Waterfalls and natural beauty in Gold Coast – Springbrook National Park

We spent about five days in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, and it was a mixed bag for us. We thought about working here, but after a few days decided it wasn’t for us. It’s a cool place and the beach is absolutely gorgeous! But we just felt it lacked a bit of culture, so it was nice to visit but not somewhere we wanted to stay long term. I also prefer beaches that are a bit more ‘at one with nature’, rather than having the big skyscrapers all the way up to the sand.

So my favourite day in Gold Coast was when we headed out of the city to see the Springbrook National Park. We hired a car as we wanted to see as much of it as possible. It cost about $80 so between a group that’s not too expensive, just make you sure have Google Maps ready! The drive itself is lush as you make your way up the windy road through mountains. The scenery is beautiful and at places you can see right out to the sea.

Our first stop was the Purling Brook Falls. And these were huuuuge! They tumble off the cliff down what must be a good 100 metres. The lookout is only a few minutes walk from the car park, or you can also walk right down to the bottom to take them in from there, which is really cool! We actually came to these Falls twice during the day and did the walk down to the bottom at the end of the day. So we didn’t have time to, but it is also possible to walk up behind the waterfall too.

Next we headed to the so-called ‘Best Of All Lookout’. You could say this had a lot to live up to… haha! You park up here and after about a 10 minute walk through the forest you emerge at the lookout, which does, admittedly, have a pretty spectacular view!

You’re stood on the edge of a crater that was once the top of a volcano, and you can see the circular edge going around the valley. It was a bit hazy when we got there but apparently usually you can see right out to the ocean. As for it being best of all… well I’m a sucker for a waterfall so I preferred the lookout at Purling Brook Falls!

The last place we stopped was the Natural Bridge, which is on the other side of the national park and we had to double back on ourselves to get there. But it was a beautiful drive across a valley with mountains all around, and it was my favourite spot of the day!

The Natural Bridge is where a waterfall has created a hole in the rock so the waterfall actually falls into a cave (main pic). It was so lush! This spot is also worth going to at night as the cave is apparently full of glow worms that light up after dark. We sadly didn’t get to see this, but we did see lots of little bats swooping around in the darker corners of the cave! 🙂