We pitched our tents and were told an hour later we had to move them to the other side of the camp…read moregrounds. Not a problem. Toilets were disgusting, smashed glass and cigarette butts cover the grounds. We were packing up in the morning and threw away our sticker for our car and they charged everyone in the car 15$ again since we didn't have "proof" we paid to enter even though he was there when we purchased our admission. Never go here. He was rude and tried to intimidate us, the bins are covered in maggots and the grounds are terribly boggy.

The views from the look out to the beach are so perfect. You can hear the roar of the ocean from…read morethe tent park. Flat rock also has great facilities which are kept clean and tidy. They are also serviced twice a day. If you're looking for a cheap get away it's about $30 for two people per day and $10 per person after that. An excellent park with a big family feel to it where campers help each other out and are extremely friendly.

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.

There's lots of different hikes you can take around here, from a minimum of 3 KM to a Mac of 21 KM…read more I'm sure you could even find a 1 Km hike, but if you came all the way out here, you'd want to see more than that. You walk through lots of different types of vegetation and can see wild wallabies and pademelons jumping through if you look carefully enough. It's also a birdwatchers paradise, keep your eyes out for cool cockatoos. We saw a lovely waterfall and a view from the top of surprise rock. There's some cliffs on the walk we did, but one hike has aboriginal cave art walk for about 5 Km for history buffs. It can get chilly and can heat up quickly so bring lots of water and a raincoat. Also, only bathroom is at binna burra, so use it before you go on the hike. After you get back, don't forget to get a scone from the cafe at binna burra. Best scone my friends and I have ever had, super fluffy and tasty.

My dad and I like to explore little places in Australia on our weekends off. Of course, being the…read moreghost adventurers we are, I looked up "haunted hotels in Brisbane" on google when we were looking for our next experience. The Royal (James) hotel was the first one to pop up. The trip out to Harrisville is beautiful, surrounded by Australian mountains and farming lands as you travel through cute little towns. It's not hard to find the RH at all and it's the first thing you'll see as you're coming on to queen street. I was immediately in awe of the property, it's been kept in wonderful condition and sits on a huge piece of land. It's so awesome that there is free camping for patrons, great idea for anyone traveling long distance, or if you've had one too many XXXX bitters. The woman behind the bar was beyond friendly, which came as a surprise to me because so far my experience with small town pubs in Australia has been below expectations. The menu isn't just "pub food" as you may expect and they have glasses of wine for under $6! (Alcohol in Australia is pricey so this is good). Back to the menu, you can order pasta, pizza, fish n chips, steak, salads...etc. The lunch specials were: fish n chips for $12 Steak and chips for $12 Or a burger and chips for $12 (hey america, they call fries chips here:D) The menu states that if you have any food allergies at all, the staff would be happy to accommodate, cool! My dad and I ordered salt and pepper calamari to start, and both got fish n chips. Everything was good, especially the calamari, the fish was ok but nothing too special. Service was really so great, the lady I mentioned earlier was happy to tell us a little history about the place too. If you're ever in Brisbane and are looking for a casual, historical, and peaceful day, come here! The sky surrounding it is worth the trip itself. I'm definitely going to try and come here for a camping weekend, and maybe get spooked by some of the supposed ghosts that hang around here.

Lovely walking trails in the National Park. We took a trip into the hinterland from the coast for a…read morefew hours and did the MacDonald Rainforest Circuit and the Cedar Creek Falls walks - both were quite easy going, taking us through rainforest brimming with nature and to scenic waterfalls and rock pools you can swim in (and which a few plucky souls were leaping into). Was less impressed with Gallery Walk, a street of cafes and shops atop the mountain said to be a must-see attraction. I just found it odd and a bit of a tourist trap, I'd give this a miss if you're not really into shopping for nick nacks or cuckoo clocks and use your time to do some more exploring. I did taste some nice flavoured fudge though!

Tamborine Mountain is an easy 45-minute drive from Brisbane, perfect for a day trip and for some…read moreshort walks. It's a rainforesty area where you'll find swimming holes, water falls and spectacular views of the Logan Valley. I took a drive up there recently and really just went exploring without too much direction. There are plenty of places to eat, but my friend and I decided to stop for lunch at a restaurant/hotel called St Bernard's, drawn in by a huge model of a St Bernard. For those more active people, cycling up Mt Tamborine seems to be popular and there are also other sports on offer such as hang gliding. This is a great, easily do-able little escape from Brisbane. You may not want to return...