This one I bailed out on during my 2011 RTW trip. Just too many forests on the Australian World Heritage List! But I had to finish it now while being in Queensland. It’s a vast site with an unknown number of components and there is little official UNESCO info available.

As I had been to the Wet Tropics of Queensland a few days before, I wondered what the differences were between the two sets of Rainforests from Gondwanan times. Google’s Gemini says: The fundamental difference between the two sites lies in the type of rainforest they preserve. The Gondwana Rainforests are predominantly subtropical and temperate rainforests. The Wet Tropics of Queensland, as its name suggests, is characterized by tropical rainforest. This climatic and ecological difference is reflected in their unique biodiversity. The Gondwana Rainforests are a sanctuary for ancient plant groups like primitive conifers and ferns, and are a significant center for the evolution of Australia's songbirds. The Wet Tropics, on the other hand, boasts an exceptionally high concentration of primitive flowering plant families, many of which are endemic to the region.

For my visit, I chose Lamington National Park. I stayed overnight in the town of Nerang (a suburb of the Gold Coast), so the next morning it was only a 45-minute drive to the Binna Burra entrance. I tried to be early, hoping to encounter wildlife along the road. Seeing koalas in the wild was high on my wish list for this Australia trip, and I could do with some better pictures of kangaroos, too. Along the access road to Lamington, several signs are warning of koalas crossing. There was even a flashing sign, like they have with road works, which made me think a group of koalas was trying to cross just in front of me. But I encountered nothing....

Lamington NP has two entrances; I chose the Binna Burra section. From here, several hikes start. The parking lot was busier than I had expected for a cloudy Monday morning, but I guess people arrive early here to start one of the long-distance hikes.

I took it easy with a combination of the Rainforest Circuit and the Tullawallal Loop track. These are both narrow but well-maintained forest paths. The forest is dense, and there are some attempts made at pointing out interesting tree and plant species (but not greatly successfully). The trees indeed are a bit different from those in the Wet Tropics, but both specialize in ferns.

The most notable thing this early is the bird "song" all around you. Due to the density of the forest, it is hard to spot the singers, but they make some weird noises. I managed to capture a glimpse of the Green catbird, whose song sounds like a crying human baby.

P.S.: I am wondering about the high community rating this WHS has received (3.31, in the same league as Maloti-Drakensberg, Vicenza, Hué and Xochicalco). To me, it was just another forest, without great scenery. Maybe when you're a birder, you'll get more out of it, but for the general public, a visit can hardly be satisfying.

P.P.S.: Later in the day, I got my wild koala and kangaroo pictures. A good area in the Gold Coast region, within an hour of Lamington NP, is the Coombabah Lakelands. This RAMSAR wetland has an almost urban setting; therefore, it sees a fair number of visitors and is maintained so that the wildlife likes to stay, as it has all its favourite plants. The hundred or so kangaroos aren't bothered by the people. Koalas are still hard to find, but they are present: the best tactic seems to be to start looking with a group, as you'll need more than one pair of eyes. I followed a party of three in front of me, and one of them spotted a koala - a fluffy ball high up on a tree branch.

I visited this WHS in December 2017. Of the several locations that make up this WHS, I visited Lamington National Park and Springbrook National Park, focusing mostly on the Green Mountains area of Lamington National Park.

I drove away from Brisbane before sunrise and I got to the winding roads up the inscribed area of Lamington National Park very early in the morning. We saw several wallabies, koalas and birds along the way. Due to roadworks, we drove through Canungra and parked our rental car near the National Park Visitor Centre which has a very small 'World Heritage Room' downstairs with some information boards on the inscribed areas, wildlife and geological features of this WHS. Here we used the boot cleaning brushes to keep out any potential pathogens from the rainforest.

After a short 1.8km walk on the Centenary Track, we hiked for about an hour to the Python Rock Lookout (5km) and for about an hour and a half to the Moran Falls Lookout (6.2km) into the rainforest. Here we saw lots of birds such as the Southern logrunner, the paradise riflebird, the grey and rufous fantails, the golden whistler, the Eastern yellow robin, the yellow-throated and white-browed scrubwrens, the Wonga pigeon and two of the noisiest birds in the rainforest canopy: the Eastern whipbird and the green catbird. Their mating calls and displays were unmistakeable and a fond memory I'll surely cherish for a long time.

We also hiked towards the Border Track which has very interesting information boards towards the very beginning of the track briefly explaining circa 23 million years of the park's geological history which had such an important impact on the flora's evolution (ex. primitive conifers and ferns) when the last basalt lava flowed down from the 2000 metre Tweed volcano. Some of these plant species survived from prehistoric times when Australia was still part of Gondwana (some 200 million years ago) and they were quite easy to spot along the track.

Since we had enough time, we ventured past the Border Track and towards the Box Forest Circuit and part of the Binna Burra Track but never finished them. Instead, we spent more time at Picnic Rock and Elebana Falls which are usually quite busy but were empty just before sunset. Here we spotted a playful Crimson rosella and the rare Lamington freshwater crayfish (photos).

As it was getting dark, deeper in the rainforest, we hurried back in the direction of O'Reilly's where we enjoyed the incredible display of sun rays penetrating the rainforest and highlighting the various strangler figs and epiphytic plants. When most of the few tourists were gone, we also did the Treetop Walkway Loop and it was fun to climb a 30 metre tree and rise over the canopy. Here we also spotted an Australian king parrot. As we drove away from Lamington National Park, we stopped to enjoy sunset at one of the lookouts in the inscribed Springbrook National Park before heading back to the highway.

We enjoyed our day at Lamington National Park and found it to be less crowded than the Blue Mountains for example. That said, Australia's parks and trees are a bit overrepresented with 3-4 separate WHS.

The Dorrigo National Park is popular partly because it is a perfect example of the ancient rainforests but also because it’s easily accessible from coastal holiday towns like Coffs Harbour. It takes about 90 minutes to drive from the beach, through small villages like Bellingen and rural bush. The final road up the hill towards the entrance to the park gives you a taste of what is to come with ancient trees creating a tunnel in parts and then occasionally opening up for a wide view across an army of trunks.

At the visitors centre at the entrance to the park is a skywalk that takes you out above the forest so you can see the extent of its reach. The faint sounds of animals drift up from below but they are protected under the green canopy. To get a closer look, you need to take one of the several tracks that lead you to different parts of the rainforest. The walk to the waterfalls is one of the most popular.

One of the most impressive sections of the rainforests is the Rainforest Centre at Dorrigo, NSW. There is a 'sky walk' that takes you over the forest canopy and has sweeping views out towards the ocean. Add to this a beautiful 3 hour work on a path through the forest, truely magic.

The New England National Park is one of the biggest in the Gondwana group and has the advantage, say, over the Blue Mountains WHS by being a lot less busy on the tourist trails. Travel a short distance from Armidale and you can enter the park at it's western edge for a day trip. The view from Point Lookout is awe-inspiring...

This is a scattered site made up of a number of unconnected national parks.

There is a very informative Site Information office in the town of Murwillumbah, with very helpful staff. The town is served by buses travelling between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, but trains no longer run there. We rented a car for a few days to visit the site.

The salient feature of the site is Mount Warning, named by Captain Cook over three hundred years ago. It sticks out like a thumb in the centre of a huge crater. We hiked though the bush around the base of the mountain. Because the site is sacred to the local Wollumbin people it is not recommended to climb to the top.

Great views of the whole crater can be seen from the rim of the crater. We found a great lookout up in the Springbrook National Park.