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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. |
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 Southeast Queensland and northern New
South Wales together constitute one of the most scenic and
species-rich regions of Australia, and one that is
readily accessible from Queensland's capital, Brisbane.
There are
so many options for self-drive tours to interesting and beautiful
places
that you could easily spend many months exploring them all.
Accommodation
ranges from primitive camping through caravan parks, hostels, guests
houses, eco-lodges, farmstays, motels and budget hotels 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
associated with them
Rainforest Way -
a
network of roads
linking rainforest experiences in southeastern Queensland and
northeastern New South Wales
 Australia'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 on
interesting routes
There are several useful books to help you choose a route and learn
about the natural history and culture of the region: e.g. Wild
Guide to the Scenic Rim (available from Information Centres
throughout the Scenic Rim), Take a Walk (J and L Daly), Natural History
of Lamington National Park (ed. Lesley Hutley).
Visiting the
Araucaria property
Our Scenic Rim WIldlife Ecology Centre and
associated nature trails are
available with prior booking for self-drives, campers at the adjacent
Andrew Drynan Reserve or anyone living in or visiting our region. Let
us know if you would like us to arrange some activities (the longer the
advance notice the better able we will be to prepare something
according to you or your group's interests).
We
are
positioned on one of the loops of the Rainforest Way
See Google map of property
Day-trips
from Brisbane or Gold Coast:
- Full
day at the Centre . Drive from Brisbane via
(more scenic)
down the Beaudesert Road or Beenleigh, or from the Gold Coast via
Nerang and Canungra (also scenic), through Beaudesert to Rathdowney,
turn left at Rathdowney Post Office and continue approximately 17 km to
Taaffe Bridge. The forest on your left is the beginning of the
Araucaria property (complete with Araucaria trees). After the next
bridge, most of the Araucaria property is on your left, but the Centre
is through the green gate on your right. Let us know beforehand what
you are interested in, so we can prepare appropriate activities
(anything from activities for pre-schoolers through primary and
secondary level educational games and other activities to
tertiary ecology, behavioural studies or fauna and flora identification
or adult education in birdwatching, rainforest plant identification for
beginners, wildlife behaviour, basic ecology, habitat restoration
and other topics. Bring a packed lunch for a picnic by the creek
(or on the verandah if it is raining). Let us know if you'd like
to spend some time relaxing in a small boat or swimming in the creek
(there are a couple of great swimming holes) - but no insect repellent
before swimming please, as not all the creek's inhabitants will
appreciate that. If you'd like to schedule your visit to last into the
early evening and prepapred to spend some time sitting quietly, there's
a good chance of seeing platypus, especially when they're breeding in
the second half of the year (most often emerging from their burrows
somewherte between 4.30 and 5.30pm, but they don't always stick to that
schedule).
- If coming from Lismore or other parts of northeastern NSW, take the road from
Kyogle through Wiangeree and turn left at the sign pointing to Brisbane
via Lions
Road. This winding mountain road takes you through a narrow
section of the Border Ranges National Park (including the Border Loop)
before you reach the Qld border. The Wildlife Ecology Centre
property will be on your left after Moran's Bridge and the Andrew
Drynan Reserve (picnic and camping ground).
 Visit the Centre for an hour or so during a scenic drive. Drive from Brisbane as
above, maybe with a detour to Tamborine Mountain on the way (SkyWalk,
Cedar Creek glow worms, Distillery, various sections of the Tamborine
Mountain National Park), stop in for lunch at Bearded Dragon
(Tamborine) or EveryDay's Cafe or Happy Valley (Chinese) Restaurant in
Beaudesert, visit Araucaria and then detour to see kangaroos and
wallabies at Kooralbyn on your return journey. Alternately, come
straight to Araucaria, visit the Centre, then take a picnic lunch
across the border to the Border Loop, where the interstate train makes
a complete circle (in aerial view) around the hill, and enjoy a short
walk through eucalypt forest and subtropical rainforest. If returning
on a Wednesday or weekend afternoon, you might like to drop in at
Bearded Dragon and watch their live reptile show.
- Spend a couple of
days or
more in the district. This is the best way to see wildlife,
most of which are active in the early morning, late afternoon or
evening. The stars also appear far brighter here than in the
townships, and the sounds of frogs and running water can provide a
welcome relief from traffic noises and neighbours' hifi's. Camp at the
Andrew Drynan Reserve adjacent to the property, or stay in the
beautiful Cougal Park B&B a few km south of the border, the
Rathdowney Hotel/Motel (17km from Araucaria) or at any of various
guests houses, cabins, farmstays and B&B's in the Scenic Rim or below the border. Explore the
Rainforest Way both sides of the border (Lamington National Park,
Border Ranges NP etc.), perhaps head southeast to Mt Warning and the
Tweed Valley and back via the
coast, or west to Mount French. St Mary's Falls or Cunningham's Gap and
back via Ipswich.
- Next time you're traveling
from Brisbane or Ipswich to Sydney or other NSW destinations and
not in too much of a hurry, consider this scenic route through the
mountains, via Beaudesert and Kyogle, instead of the coastal highway.
Maybe spend a night in the Scenic Rim or Border Ranges on your way
through, or schedule a stop at Araucaria on your way through to
Lismore, Grafton or beyond for the night.
Google map:
View Larger Map
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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 artificial 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 Ecology Centre on
Lions Road, contact Araucaria Ecotours for
suggested itineraries to maximize your experience of the wildlife,
forests, mountains and other natural wonders of this region. Closest
accommodation to the Wildlife 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 section of the Scenic Rim, not
within in the SRRC)
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 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 Ecology Centre (contact us first) 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.
From Brisbane, head through Beaudesert, then to Rathdowney and turn
into Running Creek Road at the Post Office. The Araucaria property
begins after Taaffe Bridge. After visiting our WIldlife Ecology Centre,
you can continue on across the border to the Border Loop lookout,
where the interstate train does a spiral to decrease the slope it needs
to climb on its way towards Queensland. From here a short walking track
takes you through open forest and rainforest, with many of the trees
and other plants named. Continue on to Simes Road and turn left
to visit the eastern section of the Border Ranges NP with walking
trails in cool temperate and warm subtropical rainforest and some great
views, including the Mt Warning caldera.
If coming from the Gold Coast you could visit Binna Burra, O'Reilly's
or Tamborine Mountain on your way to the Araucaria property, and
perhaps spend the night at Andrew Drynan Reserve or Cougal
Park
If coming from NSW, visit the Border Ranges National Park then head up
Lions Road, perhaps with a stop at the Border Loop, then on across the
border, where after crossing Moran's Bridge you will see the Andrew
Drynan Reserve on your right, and the Araucaria property is just around
the next corner.
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. Pictured above right is rainforest in Lamington
National Park near Binna Burra
 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 calderas in
the world, with readily-accessible rainforest walks, scenic beaches
(the easternmost volcanic rocks extend into the Pacific Ocean) and a
variety of accommodation, dining experiences, galleries and other
travel adventures. Mt Warning is the central plug containing the
last bit of lava that did not quite make 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 part of our coastline. The Rainforest
Way is
mostly within the Green Cauldron, as is the southeastern portion of the
Scenic Rim.
Click here for further 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, cooking classes and alpacas, as well as information on
wildlife 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,
especially if you are interested in wildlife and natural areas. When
you
arrive in the Scenic Rim you can connect with any of the above.
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