Wednesday, 22 July 2015

Walking in Tamborine National Park



Recently, I found myself in the Tamborine Hills in Gold Coast hinterland – ‘the green behind the gold’.

Having just one full day there, the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk was unfeasible this time, although I very much hope to be able to do that in the future. What was feasible, however, was exploring some of the shorter walks in Tamborine National Park.

These walks were nothing too strenuous and did nothing to satisfy my increasing adventure-lust: they are quite short, really well marked - in some cases they even have paved surfaces and fences – and there are a number of restricted areas with no access allowed anywhere outside of the designated paths and swim spots.

However, they did satisfy my desire to spend a day outside in nature, and I really enjoyed the change of scenery, the different plant life, the change from tropical to temperate, and watching the beautiful birds we saw.

Beautiful forest

Not a great photo, but a very pretty Crimson Rosella


As the walks are so short, we were able to do a few before the daylight started to fade, and we followed the walking tracks at Cedar Creek Section, Joalah Section (for Curtis Falls), and the Witches Falls Section – the first ever area in Queensland to be designated as National Park.

At Cedar Creek Falls there are about 3 pools that you are allowed to swim in (access to these pools is only allowed from designated paths). A combination of Australia’s recent cold snap, and my lack of tolerance for the cold since living in the tropics, meant that I didn’t quite feel up to swimming on this occasion though!



Looking at these sweet little falls and not being able to get in and explore was frustrating, but I understood that the National Park is there for the protection of nature, not just our enjoyment.




At Curtis Falls, there is a well-defined dirt path to the pool at the bottom of the small falls, and also a circuit walk going along either side of the river. 



To cross the river at the far end we had to use the rocks as stepping stones, not too tricky if you are confident on your feet, but a few people we met were a little unsure. Again you are not able to freely explore in the river, for the protection of nature, however the views at various points of the river are really pretty and are well worth the easy walk.





Witches Falls also has a well-defined dirt path, this time dropping down the steep side of a hill from the road. Turning right as you approach the path to start, there are steps dropping down, while turning left to start there is a gentler slope with switchbacks. (Obviously this downhill becomes an uphill on the way back, so you may want to plan how steep your return journey is.)



The circuit path has a detour off it to the viewing platform, which has a view down onto the falls and out over the forested hills beyond. 



You can continue on this path back to a road, which you can follow back to the start point, but it’s more pleasant to return via the circuit path through the forest.




Taking our time to enjoy the scenery on each of these walks, and having a relaxed long lunch break (and a coffee break too), these three walks took up almost all of the winter daylight we had, so although they weren’t strenuous we had to finish up there.

Maybe not very adventurous, but certainly a beautiful way to spend a day out and about :)







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