Did you know there was a subtropical rainforest less than 2 hours away from Brisbane? Yeah, you…read moreprobably did. Well you should go there anyway. It's easily accessible by car and lots of fun. I went to the Green Mountains section, because the walking trails are shorter and there's a waterfall. The Binna Burra section has some more challenging tracks.
First off, if you're driving to Green Mountains from Brisbane, make sure not to miss the turn off for Lamington National Park Road, in Canungra. It's poorly marked, and if you miss it, you'll end up halfway to Gold Coast before you realize your mistake. If you pass through the town of Canungra without turning right, then you've missed the turn.
Then, once you approach the park, the road is narrow and windy and mostly uphill for about 30 minutes, but it doesn't look like it on the map. Just hang in there, keep driving, you're almost there. And watch out for oncoming traffic.
The road ends at the second car park, which is pretty big and should accommodate all cars even on a nice summer day. You'll see O'Reilly's gift shop up the hill on the right and the park's info centre on the left. At the gift shop you can buy bird seed, and then if you go up the path about 10 meters you can feed wild rosellas and king parrots. If you're holding the food, they will land on you to eat it, so be prepared.
If you walk up another 20 meters past the bird feeding, the entrance to the tree top walk is on the left. I highly recommend it. It's a wooden foot bridge that literally takes you around the tree tops, about 20 meters off the ground. The view is stunning. There's a ladder that will take you up even higher, but there might be a long queue to get up there.
Next to the tree top walk is the botanic garden, but if you're there at the wrong time of year, there are no flowers and it's kind of boring. That's when I was there. I'm sure it's nicer in the spring.
There are hiking trails all over the park, as well as camping, so download a map from the website and prepare in advance. We did the Moran Falls track (4.4 km, about 1.5 hours) and the Python Rock track (3.1 km, about 1 hour). Both of these were very easy (kids would have no problem, for example, although probably not good for elderly or disabled people). Moran Falls has, yes, that's right, a waterfall, which is spectacular, and a lookout with amazing views. Python Rock has even better lookout, and you can see the same waterfall. To get to these trails, you have to walk about 10 minutes back up the road, past the first car park. There's a sign on the left for the walking trails. Some of the harder trails and the camping areas start up near the tree top walk.
In general, the park is clean and well maintained. There are lots of birds and lizards everywhere, as well as butterflies. It's a rainforest, so even when it's a hot day in Brisbane it will be no more than 25 on the hiking trails - bring a jumper or a rain jacket. There are no rubbish bins anywhere so be prepared to carry your garbage home with you.
