As we continued our journey out of Brisbane City (Road Trip Part 1), we begun our warm up treks within Tamborine National Park. We had been training our kids in the various hiking trails in Singapore for the past one year to condition them to at least be able to hike for an hour or two depending on the terrain. So we choose a few short treks initially to make sure our kids could get accustomed to the terrain and weather there before we go on longer treks in the national parks.
Day 4 – Tamborine National Park
First stop was Cedar Creek Falls which is located along the way towards our first accommodation in Tamborine Mountain. It was an easy short trek (wheelchair friendly) of about 30 mins to see our first gorge and waterfalls. The water is clear and pristine but the temperature is a bit too cold to swim. My boy fearlessly wanted to walk further down to see the rock pools and main waterfall which is another 10 mins of trekking on big rocks.
It was not an easy trek downwards on the rock for young kids and at the same time I need to make sure both of them are moving along the rocks in the safest manner possible. Fortunately, they were quite confident and was able to trek down and up safely. I was very proud of this feat as most of the adult trekkers were pretty worried and offered to hold their hands to make sure that they are safe.
Next stop, we went for lunch at Beans and Brunch which is a nice boutique cafe located along a nearby small town strip called Gallery Walk, Tamborine Mountain’s amazing and unique shopping precinct. With shops presenting original artworks, paintings and sculptures, glass works, pottery, ceramics, clocks, antiques, jewellery and clothing, to name but a few. Food and service were really good as recommended online and the restaurant is tastefully designed with a relaxing atmosphere. There was a nice sunset lookout area “Hang Glider Launch and Lookout” which we would highly recommend to anyone who wish to have a picnic there while watching the sunset.
Next, we checked into our airbnb – Mulberry Cottage which was hosted by a lady called Katrina whose own house was located just in front of our lodging. Her husband is a lawyer whose office is located within their house. (so cool to have a lawyer working in the mountains to serve the community there I guess.) It was a really nice 100-year old cottage located in a serene and private location where you could do star gazing while offering you some amenities within walking distance.
Day 5 – Lamington National Park
We set off early from the cottage as we have a long drive towards our next accommodation – O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat located at almost 1000m altitude within Lamington National Park. We visited Mountview Alpaca Farm located within a vineyard before we start the ascent which was about a 2 hours drive depending on the traffic as some part of the windy road could only allow one car to go up or down at any one time. There are plenty of activities to do around Lamington National Park like trekking, see wildlife, picnic and even camping (you may refer to the below pictures to see some of the activities we did) .
The O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat accommodation exceeded all our expectations as we managed to secure an exclusive two room cabin that overlooks the mountainous area in Lamington National Park at a price tag of just SGD 400 per night. There are two large rooms with a king size bed for us and two super singles for our kids (located at the 2nd level), two toilets, a fireplace, a jacuzzi, a balcony with dining table and a sheltered lot for our rental car. We were literally surrounded by nature where many wild birds will just fly to our balcony.
Within the retreat, they have paid activities like glow worm experiences, flying fox, segway safari, guided tours and many more. You could also choose to go for all the free activities like tree top walk, explore numerous walking tracks with varying distances, explore waterfalls and watch wildlife. As the sun sets early, we were trying to get some warmth in the cabin in front of the fireplace as it is really cold up there in the mountain. We slept early as we had a full day filled with activities.
Day 6 – Gold Coast
Next morning, we went for an early morning short trail walk nearby to see a waterfall before settling into their O’Reilly’s cafe for brunch. Then we set off towards Gold Coast where we will be staying at another airbnb Peninsula Apartments which we rented at a affordable price for less than SGD 1000 over 4 nights. The location was perfectly located just in front of the beach area and within walking distance to Surfers Paradise where they have lots of food options, groceries and entertainments. As our kids love Japanese food, we managed to find load of options to satisfy their cravings in Gold Coast and a few of them were actually owned by Japanese.
Day 7 to Day 9 – Gold Coast (Sea World, Warner Bros World, Paradise Country and Whale watching)
We bought the multi-attraction online ticket from Klook for about SGD 700 for 4 pax which allows us for multiple entries to Sea World, Warner Bros World and Paradise country which we could go within a 7 days time frame. Our kids prefers Sea World over Warner Bros World as a lot of kids rides are closed for maintenance. Sea World offers more rides suitable for our kids, plus there were a lot of sea animal shows and exhibits that allows our kids to spend loads of time there. Our kids love the pool area where you get to feed and touch sting rays.
We went for the Sea World Whale Watching experience at SGD 287 for 4 pax but most of us were sea sicked that day with the choppy waters. We did get loads of close encounters with the whales as guaranteed by Sea World Cruises during the June to Oct period, if not you will enjoy a complimentary return cruise. We also managed to visit Paradise Country on our last day at Gold Coast where you get to see many native animals like Koalas, Kangaroos, Tasmanian Devils and many more. We did not get to watch most of the shows as we reached there pretty close to their closing time (They open from 10am to 330pm everyday)
As we wrapped up our time at Gold Coast, we were very fortunate to be able to witnessed an international fireworks festival “SeaFire” with a front row seat on our last night there. Also sharing some of the spectacular views at different times from our apartment. Stay tune for the last part of our journey towards Sunshine Coast where we will also share the overall cost of our entire trip!
