First published: 31/01/18.

Clyde 2.5

Gondwana Rainforests

Gondwana Rainforests (Inscribed)

Gondwana Rainforests by Clyde

I visited this WHS in December 2017. Of the several locations that make up this WHS, I visited Lamington National Park and Springbrook National Park, focusing mostly on the Green Mountains area of Lamington National Park.

I drove away from Brisbane before sunrise and I got to the winding roads up the inscribed area of Lamington National Park very early in the morning. We saw several wallabies, koalas and birds along the way. Due to roadworks, we drove through Canungra and parked our rental car near the National Park Visitor Centre which has a very small 'World Heritage Room' downstairs with some information boards on the inscribed areas, wildlife and geological features of this WHS. Here we used the boot cleaning brushes to keep out any potential pathogens from the rainforest.

After a short 1.8km walk on the Centenary Track, we hiked for about an hour to the Python Rock Lookout (5km) and for about an hour and a half to the Moran Falls Lookout (6.2km) into the rainforest. Here we saw lots of birds such as the Southern logrunner, the paradise riflebird, the grey and rufous fantails, the golden whistler, the Eastern yellow robin, the yellow-throated and white-browed scrubwrens, the Wonga pigeon and two of the noisiest birds in the rainforest canopy: the Eastern whipbird and the green catbird. Their mating calls and displays were unmistakeable and a fond memory I'll surely cherish for a long time.

We also hiked towards the Border Track which has very interesting information boards towards the very beginning of the track briefly explaining circa 23 million years of the park's geological history which had such an important impact on the flora's evolution (ex. primitive conifers and ferns) when the last basalt lava flowed down from the 2000 metre Tweed volcano. Some of these plant species survived from prehistoric times when Australia was still part of Gondwana (some 200 million years ago) and they were quite easy to spot along the track.

Since we had enough time, we ventured past the Border Track and towards the Box Forest Circuit and part of the Binna Burra Track but never finished them. Instead, we spent more time at Picnic Rock and Elebana Falls which are usually quite busy but were empty just before sunset. Here we spotted a playful Crimson rosella and the rare Lamington freshwater crayfish (photos).

As it was getting dark, deeper in the rainforest, we hurried back in the direction of O'Reilly's where we enjoyed the incredible display of sun rays penetrating the rainforest and highlighting the various strangler figs and epiphytic plants. When most of the few tourists were gone, we also did the Treetop Walkway Loop and it was fun to climb a 30 metre tree and rise over the canopy. Here we also spotted an Australian king parrot. As we drove away from Lamington National Park, we stopped to enjoy sunset at one of the lookouts in the inscribed Springbrook National Park before heading back to the highway.

We enjoyed our day at Lamington National Park and found it to be less crowded than the Blue Mountains for example. That said, Australia's parks and trees are a bit overrepresented with 3-4 separate WHS.

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