Day trip to Lamington National Park...
I have had a few things on and the weather is not playing ball so no tramping trips for a couple of weeks. Instead here is another of my historic walks...
Back in late September 1994 one of my close friends was getting married in Surfers Paradise in Australia and invited me along. His fiancés mother had moved there back in the mid 1980's and he had many Aussie mates from when he was at the Defense Academy. I had never been to Queensland at that stage so thought why the hell not...
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| Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast of Australia |
I went over for a week and stayed down on the Gold Coast in Surfers Paradise. I hired a car and did most of the usual touristy things both with the wedding party and alone...shopping, dinners out, Sea World/Warner Brothers, a day at the beach, an Aussie Octoberfest etc. etc. It was a lot of fun and Queensland is a place I have been back to several times since...
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| You can still see Surfers Paradise from places in the inland mountains... |
After the wedding I had a couple of days free before heading back to New Zealand so I booked myself on a bus tour to the Lamington National Park inland from the Gold Coast. While there I went for a walk around the Tree Top Walk.
Day trip to O'Reillys Tree Top Walk:
Tree Top Walk (also known as O'Reillys Tree Top Walk) was a relatively new elevated walkway through the tropical forest of Lamington NP. It had been constructed in 1988 so it was only six years old at the time. It was one of the first skywalks or tree tops walks in the southern hemisphere and the first in Australia.
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| Map: Lamington NP and the Gold Coast |
The trip to Lamington NP is easy highway driving till you get to Canungra in the mountains to the west of the Gold Coast. From here you start a 30 km long trip down a narrow, winding road to the O'Reilly Eco-tourism Resort inside the National Park. You can stay here and explore the nearby Lamington NP or do a day visit from Brisbane or the Gold Coast.
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| The road into O'Reillys Eco Retreat, Lamington NP |
The main draw card in the National Park are the bush tracks and the dozens of waterfalls it holds...they have been a tourist destination for nearly 100 years. There are some close to the access road while others take a bit of a walk to visit.
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| One of the dozens of waterfalls in Lamington NP |
The tour I was on was visiting these with a side trip to experience the Tree Top Walk.
On the Tree Top Walkway, Lamington NP:
The Tree Top Walk starts from the carpark at the O'Reilly Resort...it is a free walk maintained by the National Park which is unusual because all the others I have been on were private. At first you are walking along the Booyong Walk but quickly branch off this along a separate track. The surrounding forest is sub tropical with a variety of flowering and fruit bearing trees with a thick understory of classic Australian bushes and shrubs.
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| Start of the Booyong Walk to the Tree Top Walk |
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Typical tropical rainforest around the Tree Top Walk
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The Walkway features a number of boardwalks, suspension bridges and viewing platforms from 15 to 30 meters above the forest floor. The total length of the track is only a couple of hundred meters but it is really interesting to get a tree top view of the forest canopy.
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| Turn off to the Tree Top Walk |
There are a series of warning messages near the start of the tree top walk...basically don't be stupid and jump up and down on the bridges, don't try climbing into the trees etc. There are safety barriers along this walk BUT if you acted the fool you could conceivably fall off something and hurt yourself.
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| Safety messages at the start of the Tree Top Walk |
The walk starts off at ground level on a series of low boardwalks but increases in height the further along the track you head. At the high point the main walk is 15-20 meters above the ground which doesn't sound like much until you are looking up at it from below.
It was just after the Australian school holidays so it was moderately busy but not over the top. I caught the bus at 8 am so we were there about 10 in the morning before the crowds started rolling in. The Lamington NP is popular as it is close to Brisbane a city of over 2 million people so getting here early is the best idea.
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| There are sections of raised boardwalk...Tree Top Walk |
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| ...and suspended tree top walkways at the Tree Top Walk |
There are a series of bridge sections between the trees at a level with the lower side of the forest canopy. There were loads of Australian native birds flying around and because you are in a rainforest most of them were colorful. I saw many different types of Parrot, Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Rosellas and Lorikeets.
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| Fig Parrots are one of the bird species in Lamington NP |
At the far end of the walk way is a set of stairs connected to a couple of rudimentary viewing platforms. One of these sits at 24 meters and the other is 30 meters above the forest floor. The platforms are small so only a couple of people can stand on them at one time.
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| Tree Top Walk: there are platforms at 24 and 30 meters |
The ladder up to the viewing platforms are a jury rigged looking affair but they were solid and well connected to the trees so I don't see any safety issues. There is a wire safety barrier around you but you should not climb the stairs unless you are nimble enough to do so.
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| Ladder to the 30 meter high lookout platform...Tree Top Walk |
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| View out into Lamington NP from the lookout... |
As you can see it is a rudimentary system but with a bit of care you shouldn't come to any harm...just don't act the goat while you are climbing those ladders. The tree they are connected to is an enormous native Fig Tree which grow naturally in the forest in Queensland.
From the top of the lookout you can see far into the interior of Lamington NP with its thick forest canopy and mountains and plateaus off in the distance. I have read that the best time to view the forest is dawn or dusk as it gets a lovely golden hue from the sun.
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| ...looking down the lookout access ladder... |
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| ...the lookout is in an enormous Fig Tree... |
The bridges are easy to walk over and are constructed of wire supports with a hanging wooden footway attached. The foot way is wide at perhaps 1.5 meters and the park service have installed nets along the side of the walk way to stop people falling off.
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| Tree Top Walk...more suspension bridges... |
There are a couple of places along the suspended walkway where you can see out and across the top of the forest. The surrounding area is covered in super dense forest so what you see is the flowing top of the canopy out to the horizon.
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| Another viewpoint across the forest canopy....Tree Top Walk |
It was very pleasant walking amongst the tall trees and as this was the first elevated walkway I had ever been on I was suitably impressed.
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| Tree Top Walk: some sections are 15-20 meters above the ground |
The photo below gives you a good idea of just how far above the ground 15 meters is...not dizzyingly high but enough for you to respect it. The forest is open with big gaps between the sun seeking trees but travelling along the forest floor would be difficult as the bush there is thick and luxuriant.
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| Tree Top Walk...one of the higher sections... |
The track has a loop at the end but you finish the track walking back along the first suspended section and then back along the Booyang Walk. It was getting close to eleven at this stage and it was already climbing into the high 20's Celsius so it was awesome to be in the cooler forest interior.
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| Tree Top Walk...heading back towards the carpark... |
There were a few ground dwelling birds in the forest including some of those Turkeys which are now endemic to the Australian bush around Brisbane. Turkeys are not native to Australia but escaped poultry birds have breed in huge numbers so that you now find them everywhere. The climate and conditions are obviously perfect for them Down Under...
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| Back at the start of the Tree Top Walk, Lamington NP |
The Tree Top Walk was an interesting experience and was my first suspended walkway...I have been on several others since. A visit to Lamington NP should probably be on every visitors plans as it is not that difficult to access from Brisbane and the Gold Coast. There are lots of other walks you can try and I recommend you have a look at the Tree Top Walk while you are here...
Access: The Tree Top Walkway is located in Lamington National Forest in South East Queensland. From Surfers Paradise it is 1.5 hours drive or 90 kilometers to the park. It is slightly longer from Coolangatta and Brisbane at around 2 hours.
Track Times: Tree Top Walkway is 300-400 meters on the bridges or 20 minutes
Miscellaneous: There is no public transport to Lamington NP so you need either your own vehicle or you can book a bus tour to the park. There is an eco resort here if you wanted to stay in the area with a picnic area, toilets, a restaurant and accommodation. There are a multitude of excellent bush walking tracks in the National Park as well as Lamington Falls.
