It's summer school holidays, and it's time for some more family time in the great outdoors! We are a camping, bushwalking, and nature-loving family, so we head to Woonoongoora (Lamington National Park) in the Nissan Patrol Warrior, which has the Thule Approach L roof tent and the Thule Overcast awning on top.
This combination of car and roof tent works so well for our family of four. We all look forward to driving in the Nissan Patrol Warrior because it is comfortable for passengers in the front and back, with aircon vents throughout, rear passengers can access the central console fridge for snacks while driving along, visibility is great out of the large high windows and everyone has lots of personal space! The three-hour journey for us to get to Lamington National Park didn't feel like a huge journey because everyone was comfortable and no one got travel sick.
When we have the boot all loaded up with our camping gear, there is a digital rear-view mirror so the driver can still see out of the back.
You can see other trips we took in the Patrol Warrior off-roading here and more camping this summer here and our full family review of the Nissan Patrol Warrior here. And if you're interested in another side to Lamington National Park, check out our visit to O'Reilly's a few years ago.
Woonoongoora (Lamington National Park) is 20,600 hectares (51,000 acres) in size and situated in South East Queensland, an hour's drive inland from the Gold Coast. It is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, the most extensive subtropical rainforest in the world. With more than 160km of walking trails to explore in Lamington National Park, we narrowed down some that you might enjoy exploring with your kids.
Renowned for its rainforest and waterfalls, Lamington National Park is teeming with bird life, insects, fungi and animals that are fun for all ages to listen to, spot and enjoy.
Quick links to BabyDrive's Top 7 Things for Families to Do in Lamington National Park:
- Camping in the Thule Approach L Roof Tent at Binna Burra Lodge Campground
- Rainforest Circuit
- Tullawallal Circuit
- Crays! Coomera Falls Lookout
- Groom's Cottage Bar, The Tea House and BBQ Packs
- Daves Creek Circuit & Nagarigoon Falls
- Caves Track
1. Camping in the Thule Approach L Roof Tent at Binna Burra Lodge Campground
Kids love camping and it's a great fun way to spend time together outdoors. We stay at Binna Burra Lodge campsite in the Thule Approach L roof tent on top of the Nissan Patrol Warrior.
The Thule Approach L roof tent is AMAZING! We love it so much! It is VERY fast to set up and to put away which is exactly what you need when you have kids, so they are not getting bored while you're setting up for hours!
It is on top of the car, which is great for being up away from snakes, dingoes etc when you are camping in the bush.
It is extremely comfortable to sleep in and spacious. This is the Thule Approach Large and we are very comfortably sleep two adults and two children in there. One of our girls is very tall for her age so it's more like three adults and a child!
You can sit up and move around inside the Thule Approach L it's not cramped at all, my husband is 186cm and finds it very comfortable. There are handy pockets on both sides of the tent to pop your phone, car keys, book, head torch etc in.
We string fairy lights inside, and it makes it so lovely and atmospheric that we all look forward to snuggling up in there after a long day of bushwalking, reading books together, and looking out at the stars.
There are windows/skylights in the ceiling so it is such a lovely way to wake up in the morning and look up at the trees and on clear nights you can lay and look up at the stars.
We've all been on camping trips where the sun wakes you up first thing in the morning as it shines through the tent fabric. The Thule Approach L roof tent stays very dark in the mornings so everyone stays asleep for longer! Which parents won't complain about!
We had a lot of rain on this trip and the tent stayed completely dry inside; we just had the rain cover on over the roof tent which is very quick, simple and quite fun to put on.
We are well set up with the Thule Approach L Roof Tent and my youngest settles herself in to use the inside of the Nissan Patrol Warrior as her own personal dressing room and quickly has the space organised with hanging places for her princess necklaces and tiara!
Also, with her own reading room!
Binna Burra Lodge campgrounds are beautifully situated in the rainforest. There are eight flat gravel and earth sites suitable for small caravans, camper trailers and rooftop tents and ten tent or swag sites. All are nestled in the trees and are such a shady and calming place to spend time.
The facilities are fantastic. They are very clean and very well equipped for walkers who are travelling light without a cooker etc. The kitchen has boiling water tanks, kettle and microwave. The laundry has washers and dryers. Bathrooms are very clean with hot showers, which are lovely after a day walking! There are also multiple barbecue areas and communal fire pits (some of these have amazing views too).
The great thing about staying at the Binna Burra Lodge is you are right near the trailhead where many of the bush walks begin, as well as the Tea House (more about the Tea House later).
2. Rainforest Circuit
The Rainforest Circuit is an easy 1.2km loop from the trailhead near the Tea House.
This would be suitable for walkers of most abilities. It's relatively flat and gentle, with lots of enormous trees to look at and birds to listen to.
There are huge strangler figs…
Buttress roots taller than the kids and fallen trees that are so big it's hard to comprehend their size!
And twisting vines that the kids wish they could swing on.
We look up at the tree canopy as the rain clouds move in and it is magical. My youngest sings “I'm surrounded by a cloud in the rain” which has become this holiday's anthem, started on our Mulgumpin (Moreton Island) Adventure.
Also, looking up, we spot the enormous epiphytes and orchids growing high up on the trees – one the size of a car has fallen on the path!
It's a great adventurous first walk in the Lamington National Park and has everyone ‘broken in' and looking forward to more adventures in the coming days.
3. Tullawallal Circuit
The Tullawallal Circuit is a fantastic 5km walk. You head out on the Border Track from the trailhead near Binna Burra Tea House and follow a little of the Rainforest Circuit, recognising big strangler figs and vines we passed previously.
Continuing along the Border Track, you can listen out for the birdsong. We walk to a chorus of wompoo fruit doves, catbirds and whipbirds all competing for the melody of the forest.
The kids point out all sorts of different colours, shapes and sizes of fungi…
… as we walk the trail.
They spot insects…
…and my youngest daughter and I are captivated by the water droplets on the fury moss on the tree trunks.
The insects are out today too. We see stick insects, leaf bugs and spider nest holes!
When you reach the green signpost for Tullawallal, it's 1.4km return along a beautiful track with a lot of birdlife. We saw yellow robins, king parrots, brown cuckoo-doves and beautiful little wrens just flying between the trees and chattering to each other.
There's so many differences to notice in the rainforest along this track as it's much cooler subtropical rainforest, as the trail has gently brought us to a higher altitude than the camp ground. The trees are much shorter with less buttress roots and more ferns.
The trees start to fill with moss hanging from all the branches and on the trunks. The moss grows well here as there are often clouds in this part of the rainforest that keep the moss supplied with moisture.
Then we walk into my favourite section, the Antarctic Beech Trees.
They are so beautiful and gnarly, twisted and their dark coarse bark contrasts with the rich green moss and lichen that grows all over them and when they're wet with rain the colours are even richer.
These ancient trees are over 2000 years old and from a time when Australia's climate was cooler. They reproduce by coppicing, where new shoots grow up from the roots to form new trunks. The trunks live for a few hundred years but the roots live for thousands.
They are home to many little creatures.
Walk through the Antarctic Beeches and up a few steps to an altitude of 950m at Tullawallal, a mound of moss-covered boulders to walk around and the kids to climb. This cool temperate rainforest ecosystem is found only in the highest places.
There is something very majestic about this section of the forest and I want to pause here and spend more time because it's unlike anything else, with just the Antarctic Beeches, creeping mosses, lichen and ferns rather than the tall glossy trees we are used to.
You retrace your steps back along the Loop Track and through the rainforest, back towards the Binna Burra trailhead. The forest is beautiful here, with big buttresses, twisting vines, and huge gum trees.
4. Crays! Coomera Falls Lookout
The Coomera Falls Lookout walk is a fantastic walk to do with your family. It's 11km out and back from the trailhead at Binna Burra near the Tea House.
It is said to be a four-hour return walk, but for us, it was more like six hours. I think we stopped and looked at a lot more on the way than most other people we saw on these trails, and our pace was slower with the kids.
You take the Border track for 1.9km until you reach a long bench and a junction with multiple tracks leading off. It is well signed so you know which way to go.
The first section of the 3.5km walk to the Coomera Falls lookout is cool subtropical rainforest, and the kids are drawn to the strings of green and red berries dangling from the many piccabeen palms that are throughout this first section. We always walk with what we name an ‘excellent stick'. I learnt that these piccabeen palms and walking stick palms’ trunks were used to make walking sticks for injured returned soldiers after the First World War.
We cross many atmospheric creeks; the kids love working out how best to hop across the stones and look at all the different rocks and little water falls.
We spot a big blue and white spiny crayfish in one of the creeks. Its colour is such a contrast to the greens and browns of its surroundings that at first we think it’s a piece of litter someone has dropped!
It's an interesting track; you can see where the track is just falling away as large trees, roots and sections of the track have collapsed and slid down the banks.
There are very thin sections where the path is simply just the tree roots! You have to hold on to your little ones here!
And then it changes to areas of grass and heathland with few trees at all.
The last section of the track before the lookout has huge ancient brush box trees. They are enormous in height and girth, with a shaggy rich red coloured bark. They can grow to more than 30m tall and live for 1000 years, they are very imposing on the landscape and they are pretty special.
The lookout over the Coomera Falls hangs 160m above the deep gorge. After plunging more than 150 metres, the Coomera River winds for another 80km and flows into the ocean north of the Gold Coast.
The view from here is breathtaking. The lush green of the plants cascading down the red of the wet rhyolite (solidified magma) gorge is stunning.
The waterfall is like a mist spray all the way down.
There is a full 17.4km full day loop walk that continues beyond the lookout, Coomera Falls Circuit, but it is closed because of landslides when we are there so we return on the same track.
There is a conveniently positioned bench near the lookout in the shade which is great for a rest and a refuel before the 5km walk back. This is often the trickiest part with kids because they realise they have to do the whole thing again! So having a little treat up your sleeve or a carrot to dangle at the other end helps. Ours is often the promise of a nice cold lemonade or an ice cream when we get back!
5. Groom's Cottage Bar, The Tea House and BBQ Packs
Staying in the Binna Burra Lodge campsite you have access to a few of the luxuries on the property. The first is the Groom's Cottage and Bar.
Groom’s Cottage is one of the last remaining heritage buildings at Binna Burra. It was the home of Arthur Groom, who originally established Binna Burra Lodge along with Romeo Lahey. This character-filled old building's upstairs heritage reading room is full of interesting books about everything you could find in the rainforest and the history of Binna Burra and Lamington National Park.
It also has a good collection of children's books and games which we loved using in the evenings and were a welcome refuge on rainy afternoons!
On Friday and Saturday evenings they open a bar downstairs with a nice selection of local brews and simple but delicious food. We really enjoyed our evenings here after a long bushwalk in the day we could sit and relax on the terrace and look out at the view and the kids playing on the big grass lawn. I don't know how they still had the energy after a 12km bushwalk!
At night they light the fire pit on the terrace and it is beautiful looking out at the stars and the lights in the distance.
The Tea House is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner all year round so you could stay here and never cook a thing! Its deck has a beautiful view out over the valley towards the Gold Coast. My husband forgot to pack his coffee and reported that, despite its name, the Tea House also makes his choice of caffeinated drinks to a high standard. They were also more than happy to use his travel mug so he could enjoy a coffee stop during bush walks.
If you do feel like cooking, you can order BBQ packs, meat or vegetarian, from the Tea House. There is a good variety, all using local produce, and they are great value as well as delicious! You get so much food, of such high quality, that my husband quoted The Castle: “You couldn't buy the materials for that.” I'd be tempted to rely almost wholly on these and the barbecue facilities provided next time we camp at Binna Burra.
We found that one of the larger BBQ packs provided a few meals for our family of four and we cooked them at the camp kitchen.
6. Daves Creek Circuit & Nagarigoon Falls
Daves Creek Circuit is a 12km track that leaves from the same intersection 1.9km into the Border Track and marked with a bench that we passed on our way to the Coomera Falls Lookout track.
My kids are ready for a rest and a snack at this bench after 1.9km. An apple and muesli bar later and they are ready to go again!
It's a stunning walk from here along a track through varying trees and rainforest, featuring so many enormous buttress roots and hanging vines.
All the trees look different so one buttress root doesn't look like another. Again, it means our progress is slower than most as we are fascinated by everything.
We cross Nixon Creek and the kids love playing with the water trickling over the rocks.
We reach a junction where the track splits and you can do the circuit from either direction and branch left so we can divert off to Nagarigoon Falls. The short walk here down to the falls is well worth it. The waterfall is stunning. The wet black rocks contrast with the lush glossy green leaves and the fine white mist of the water adds magic to this beautiful, atmospheric place. No wonder the people who built the walking tracks many years ago based themselves here!
The rocks are all very slippery and, of course, my youngest wants to climb all over them!
After soaking in the tranquil atmosphere of Nagarigoon Falls, we walk back up to the junction where we branched off and have lunch on another well-positioned bench! After lunch, my little one hops in the carrier and sleeps through most of the Daves Creek Circuit!
She's awake just in time for Surprise Rock, a large mound of magma rhyolite boulders that you can climb to the top of and there is a great view out towards the Gold Coast.
Daves Circuit winds around cliff edges, low heathlands and wet creeks. The vegetation and scenery are so diverse and change so regularly that the distance and time seem to melt away.
There are beautiful red flowers scattered along the wet rocks, called Sundew. These are carnivorous plants. When you look carefully they look like little flytraps with sticky petals.
It's a long loop with the kids after the walk in and we need to refuel them back at the bench before the 3km walk back to camp.
7. Caves Track
Caves Track wasn't an easy sell to the kids after a couple of big walks on our previous days in Lamington National Park but we all agreed it was well worth the effort.
This is a 7km walk, 3.5km in one direction and 3.5km returning on the same track. If it's too much for your family there is a really good short 2km version of the walk you can do from the information centre carpark (it's 1km out to the main Kweebani Cave and 1km back again and pretty flat).
We aren't that soft on our kids, so we made them do the full 7km!
We left from the trail entrance opposite the Binna Burra Lodge reception, where the old fence still stands from the early days when horses would be used to power a winch for getting supplies and visitors' luggage up to the lodge.
Within minutes of setting off on this walk, the clouds came over so we put on our raincoats and enjoy the rainforest at its finest!
There are numbered posts you can follow on this walk with walking map (purchased from the Tea House) that you can use to find information about interesting sights along walk, which was also good for the kids to follow and see their progress on the map.
This track winds through eucalypt forest and zigzags down through open hillside which means it gets a lot of sun and therefore makes it stinging tree territory! The path is littered with enormous heart shape stinging tree leaves.
There are areas of beautiful ferns and fungi, and their colours are made even more vibrant with their wet leaves…
…and huge twisting, moss-covered vines which must be ancient.
Epiphytes decorate the branches of the trees over our heads…
…and a stream trickles over the buttress roots like a waterfall.
In fact there are lots of little waterfalls and water crossings…
…and pythons lazily wrapped around branches in the sun.
We spotted another python, on the track. It seemed to be skin-shedding season for pythons during our time at Lamington National Park!
This path along the side of a cliff face looks out over the Darlington Range and down into Coomera Valley.
Where huge trees have fallen, you get a glimpse of what is beyond the tree cover. It won't be there for long before another tree grows to fill the gap in the light.
The scenery changes as you ascend staircases of rocks. The kids found this scramble and change of scenery quite fun and challenging.
There are two caves on this walk and just the thought of caves is fun for the kids too! You see the first huge cave from a distance as you round the corner of the cliff. You also see where the cliff face drops away at the edge, so keep a close hold on your little ones!
The Kweebani Cave is enormous. There are warning signs not to hang around in the cave because of rock falls, and this happened the following day when fellow travellers were there, so do heed the warning!
You can see the brown patch on the roof of the cave from a distance where there is a huge wasp nest.
When you get into the cave you can see, hear and smell the hive quite distinctly. There are pieces hive all over the floor, which is interesting to see.
Then you pass through an archway (the kids love this bit) and towards another cave.
We stop for lunch at a very well-positioned bench put here to commemorate Robert Collins, who worked hard to protect this area of Lamington National Park. The views from the bench are amazing, out across the Coomera Valley and the Darlington Range. You can see the (solidified magma) rhyolite cliff line and across on the right you can see a large area of hoop pines which is one of the largest areas of these trees in Australia.
From here it's a short walk through to the Lamington National Park visitors centre (good for a toilet stop).
We stopped here for another rest and to convince the kids that the 3.5km return walk was going to be brilliant! It was; a lot of the views were totally different coming from the other direction and we were much quicker on the return journey. The girls could also count down on the numbered green posts, which was great for morale.
There are many uphill steps on the return. The steps had dried out a lot from the morning's rain, which made them a lot less slippy and easier to climb, also helping us move more quickly.
It's a fantastic walk, with wonderful views and fun caves! We came away from Lamington National Park feeling so satisfied and energised, looking forward to next time.
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