
Thanks to
Great Australian Roadtrip site, I got to know some of the must go's and must do's around Australia. It recommends you a few routes to go and what to do there. To view my sample itinerary to around Queensland and NSW, click
here.
One of the days in Gold Coast, we have decided to do a
one-day nature trip from Tamborine Mountain to Springbrook. My advise, please start the day very early - wake up at 5am (if you're staying around Gold Coast area) and leave by 6am.
To-bring for quick nature trip: - Hoodie jacket (for cold, windy night). If you don't have hoodie jacket, bring hat to keep your ears warm.
- Food and water (picnic at Springbrook)
- Torchlight. I brought my headlight from Energizer event, very convenient :D
- Good rubbery shoes or boots (with socks)
- Maps and/or GPS
- Small backpack
- Blanket
- Long pants
1. Tamborine MountainJourney from Gold Coast:
1:01 hour driveA reminisce of Cameron Highlands with attractions from vineyard and wine tasting, nature walk, Gallery walk (great food place and "
tourist" shopping spot). We reached this place at noon. My advise, reach here early in the morning. So you can have time to cover the next destination like
Springbrook, which is a must go than Tamborine Mountain. I personally recommend visitors to go to Gallery Cafe, at Gallery Walk for breakfast. The scones there are simply divine! In my opinion, the souvenirs here are not worth buying, but I bought a cute cat sign that I totally love. If you're a fan of fairies, then there are plenty of stuff for you to buy here, although I don't see the relation between Fairies and Tamborine.
Some pathways in Skywalk leads to ground paths such as this. I'd fun though.Then there was
Skywalk. It's an elevated walkway where you can view nature 3o m up in the air. Admission costs $18.50. Uhh, I seriously skip cos I hardly found anything worth mentioning. More of a 'meh' to me. Maybe cos I'm used to the rainforest here in Malaysia. If you want to see real nature, then I suggest going for those nature trails that doesn't require any admission.
2. Springbrook National ParkJourney from Tamborine Mountain:
1:15 hour driveI wish I could reach here earlier to explore Natural Bridge. But were very lucky enough to made it to the
Glow Worms tour! The one in the Tamborine Mountain is located in a man-made cave, so go figure. This is the real thing!
It feels like we were in a mad scientist lab where you see specimen of preserve insects and arachnids in jars. Awesome! You rock, Garry!The tour was conducted by
Garry Maguire, the man who first discovered the glow worms habitat in the park itself. Unlike the tour in our firefly reserve in Kuala Selangor, this feels very much like a classroom presentation. He spent more than 15-2o mins explaining about the whole walkthrough history of glow worms to the associations of the stars in the sky.
The research centre is located up in a hill and if you reach there at night, you not only see thousands of stars, you can even see the
milky way! Just a little warning, this tour is not made for those who are scared of the dark. After explaining the 101 of glow worms, we walked to a room where they kept the
luminous mushroom! Again, luck is on our side, we get to see the last mushroom of the season (was expected to end on March). I glows fairly bright in the dark, you can even read a book with it!
Picture taken from the website. Photography is not permitted at this area.
Next, we walked 200 m on a concrete pathways. We brought torchlight which was not advisable and there are already ground light (in low light) located along the pathways. Then at last, deep in 5-10m vertical rock, we were surrounded by starry glow worms, in pitch darkness. It was AWESOME!!! Truly a real life
avatar moment here!
It pretty much made on my
number 1 best spot to go in Queensland. Words can't describe how magical it was to experience the nature and just being there. For nature lovers or even casual travelers, this is a sight and experience not to be missed!
If you're interested to go for the tour, you can find more info
here.