Nature lovers love Queensland for its bountiful protected areas. There’s more than 1,000 of them throughout the state. Explorers will be familiar with postcard-worthy gems like Noosa National Park and Lamington National Park, but there’s more to be discovered. Here are 14 lesser-known Sunshine State national parks that are equally as stunning and just waiting to be uncovered.
A secret swimming hole known mostly to locals only, Booloumba Creek in Conondale National Park is an electric blue freshwater creek and the main drawcard. There are also a number of camping spots throughout the national park (permit required) and walking trails.
You’ll find this undiscovered park tucked among the sprawling plains of Central Queensland. Sloping sandstone escarpments, echoing gorges, plunging rock pools and scenic walking trails certify this park as down-right Instagrammable. You’ll also find Indigenous rock art on the Mimosa Creek Cultural Trail, which shares stories of the Ghungalu People.
What makes this park so special? The crater that plunges 58m into the ground. No biggie. At the bottom of the volcanic pipe lies a 70m deep lake, coasted by an eye-catching lime green blanket of native waterweed. The best vantage point to take in this geological wonder is from the viewing platform on the Crater Track walk.
Seasoned hikers will relish wearing down their hiking boots at this park. An 80-minute drive south-west of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, is where you’ll find Mount Walsh National Park. Made up of imposing granite formations, creeks that drop into rock pools and Mount Wash itself protruding from the bedrock. If you’re an experienced hiker, it’s 4,622m up to the summit, which takes around four hours to ascend with stunning views as your reward. The grade four Rockpool Walk is not for the faint of heart but worth the challenge. You’ll be treated to a creek sprinkled with natural plunge pools.
Winding through the arid savannah terrain, Porcupine Gorge National Park is an outback oasis. Just over an hour’s drive from Hughenden, the waters of Porcupine Creek, surrounded by a green outline of rich vegetation that line the gorge, pop against the orange and yellow of the Outback plains. Camping is available at the Pyramid campsite and there are three marked walking tracks leading hikers to lookouts or down into the gorge.
Eungella National Park is one of the most ecologically diverse pockets of rainforest in Australia, with both tropical and sub-tropical species flourishing under the canopy. A fan of waterfalls? Check out Araluen Waterfall and the Wheel of Fire Cascades in the Finch Hatton Gorge section of Eungella National Park.
Main Range National Park is just a 90-minutes’ drive from Brisbane and lies within the World Heritage Gondwana Rainforest. It’s here you can set foot on the Scenic Rim Trail experience. The six-day all-inclusive guided trek winds through the Scenic Rim and parts of Main Range National Park stopping overnight at a number of Spicers lodge and cabin accommodation including Spicers Hidden Vale and Spicers Peak Lodge.
This site was visited by Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron during the filming of Netflix series, ‘Down to Earth with Zac Efron’. Created more than 400 million years ago, the extraordinary limestone rock formations and caves of Chillagoe-Mungo National Park hold important natural and cultural significance.
Perched 1,622 above sea level, Mount Bartle in Wooroonooran National Park is known as the ‘top of Queensland’. Just south of Cairns, it’s the state’s highest peak. It will take experienced hikers around six to eight hours to conquer. Also making this national park a must visit is the lineup of tumbling waterfalls, freshwater rivers and lush rainforest that intertwine around the mountain.
Just over three hours drive from Brisbane, this park is perfect for families with kids in tow. The Bunya Mountains feature more than 100 individual holiday cabins and cottages and the park is home to a large population of wallabies. There’s also walking trails through the bunya pine forest, including easy waterfall circuits. It’s not all easy-breezy walks, intense hikes can be found across the mountainside.
Paluma Range National Park sits in the mountain range north of Townsville and is considered the southern entrance to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Walkers and hikers can hit various hiking trails through the rainforest to streams and waterfalls, while peddlers looking to push the limits can enter the Paluma Push, an action-packed event combining the thrill of mountain bike racing with a vibrant festival atmosphere.
Leafy rainforest canopies, secret beaches and sparkling views across the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef, need we say more? Conway National Park is a coastal rainforest that boasts waterfalls, swimming holes, uncrowded beaches, lookouts and network of hiking and mountain biking trails.
Home to Australia’s highest single-drop waterfall, Wallaman Falls, this park in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area is not a one-trick pony. The dramatic Blencoe Falls in the upper section of the park are just as remarkable, as are swimming holes, Attie Creek Falls and the Cardwell Spa Pools.
This one’s for the Brisbanians. Conveniently located just five kilometres off the city’s coast, St Helena Island was once a colonial penal settlement. It ran from 1867 through to 1932 and was a place where inmates helped plant crops, took on trades and constructed buildings, the ruins of which remain. Daytrippers can visit the park via the River to Bayn ‘Best of Moreton Bay’ cruise or a St Helena Island ‘Prison Life’ experience.
