There’s a lever on the wall that opens an enormous louvre door to the national park beyond. It’s chilly high in these mountains at dusk, but you can’t miss a sunset from here, across vast valleys of rainforest below luxurious sleeping pods built right on the edge of Queensland’s Scenic Rim.

These eco-cabins – the first privately funded buildings in a Queensland national park – are part of Spicers’ Retreats five-day Scenic Rim Trail that opened last month. Co-owner Jude Turner (along with husband Graham, founder of Flight Centre) has spent the past 20 years dreaming about – then constructing – this walk. It connects two Spicers locations (Peak Lodge and Hidden Vale), and creates a nature refuge alongside Main Range National Park.