to Bellbird lookout and followed the Cliff Track. The lookout would have gifted magnificent views on other days, but today, it’s a sheer drop and then white eerie mist ahead. Still it gave a great feeling of remoteness and being surrounded by ancient forest. We started off dry but the humidity eventually caught up on us and by the end of the hike, we were quite saturated.

We tracked back to base camp just in time before the clouds turned a dark purple and thunder and lightning was overhead. In rainforests, when it rains, it pours, so we huddled into the van and even though it’s not a cold climate, we made hot water bottles for comfort. The rain continued throughout the night and was nice to fall asleep to.

WILDLIFE: Bush Turkey, Red Necked Pademelon (little Wallaby)Read more