Lamington National Park and Tamborine National Park Guide

The 1100m high mountains of the Lamington National Park are also part of the McPherson Range. The park is covered in subtropical rainforest, with gorges, waterfalls and sweeping views.

Walks in the Park
At both Binna Burra and Green Mountains (O'Reillys) the walks vary from pleasant strolls to three day hikes over parts of Queensland's roughest terrain. Visitors can experience a bird's-eye view of the rainforest on an easily accessible tree-top canopy walk at O'Reillys.

Access
Binna Burra is reached via Beechmont and Green Mountains (O'Reillys) from Canungra, both on narrow and winding sealed roads not suitable for caravans.

Camping
Binna Burra campground (07 5533 3622) or national park campground at Green Mountains (13 13 04). Bookings are advisable.

Accommodation
Binna Burra Mountain Lodge (1800 074 260) and O'Reillys Guesthouse (1800 688 722- for reservations) are both nestled within the national park.

The permanent moisture of the rainforest encourages rapid growth of mosses and ferns, usually seen growing along creek banks and in wet gullies, or clinging tenaciously to the sides of tree trunks. Colourful fungi add splashes of colour to an otherwise lush green environment, and various types of epiphytes such as staghorn, and bird's-nest ferns festoon the branches of giant host trees. Also living on the trees are at least 20 species of epiphytic orchids including golden king orchids, orange blossom orchids, ravine orchids, olive orchids and spider orchids.
The Lamington National Park is regarded as one of the most important refuges for wildlife in south-east Queensland. On the lower slopes of the park red-necked wallabies are common, and in the drier eucalypt forest possums, gliders and rare brush-tailed phascogales are found.

Rainforest species include rednecked pademelons, bandicoots and endangered quolls (a native cat).
Lamington is renowned as a birdwatcher's paradise, and some of Australia's rarest and most colourful species are found there. These include beautiful noisy pittas, crimson rosellas, king parrots, Albert's lyrebirds and striking black and gold regent bowerbirds. Whipbirds, logrunners, scrub wrens and brush-turkeys can be seen scratching through undergrowth on the forest floor, while in the canopy above, colourful wompoo pigeons, brown cuckoo-doves and paradise riflebirds compete for the forest's soft fruits.
The Green Mountains area of the park achieved wide publicity in 1937 when a Stinson airliner en route from Brisbane to Sydney crashed in the dense rainforest of the McPherson Range. While searches were being made along the coast, Bernard O'Reilly, believing that the plane could have gone down in the area, went off alone into the mountains searching. He eventually found and rescued two survivors, down to their last drop of water and barely alive after nine days in the bush. Four of the seven on board died in the crash, and the other survivor died while trying to find help. The O'Reilly family farmed at Green Mountains and also operated a guesthouse that continues to this day.

With an elevation of nearly 600m, the Tamborine plateau forms the northern spur of the McPherson Range and is a remnant of the outflowing of lava from the Mt Warning volcano. The Tamborine National Park contains gorges, spectacular waterfalls and remnants of subtropical rainforest dominated by the distinctive pic-cabeen palm.

Walks in the Park
There are quite a few walks taking up to two hours, and the most popular of these are the Witches Falls circuit (one hour) and the Curtis Falls walk (45 minutes).

Access
Tamborine is more easily accessible than the higher Lamington and Springbrook plateaus. The easiest access is from the village of Tamborine south of Beenleigh.

Camping
The park is a day-use area.

Birdlife in the thick rainforest includes crimson rosellas, eastern whipbirds, Lewin's honeyeaters, satin bowerbirds and rare Albert's lyrebirds. Black-faced cuckoo shrikes, magpies, kingfishers and noisy miners are common in the dry eucalypt forest. Tamborine has plenty of accommodation, restaurants and craft shops as well as some wineries.

The proposed Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk will link the Green Mountains section of Lamington National Park with Springbrook National Park. Spectacular views, ancient Antarctic beech forests, thundering waterfalls and amazing geological formations are a few of the highlights of this proposed Great Walk. A variety of half-day and full-day walks will also be available.