In 2022 I had an itch for a road trip, with family friends living up in Noosa, it was the perfect excuse for a visit! Halfway through planning my mum decided to book a family trip away to Hamilton Island overlapping the same dates I was thinking for my road trip. Which means…. side trip!!! 2 weeks away turned into 3 weeks and off I went!
Where I went:
- Waitui Falls
- Diamond Head Beach
- Natural Bridge
- Warrie Circuit Springwood
- Purling Brook Falls
- Curtis Falls
- Cedar Creek Falls
- Elabana Falls
- Box Log Falls
- Morans Falls
- Kondalila Falls
- Hamilton Island
- Coral Cove
- Mount Ngungun
- Mount Beerburrum
- Mount Tibrogargan
- Mount Beerwah
- National Australia Zoo
- Mount Coochin
- Mount Maroon Cave
- Queen Mary Falls
- Daggs Falls
- Browns Falls
- Granite Arch
- The Pyramid
- Boundary Falls
- Dangars Falls and Gorge
National Parks Visited:
- Natural Bridge National Park
- Springbrook National Park
- Lamington National Park
- Tamborine National Park
- Glass House Mountains National Park
- Mount Barney National Park
- Giraween National Park
- Gibraltar Range National Park
- Oxley Wild Rivers National Park
Waitui Falls
Off I go!! My first stop after leaving home was to visit the small Waitui Falls. The drive to the falls felt like I was on someone private property with incredibly beautiful bushland and views. My heat felt very happy.
It’s a fairly small waterfall with a nice swimming hole, seemed to be very popular with the locals but pretty far out of the way for most people.
Diamond Head Beach
My first camp was at Diamond Head Beach, a stunning campground if you’re looking to stay close to the ocean or happy to spend your summer weekend swimming in the pristine ocean water.
There is this beautiful walk you can do from the campground/beach to this headland that had the largest collection of un-damaged shells I had ever seen! It was had to resist wanting to take every single one of them home.
While I was staying here smart little me thought it was a great idea to bring leftovers from home… and either there was no microwave or the microwave was broken, so lucky I have glass tupperware, I ended up reheated my homemade gnocchi on the BBQ hot plate!
Natural Bridge
One of the sites I was most excited to see was the Natural Bridge Waterfall! A stunning waterfall that flows through a hole into a cave! Super unique and rare to find in Australia. The walk from the carpark is super cruisey, you just have to dodge tourists on the way!
Absolutely ridiculous scenes if you ask me.
Warrie Circuit Track
It’s going to be a big call but it’s my blog so i’m gonna say it… Warrie Circuit Track is one of THE BEST waterfall circuits you can find in NSW!
Endless glorious waterfalls, ones you can see from a distance, from the top, from the bottom, up close, walk under, swim at, frolic in, and marvel at. You get to walk past incredible views, past slotty boulder cracks (official description) and through some beautiful rain forest.
The entire time you are walking along this circuit you are in awe. I can only imagine what it would be like in full mushie season!
Twin Falls in all her glory. It’s pretty special to be able to walk behind a waterfall.
Once the track makes its way back to the top of the cliffs, you are rewarded with incredible views of the Gold Coast!
Purling Brook Falls
A big and powerful drop of 100m is the Purling Brook Falls. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow the track to the base of these falls, after the Warrie circuit I think I was ready for camp dinner and bed. But it is absolutely worth doing! Next time I am there you will see me blissfully at the base.
Camp was in a pretty beautiful spot. A local farmer rents out two of their paddocks for campers, right on the edge of a creek. It is nice to see landowners share this natural beauty with the world rather than keep it to themselves.
Curtis Falls
The next day I set off up to Mount Tamborine, one of my favourite towns in all of Australia. It is such a beautiful mountains town full of quaint shops, delicious local cafes and a couple of easy to reach waterfalls. You can’t ask for much more?!
Curtis Falls was just one of the few stops I stopped at.
Cedar Creek Falls
Cedar Creek Falls is also located in the town of Mount Tamborine, and you guessed it, Tamborine National Park! I was very impressed by how well Queensland Parks maintain there walking tracks and facilities… NSW Parks could take a few pointers!
Elabana Falls
The next day it was finally time to venture into Lamington National Park! A National Park that had been on my radar for some time. I wish I had completed more of the walks in the area, but I had a tight schedule and a lot I wanted to see.
It is as dreamy as I had imagined! Stingy, ferny, lush goodness. Elebana falls is one of the most popular falls to visit in the National Park, and I can see why!
Box Log Falls
A little further along the track from Elebana falls is the beautiful and less visited Box Log falls!
Morans Falls
That night I camped at the O’reilly Campground, which is very close to the track head leading to Morans Falls, another huge 80m drop! You can’t get too close to the waterfall but you do get a pretty decent view of her.
Kondalila Falls
It was now time to head up closer to Noosa! Scouring google maps I found another waterfall which looked worth a visit, Kondalila Falls. It was part of a reserve that was quite popular with tourists, locals and young families with a beautiful picnic area near the carpark.
The track leads all the way to the base of the falls, passed beautiful palm trees! It is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Coral Cove
My time on Hamilton Island was spent spending time and catching up with family. I had left my car with family friends in Noosa, caught a lift to the Brisbane Airport and off I went!
One spot I did visit on Hamilton Island I thought was worth sharing was Coral Cove. Again, there were more walking tracks I wish I had more time to explore, but this was the one we chose, and we were certainly not disappointed!
There were small waterfalls leading back into the ocean you could see from the track, and a beautiful swing right at the end at Coral Cove! It’s a shame we didn’t visit during high tide, I think it would have been even more spectacular!
Mount Ngungun
Landing back on the mainland, I headed straight for the Glass House Mountains! I had to skip these on the way up to make it to Noosa on time, but I also had to leave something for the drive home!
My first mountain was Mount Ngungun, I was VERY excited for the views of Mount Coonowin crossing in front of Mount Beerwah, and I was not disappointed!! I was spoilt with low hanging misty clouds which made the mountain scenery so much more dramatic.
Look at that view!! Mount Ngungun is also one of the easiest summit tracks, so I thought that made it the perfect introduction to the Glass House Mountains.
Mount Beerburrum
Next up was Mount Beerburrum! Allowing even more views into the other nearby mountains and Mount Coonowin hiding in the background!
Mount Tibrogargan
Mount Tibrogargan is one of the mountain summits which effectively turn into a climbing track… I thought I had the skills to do it but being on my own I decided not to risk it.
Instead, I took the Tibrogargan circuit track around the base of the mountain, which is still worth doing for the views of the other mountains!
Mount Beerwah
Mount Beerwah is the other mountain with the sketchy climber’s route to the summit! While I was there I bumped into a few locals who kept assuring me it really wasnt that bad, and one of them skipped up in bare feet! You can see the worn track from people climbing up. I think I started making my way up 1 or 2m but again decided to leave it for another time. It looked like a rainstorm was blowing in, which is not the ideal time to be on top of a sketchy mountain summit!
Similar to the Warrumbungles, the Glass House Mountains were also formed by volcanic geology and estimated to be 25 million years old!! Each of the distinct mountain peaks were once the throat of ancient volcanoes. They are also significant to the Jinibara and Gubbi Gubbi peoples.
Australia Zoo
Of course, you can’t visit this part of Queensland and the Glass House Mountains without a visit to the famous Australia Zoo! Owned, managed and operated by the Irwins family.
I have a deep love for animals, and it is nice seeing them in an environment where they are protected and well looked after.
Mount Coochin
The final mountain I visited in the Glass House Mountains was Mount Coochin, which has its own north and south summits. Mount Coochin is actually not inside the National Park so it is dog friendly with many locals stretching their legs with their furry companions.
Epic for sunset views if you ask me!
Mount Maroon Cave
Heading back towards the NSW border I wanted to stop by Mount Maroon and visit this cave that was halfway up the mountain. It was beautiful!! The views are incredible and even though you’re only halfway up the mountain itself, you feel very high up!
Honestly look at those views!
Queen Mary Falls
Edging closer to the NSW border I travelled along Spring Creek Rd to reach Queen Mary Falls, and let me tell you! Spring Creek Rd was one of the most BEUATIFUL roads I have ever driven through. It was lush, it was green and it had views and cozy mountain shacks. It almost felt like driving through New Zealand.
Queen Mary Falls is also a spectacular 40m waterfall, plunging over the cliff it feels so much taller than 40m in my opinion. There are stunning view points along the way and a pretty easy track that takes you right to the base!
Daggs Falls
Next stop was Daggs Falls, another beautiful waterfall, I’m sure you can get a sense for our vibrant and beautiful this area is now?!
The lookout to Daggs falls is accessed directly from the carpark, so its as easy as pie!
Browns Falls
It’s a bit of a waterfall trifecta along Spring Creek Rd, Browns Falls however was a bit more of a muddy slippery adventure.
The hike starts by crossing back under Spring Creek RD in a beautiful road tunnel (yes they exist) but shortly turns into a pretty simple creek bash. The trail is vaguely marked but otherwise you’re left to your own devices to navigate through.
I thought it was quite funny along the way someone was doing it bare footed.
It was definitely worth the trip!
Granite Arch
Looking back, it’s pretty crazy that I managed to fit all these sights into one day, including the drive! (Starting from Queen Marys Falls). I think I crossed into NSW and back out again on my way to visit the epic Giraween National Park.
The Park is beautifully well maintained and handles the high traffic of tourists well. I was determined to make it to the top of the Pyramid, a short but impressive 1.7km walk. However decided to take a very quick and short side trip to visit Granit Arch.
Its a bit less of an arch and more of a fascinating ‘how did that get there?!’ balancing granite boulder. Very much worth the side trip!
The Pyramid
The walk to the Pyramid is beautiful, granite-y, rock-er-y and boulder-y.
The hike to the top is definitely STEEP, but I felt comfortable the whole time. I bumped into a couple of young guys from Sydney which was nice for interesting conversation up to the top (especially after a few days travelling solo). The funny part of the conversation that has always stuck with me was we must have gotten onto talking about how we record locations or compared how many google maps pins we had saved. I obviously won, to the point he veery politely asked me if I could send him my entire google maps pins….. hahahaha, oh it still makes me giggle. As if I would share my life’s adventure collection, nor do you think I would know how too hahaha, but it was sweet, I guess.
Boundary Falls
The day was still not over! I somehow managed to make it even further south to my nights camping accommodation at Boundary Falls Campground. I must have driven 6-8 hours this day whilst visiting all these spots?!
After I set up the roof to tent at camp I wanted to go and check out the nearby Boundary Falls, it was after all only a few hundred meter walk, so why not? I just got there in the nick of time as the sun was starting to go down. I was a little waterfalled-out for the day but it was a very welcome walk and sight.
Dangars Falls and Gorge
On my final day I drove down past Armidale to visit Dangars Falls (different to Dangar Falls) as I initially missed it on my first trip to Waterfall Way.
The gorge was very pretty and the walk was fun. Another incredibly large thundering waterfall for this part of NSW. Gosh I miss hiking to waterfalls and caves every day.
At this point I was only 4 hours from home, after 3 weeks away mostly staying in my roof top tent I was pretty ready for home. This was an incredible trip, and one I had a lot of fun remembering. I hope to do many more trips like this in the future!
Rachmartee 
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