Self-drive tours

(suitable also for energetic cyclists:
local cyclists might like to join the Scenic Rim Cycling Club : see photo to right)

There are some wonderful self-drives in our locality, with lush rainforests, great mountain scenery, quiet beaches and other natural features as well as quaint little cafes and galleries, adventure activities, theme parks, wildlife parks and - if you feel the need - large modern shopping centres.

See the Araucaria property on google maps

Southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales together constitute one of the most scenic and species-rich regions of Australia, and is readily accessible from Queensland's capital, Brisbane. There are so many options for self-drive tours to interesting and beautiful places you could easly spend many months exploring them all. Accommodation ranges from prinitive camping through caravan parks, hostels, guests houses, eco-lodges, farmstays, motels and budget hotls to five-star hotels and resorts.

Scenic Rim - this is a region formed by three ancient and giant shield volcanoes to the west and south of what is now Brisbane and the valleys assiciated with them

Rainforest Way - a network of roads linking rainforest experiences in southeastern QUeensland and northeastern New South Wales

Ausralia's Green Cauldron - the area surrounding and including the long-extinct Tweed volcano (one of the three mentioned above, which now retains one of the world's best-preserved calderas

Country Charm - an upmarket tour with much of the preliminary organizing done for you

Longer drives - from north Queensland, Sydney or Adelaide - we can offer advice

Scenic Rim

Geographically, the Scenic Rim generally refers to the mountains south and west of Brisbane formed by three ancient and gigantic shield volcanoes. It is sometimes extended to include mountainous country just south of the New South Wales border, which is after all part of the same geological series of events, just an artifical political boundary separating them. Politically, the Scenic Rim Regional Council includes the southern half of this region, from Binna Burra to Tamborine Mountain and west almost to the Great Dividing Range (west of Boonah), with the New South Wales border as its boundary.

There are many wonderful opportunities for self-drives, for just a day from Brisbane or the Gold Coast or sites within the Scenic Rim itself, or for a weekend or better still, several days. Accommodation includes campgrounds with and without facilities, caravan parks, guests houses, romantic cabins, family cabins, eco-lodges by networks of rainforest walking tracks or rugged mountains to climb, farmstays, motels, hotels for all budgets and upmarket resorts. You can use this interactive map to find out how to reach the region from wherever your starting point might be.

For advice on self-drives and chartered outings ( families, individuals, school groups, tertiary groups, scouts and guides, researchers, conference delegates, birders, nature photographers, artists...) that include the Scenic Rim WIldlife Ecoogy Centre on Lions Road, contact Araucaria Ecotours for suggested itinieraries to maximize your experience of the wildlife, forests, mountains and other natural wonders of this region. Closest accommodationto the Wildlfie Ecology Centre is camping at Andrew Drynan Reserve (adjacent), the motel at Rathdowney (17km) or a very beautiful bed-and-breakfast at Cougal Park (14km).

See also Visit Scenic Rim (Scenic Rim Regional Council: southern end of the Scenic Rim), Scenic Rim Escapes (tourism attractions and accommodation mostly in the eastern part of Scenic Rim shire). Scenic Rim Tourism (tourism attractions and accommodation mostly in western part of Scenic Rim Regional Council), and country drives from Toowoomba (northwestern sectionof the Scenic Rim, not within in the SRRC)

Rainforest Way

This is a series of suggested scenic drives to the various rainforests of the Qld/NSW border regions easily accessible from Brisbane, Gold Coast or Byron Bay. There is a major route and several loops

The Lions Road loop brings you past the Araucaria property with its Scenic Rim WIldlife Ecoogy Centre, and the adjacent Andrew Drynan Camping Reserve (phone 07 5544 1281). For those who would like more comfort overnight there is the wonderful bed-and-breakfast Cougal Park on Lions Road on the NSW side.

See the Araucaria property on google maps

Other loops include Mallanganee and Richmond Range, Tamborine Circuit, Main Range, Mount Warning View Circuit, Minyon Falls and the Tweed Range Scenic Drive - you could easily spend a couple of months exploring them all.

Ausralia's Green Cauldron

Ausralia's Green Cauldron refers to the forest-covered mountains that were once the scene of fiercely hot lava flows from the Tweed Volcano, now one of the best-preserved caledras in the world, with readily-accessible rainforest walks, scenic beaches (the easternmost volcanic rocks extend into the Pacific Ocean) and a variety of accommmodation, dining experiences, galleries and other travel adventures. Mt Warning is the central plug containing the last bit of lava that did not wquite mae it into an eruption, and is today the first part of Australia to see the sun each morning, being just high enough to catch the first rays before Cape Byron, which is the most easterly poart of our coastline. The Rainforest Way is mostly within the Green Cauldron, as is the southeastern portion of the Scenic Rim.

Click here for furher details of the richly diverse region of southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales, including fauna flora, geology and a sample of tourism features. The Rainforest Information Centre at Murwullimbah has some good interpretive displays.

Country Charm

The upmarket Country Charm Self-drive tour by Travel Associates does most of the organizing for you to experience rainforest, wining and dining, farmstay, ccoking classes and alpacas, as well as information on wildife and geology, starting in the southeast but concentrating on the southwestern end of the Scenic Rim.

Longer drives - from north Queensland, Sydney or Adelaide

Contact us for suggestions on interesting places to see along the way, espcially if you are interested in wildlife and natural areas. When you arrive in the Scenic Rim you can connect with any of the above.