australia
Where: Brisbane, Yatala, Tamborine and Coombabah. Queensland, Australia. Oceania.
When: June 2026
What: Story Bridge, Brisbane South Bank walk, Yatala Pies, Palm Grove Rainforest Walk, Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area: Koala Trail, Tamborine National Park: Witches Falls, Tamborine Mountain: Curtis Falls.
Wildlife spotting: Koala, Pademelon, Lyrebird, Green Catbird, Nimin Bird, Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Brust-tailed Possum, Cane Toad.
How: Domestic flights, hire car, e-scooter, walking, hiking, taxi.
Mishaps or illnesses: Forgetting to pack my digital camera which would have been perfect for photographing iconic Australian wildlife in the bush.
This was an interstate foray to South East Queensland, an opportunity to spend a rapidly ageing flight voucher and to make something of the long weekend in New South Wales courtesy of King Charles' birthday. Almost exactly a year ago we used the same long weekend to visit Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays - also in Queensland. I have transited through Brisbane Airport a number of times to connect onto Pacific countries like Samoa and Solomon Islands but never have I headed into Brisbane proper. As we descended into Brisbane, I added another state capital to my goal of visiting every state capital in Australia. Only Darwin in the Northern Territory now remains.
I have evolved as a traveller; years ago I would have been perfectly happy to spends days sightseeing in a city but nowadays I increasingly view any city as a base from which to head to more rural areas - especially when that rurality is Australian rurality and especially when nature is so predictably and incredibly wild here. Staying in the city feels far too safe and easy for it to be rewarding. We therefore set our compass to spend less than 14 hours in the Queenslander capital before heading to Tamborine Mountain 70 kilometers south of Brisbane in the evocatively-sounding Gold Coast hinterland.
We awoke to a gloriously sunny morning in Brisbane, quickly packing up what little we had unpacked the previous night, and headed straight down to the banks of the predictably named River Brisbane. I have to say unequivocally that Australians have mastered the art of city design. Brisbane is a masterclass in how to create engaging public spaces which interweave modern practicality, beauty and drama. The city's plethora of skyscrapers create an impressive skyline which evokes a glitzy American-style city like Miami or Los Angeles (not that I've been to either of these). Whilst none of the towers stand out for any particular architectural merit or aesthetic creativity in themselves, it is their sheer number and arrangement that projects such an impressive skyline. Indeed, this kind of city is something of an Australian city trope, a template seen country-wide: Perth in WA, Sydney in NSW, Melbourne in VIC... It's the kind of skyline which reeks of confidence, wealth and corporate machismo. Brisbane is also an extremely green city; the sheer abundance of blossoming foliage in plants, bushes and trees go a long way to softening the hard corporate edges of all this glass and steel. Our journey around central Brisbane was expedited by the hiring of two e-scooters which meant we could see everything we wanted in just a couple of hours. It was somewhat exciting strapping on a helmet and zooming over the iconic double cantilevered Story Bridge. We stopped in the city's famed Botanic Gardens and were justly rewarded by the presence of a Brushtail Possum scampering and sniffing on the lawn. Unbeknown to me at the time, this Possum wouldn't be our only encounter with iconic Aussie wildlife during the trip...
We soon swapped the city scooters for a hire car, heading over the Story Bridge once again, but this time to press southward to Tamborine Mountain in the scenic rim of the Gold Coast hinterland. Indeed, from our little Bed and Breakfast on the Mount Tamborine plateau we could see the towers of the Gold Coast sparkling on the horizon. Our mountaintop accommodation, run by a friendly Australian couple, came complete with a crackle of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos which would descend on the deck each morning for their anticipated "brekkie". Seeing wildlife is always a delight and so often makes a trip entirely worthwhile.
We'd arrived in Tamborine mid-afternoon and had decided to leave any hiking until the next day, but a trip out to get dinner quickly morphed into a three kilometre hike through the Palm Grove circuit. The daylight was beginning to dim, we had no battery pack or water with us and so, in retrospect, it was perhaps not the most conscientious thing to have done - to head off on an unplanned hike, albeit a short one - without any planning and completely ill-equipped. Even my footwear made the scramble along tracks more perilous. Our hike through the forest of palms bordered on the eerie; the metallic sci-fi bird call of the Eastern Whipbird reverberated around the forest, Pademelons skittered through the undergrowth and the bright greens and browns of a sub-tropical rainforest progressively dropped into monochrome in the failing light. We were the only ones on the trail, save for a father and son who passed us on their return leg. We stopped for a quick exchange. I remarked on the fact that we were pushed for time, that the daylight was fading and so we needed to hurry. "As you guys know, it gets darker quicker in the forest", advised the man. Of course, I didn't know this at all. I hadn't even considered it, in fact. It was one of those snippets of wisdom that only a local person with experience would know. I took heed of his advice; I know all too well how easy it is to take a wrong turn or miss a path ribbon tied to a tree or for the well-trodden trail to unexpectedly fade out into a fork of possibles. I didn't like the prospect of spending the night among the forest's shadowy palms; the prospect dangled in my imagination for a few seconds. We therefore made sure we trekked at a much faster pace, emerging an hour or so later back at the car park and more ready than ever to avail ourselves of the services of the local pizza business.
The following morning broke promisingly enough. There were no concrete plans to do anything in particular except to be outdoors and do some more hiking. Some cursory research soon had us heading 45 kilometres further south to Coombabah in the Gold Coast on a quest to see if we could see a koala in the wild. It felt like a wild goose chase simply because trying to see a wild koala in too many places in Australia is akin to trying to find a unicorn. I have lived in Australia for a decade now but never been lucky enough to see a koala in the wild and so for me this was something of an Aussie Holy Grail. Within minutes of entering the Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area we'd already seen mobs of Eastern Grey Kangaroos lolling about in the winter sunshine at the fringes of forested areas. I was happy enough with this; if this was as close as we'd get to a koala then so be it. It pays not to get your hopes up when koala hunting; it's principally an exercise in expectation management. I therefore embarked on the koala trail with low expectations. We trailed behind a small group of people who seemed like they knew what to look for and, sure enough, we looked up when they looked up: impossibly high in a eucalyptus gum tree with its bum wedged on a branch was my first ever wild koala sighting. The very concept of a teddy bear with fluffy ears that lives in trees eating leaves and spending most of its waking life dosing off again is so unbelievably cute it could be the creation of a child's fantasy creature drawing. By the end of the two kilometre Koala Trail we'd seen another two koalas: it appears that if you wait ten years to see a wild koala three will come along at once! We drove back to Tamborine Mountain with a sense of satisfaction that our koala hunt hadn't been a fruitless one and that another Australian bucket list item had been achieved.
The third day in southeast Queensland was our last; our flight back to Sydney was drawing us back towards Brisbane airport. However, there was just enough morning available for two quick waterfall hikes on Tamborine Mountain: the Witches Falls track and Curtis Falls, three and two kilometres respectively, and both concluding with beautiful waterfalls.
Brisbane CBD reaches for the skies along the banks of the Brisbane River.
Brisbane CBD reaches for the skies along the banks of the Brisbane River.
Brisbane is agreen city; the sheer abundance of blossoming foliage in plants, bushes and trees go a long way to softening the hard corporate edges of all the glass and steel.
Brisbane's iconic Story Bridge foregrounded by greenery.
Inside the wonderful Palm Grove Rainforest Walk at dusk.
Even at dusk the Palm Grove Rainforest Walk is a place of exquisite shapes and detail.
The incredible lakelands of Coombabah: where land meets the water.
Coombabah's eerie watery landscape caught somewhere between the land and the sea.
Coombabah is home to mobs of Eastern Grey kangaroos.
I am very relieved to report that the Koala Trail at Coombabah lived up to its name.
Curtis Falls in Tamborine National Park - Queensland's first ever national park designation.
Walking the Witches Falls walking track in Mount Tamborine National Park.
The view from our Tamborine Mountain Bed and Breakfast at dusk.
travel tips, links & resources
- In tropical climates leeches should be anticipated in rainforest areas. They aren't pleasant. The sight of seeing one feeding on your blood is a confronting one but can be easily and quickly dealt with. Make sure you have an object with a straight edge like a credit card, pull your skin taught at the affected area and scrape the thing away. It's advisable to wash the wound with antibacterial wash and apply a band aid. To avoid leeches altogether, use DEET on any exposed areas of the skin.
- The official tourism website for Tamborine Mountain is a good place to start when planning your trip. Get there from here.
- When hiking in rainforests or trails covered with a dense tree canopy, be mindful that it gets darker far quicker. It's common sense, of course, but so easily forgotten when you set out on a trail later in the day driven by blind excitement.
- If you're a bird watcher or are considering going on a quest to spot a koala in the wild, remember to pack your digital camera with that awesome zoom lens. I wish I had!
you may also like
