Hike Lamington National Park's Coomera River Track

Aim to reach the carpark of the national park just after sunrise as this hike will take you a full day well If you're anything like me and stop to take photos every 30 steps it definitely will!

The walk starts off on clearly visible paths that are well worn from the many people who do the half day walks in this park, once you get past the main junction thats where the real fun begins. The climate changes in a matter of turns, one moment you're in the dense rainforest with what looks like scenes from jurassic park, and around the next turn you're in the open plain lands and the more commonly found bushland of Australia.

The first set of falls you approach are the coomera falls themselves, 3 separate creeks all fall into the one basin which from your viewing platform above is definitely an awe inspiring sight! It is here that the path then narrows even further as the forest seems to close in around you, you find yourself standing on the edge of a gorge with the coomera river below you. The track winds its way along the edge of the gorge hopping and skipping over the smaller creeks as they fall into the river beneath. A truly spectacular place!

After the gorge the track meanders through the hills of lamington national park, crossing creeks around every bend, if you're lucky you might stumble across the endangered blue crayfish as they make their travels through the forest floor and into another creek. After a while you climb your way out of the creeks and into the mountain ranges, at one point even coming to a beautiful scenic lookout which has views of several other parks in the area all the way to the Goldcoast high rises.

This hike is a very rewarding one even though it is 20 kilometers long and at times wading through slippery fast flowing creeks is needed, but in my opinion that just adds to the allure of it!