We all know the Gold Coast. It beckons from a hundred holiday brochures and TV ads — an enticing cocktail of theme parks, high-rise resorts, bikini meter maids and endless summers on the beach. To some it’s holiday heaven, to others, a monument to excess and questionable taste.
But how many of us know the other Gold Coast, west of the Pacific Highway, the region known as ‘the green behind the gold’? Abandon your beach towel and swimmers for a day or two and you find a whole other world up on the escarpment.
In place of a helter-skelter three-lane motorway, there are deserted single-track roads. Instead of crowded shopping malls, you find quiet country galleries and craft shops. In place of nightclubs and party pubs, there are tearooms and wineries. Instead of surf and sand, there are rainforest walks and panoramic views.
These drives are short enough to do in a day away from your coastal resort. However, there is plenty of accommodation in the mountains if you want to take your time and explore the national parks and attractions. Many visitors use the mountains as a base and make day-trips to the beach, rather than the other way around. Both drives begin and end on the Pacific Highway.
The hinterland is an all-season destination, cooler and less humid than the coast in summer and high enough in winter for sweaters and log fires to be a necessity. Carry a raincoat any time of the year.
This winding day-drive climbs over the mountains into the NSW Tweed Valley and returns via lovely Springbrook National Park.
Leave the Pacific Highway at the Currumbin Valley turn-off, six kilometres north of Coolangatta. Follow Route 98 up-valley past Robert Neumann Park, a waterside picnic spot where geese nap in the sun.
On the right after eight kilometres is Olson’s Bird Gardens (see Secrets panel below). When the road forks, take Tomewin Road, signed for Murwillumbah. This is the start of an ear-popping ascent of the southern rim of the Currumbin Valley as you follow the Queensland-NSW border, finally crossing at 18 km.
You’re driving the old Cobb & Co mail run, which opened in 1876 to link the Currumbin and Tweed Valleys. Stop at the second lookout (Gruners) in NSW for a panorama over the Tweed Valley and Mount Warning.
Take it easy during the tricky descent to the sugar canefields of the Tweed Valley. Ahead lies Murwillumbah, which has a World Heritage Rainforest Centre and an excellent regional art gallery.
Backtrack a kilometre to the outskirts of town and take Tourist Drive 36 — look out for roadside stalls selling farm-fresh avocados, bananas, honey, jam and other yummies.
Ten kilometres ahead, is Crystal Creek Miniatures (see Secrets panel). If you plan to visit, call for tour times and allow around 15 minutes to drive there.
Another winding stretch of road leads to Chillingham and its charming village store and Flute Workshop. Here, we leave Tourist Drive 36 to head back over the border via Route 6. The road twists up the escarpment, with views of the mountains and valley floor.
Cross the border and descend on a rough single-lane road to Natural Bridge National Park. The ‘bridge’ is a rock archway that frames a waterfall plunging into a cavern. A one-kilometre circuit through rainforest leads to lookouts above and below.
The road descends into the farmlands of the Numinbah Valley. The Numinbah State Forest has a picnic area. At 71 km, take the signed turn right for the steep climb to Springbrook. At a T-junction, turn right for Springbrook National Park and the galleries, potteries and cafes of the Springbrook Plateau. Wunburra Lookout has long views to the coast.
At 109 metres, Purling Brook Falls is the region’s longest single-drop waterfall. The picnic area is hugely popular on weekends. Further up the plateau are a visitor centre and several lookouts, including the irresistibly-named Best of All Lookout. Is it the best? You bet. A 350 m walk past gnarled, ancient Antarctic beech trees leads to a wide panorama over Mount Warning, the Tweed Valley, Murwillumbah, the Nightcap range, Byron Bay, the Twin Towns and the Cougal mountains.
It’s a fine memory to take with you on the return journey. Retrace your steps downhill and stay on Route 99 for the descent on good two-lane highway to Mudgeeraba and the Pacific Highway.
This is a good drive for food and wine lovers. It visits new wineries and plenty of good places to eat or buy tidbits to take home. An astonishing 68 different nationalities are represented on the mountain, which means you can buy a cuckoo clock from a German, sauerkraut from a Pole and schnapps from a Russian.
Take Exit 57 off the Pacific Highway at Oxenford and then Route 95 for Mt Tamborine. When the road pauses to draw breath on the climb up the escarpment, look left for the Macadamia Nut Shed. Here, you can taste about a dozen different macadamia flavourings, ranging from familiar treats such as honey-roasted to exotic curiosities such as wasabi and abalone.
Another long pull brings you to the Tamborine Mountain plateau. The first attraction you encounter is Eagle Heights and Gallery Walk. Art meets commerce here in a strip of shops and cafes that includes arts and crafts, pottery, clocks, farm produce, Aboriginal art, antiques, jewellery, souvenirs, handmade bears, porcelain dolls — you get the idea. You could easily spend a few hours here. Grab the free Tamborine Mountain Visitors’ Guide and map from the visitor centre at the start of the Walk — it will help with navigation.
Turn right at the roundabout at the far end of Gallery Walk onto Eagle Heights Road and look for the sign for Curtis Falls. A 550 m track descends to a pretty waterfall and a rock pool.
Back on the main road, turn left at the end of Eagle Heights Road onto Gleissmann Drive, then right at Main Street into North Tamborine. Follow this road onto Knoll Road, which terminates at The Knoll National Park picnic area. Here, there are picnic tables, toilets, a lookout with views over the Canungra Valley and a three-kilometre rainforest walk.
Backtrack to Main Street and turn right at Beacon Road for The Beacon Lookout. On your right, opposite Tamborine Mountain Cottage is the excellent Tamborine Mountain Distillery (see Secrets panel).
Return to the Main Street junction and turn right onto Main Western Road. Two wineries are signposted at the next right turn (Hartley Road). The first, Mount Tamborine, makes wine on the premises, in some cases using merlot grapes from vines on the property.
The other two mountain wineries — Cedar Creek and Heritage — are basically shopfronts for wineries in Queensland’s inland Granite Belt region, north of Tenterfield. They are worth visiting because the Granite Belt is setting the standard in Queensland.
Backtrack again to Main Western Road and turn left to continue south towards Mount Tamborine. Two kilometres further on is a restaurant with the best views on the plateau, The Polish Place (see Secrets panel). Just around the corner on Main Western Road is the lovely Heritage winery.
Continuing south, ignore the Canungra turn-off and continue straight ahead for Alpine Terrace. A kilometre further on, take the left turn for the Gold Coast on Henri Roberts Drive. At the foot, turn left for the Gold Coast and complete your return to the Pacific Highway at Nerang on a good, fast-moving road.
Things to see and do that Queenslanders keep to themselves (and one in NSW)
4WD
