I - In the Clouds

Welcome to our tour of Australia. During the month of April we are going to visit our favourite spots in Australia. Come join us on our walkabout through the land down under. 

Yesterday we sat down in the heart of Sydney and watched the world go by. Click here if you missed that post. Today we head up into the clouds and see the mountains.

Australia's mountains may not be as high as the Alps, Andes or Rockies but they are still spectacular. Not far from the Gold Coast is Mt Tamborine which has stores, restaurants and a variety of hiking trails that go into the rainforest. Many of the trails are fairly short so it is easy to walk 2 or 3 in one day. The wilderness is the real attraction here and is well worth the drive.
What I love: The proximity to the Gold Coast made it easy to see this area in one day. There were dozens of trailer but we picked two and were very impressed by the scenery on them both. Even though they were just a few miles apart the foilage and trees were completely different which was a bonus.
Cost: The walking trails were free.
Links: More information and directions to the trails:
Tamborine Mountain Info
Discover Tamborine Mountain

 Our first bush walk was the MacDonald rainforest walk. It was an easy stroll and took about 30 minutes to walk the circuit.

There was quite a variety of plants throughout the walk.

View of the trees towering above us.

Our second trail was to Cameron Falls. It was a 2.6km/1.7 mile round trip trail to the top of the falls. It took us about an hour and a half to walk down into the valley and to the falls.

Some of the strangler figs are huge including this one that I can stand in.

The trail was marked as easy but there were a few steep sections including these stairs. 

 The walk down was well worth it to see this view.

There were ferns all over the place along the trail.

 Its amazing how so many different species can grow in harmony.

Getting There.
Car: From the Pacific Motorway (M1) take exit 60. Take Route 95 towards Mt Tamborine. From the exit it is about a 30-45 minute drive. It is about 2 hours from Brisbane and 1 hour from Surfers Paradise.  
Air: Gold Coast Airport is the closest airport and is about a one hour drive from the airport to Mt Tamborine.
Train: There are several railway stations that serve the Gold Coast area. Most stations are about a 2 hour ride from Brisbane. From there it is about 30-45 minute drive.

What is your favourite waterfall? What did you post about today?