Happy trails: from Brunswick Heads to Lamington National Park
Coast, hinterland, rainforest… it’s a holiday trail that never goes cold.
Eight hours and as many podcasts after leaving Sydney, the light is fading as we roll off the M1 about 50km south of the Queensland border. We’re here at a golden time of year and a glorious week of old-school holiday time lies ahead of us complete with long beach walks, hinterland drives, artistic diversions and rainforest rambles.
Just a 15-minute drive from the celebrity glamour of Byron Bay, nestled beside estuary and coast, Brunswick Heads is our laidback seaside village destination of choice and, fittingly for a retro-style holiday, we’re booked into a revamped ’70s classic. Spruced up with Mediterranean-style whitewashed walls and arches, blue-trimmed doors and artfully placed palms, The Sails Motel and Pool Club induces Kodachrome flashbacks to beach holidays of old. Handily, it’s also next door to a pizza restaurant.
In the morning, craving coffee, we walk two blocks to the riverfront and find ourselves spoilt for choice of cafes. We’re glad for the sustenance because after breakfast we set off for the beach and decide on a whim to walk the entire 14km stretch to Byron Bay, a 2.5-hour trek each way. At Brunswick Heads the beach is protected from development by Tyagarah Nature Reserve, which skirts the coastline for 7km, so we’re lured ever onward by the unspoilt, wide open vistas. But then as we reach the developed areas north of Byron we confront crumbling cliffs and trees uprooted by relentless coastal erosion. In Byron Bay we head to Clarkes Beach for lunch at an old favourite cafe, only to find sandbags lining the dunes and the building metres from the precipice.
Next morning we head for the hinterland. First stop is Killen Falls, a popular nature spot half an hour away, but we’re really only working up an appetite for lunch at the renowned Doma Cafe in the small village of Federal. Arriving early, we discover the street already lined with pricey SUVs and a queue snaking out the entrance of the rustic eatery. We’ve been to Doma’s sister cafe, Qudo in Bellingen, before so we know we can expect delicious, surprising Japanese fare, but it seems most of the well-heeled residents of the Northern Rivers region have got here before us. Eventually we find a table outside and eagerly tuck into tasty dishes such as roasted eggplant dengaku with quinoa pomegranate salad and yuzu miso pork belly with pumpkin purée and wombok slaw. On the way back to Brunswick Heads we stop off at Mullumbimby to soak up the hippie vibes while shopping for health food and hemp clothing, and return later that evening for Thai food at the Pink Lotus Eatery.
We head north next morning on the scenic route, stopping to see the impressive Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre overlooking the lush Tweed Valley in South Murwillumbah. Inside, the late artist’s studio has been painstakingly recreated with thousands of objects lovingly transplanted from her home in Paddington, Sydney. Also on show is Sidney Nolan’s stunning Ned Kelly series, on loan from the NGA until August 22 and well worth seeing in this intimate setting.
The road winds on through the Gold Coast hinterland and into the subtropical rainforest of Lamington National Park. At 800m above sea level, Binna Burra Lodge – where the park’s walking trails converge – includes a campsite, safari tents and The Sky Lodges, stylish apartments built from local stone, slate and reclaimed hardwood. Our studio has a wide balcony and vast picture windows with views over the canopy and rolling hinterland to the Gold Coast towers in the distance.
Our first all-day foray is a 17km circuit to a spectacular cantilevered lookout over Coomera Falls, where two rivers gush 160m into the deep gorge below. On the way back we book a sunset dinner at the Tea House Observatory, just up the hill from our eyrie above the clouds. It’s a routine we’ll repeat the following day after yet another epic walk.
• Perfect for: Nature-loving families.
• Must do: The beach walk from Brunswick Heads to Byron Bay; explore the hinterland; bushwalking at Lamington National Park; visit Tweed Regional Gallery.
• Dining: In Brunswick Heads and surrounding towns there are cafes and restaurants galore; at Federal, visit the Doma Cafe; at Binna Burra Lodge, the Tea House Observatory.
• Getting there: Brunswick Heads is eight hours’ drive from Sydney, 1 hour 40 minutes from Brisbane or half an hour from Coolangatta. Binna Burra Lodge is 90 minutes from Brisbane and Brunswick Heads.
• Bottom line: Queen room at The Sails Motel from $145pn; studio at The Sky Lodges at Binna Burra Lodge from $350.
thesailsmotel.com.au; binnaburralodge.com.au
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