Deep in a World Heritage rainforest, O’Reilly’s offers adventure, relaxation, and breathtaking scenery. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Deep in a World Heritage rainforest, O’Reilly’s offers adventure, relaxation, and breathtaking scenery. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Tim Roxborogh checks in to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, a Gold Coast Hinterland hideaway - and one that’s very much geared towards families as well as anyone who loves nature.
Location: O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat is found deep within the 206 sq km Unesco World Heritage-listed tangle of rainforest that is Lamington National Park in southern Queensland. It is 930 metres above sea level and about 90 minutes by car from Surfers Paradise.
Style: A range of styles reflective of the almost century of O’Reilly’s being the premier launchpad to one of Australia’s greatest national parks. The vibe encompasses the modern eco-chic of the resort’s architecturally designed villas on stilts, as well as the more traditional wooden alpine lodge feel for some of the older buildings.
Perfect for: Anyone who loves nature and bush walks, including parents who want to expose their children to just how precious these ancient rainforests are. Also perfect if you’re looking to escape the Queensland heat with the elevation high enough to drop things a few degrees. And temperature difference or not, O’Reilly’s is a world away from the skyscrapers and glitz of Surfers Paradise.
O’Reilly’s is built within a UNESCO World Heritage-listed rainforest. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
First impressions: Our four-year-old daughter is a seasoned traveller given her father’s line of work, and she summed it up by sprinting through our two-bedroom hillside villa for her initial inspection, squealing with excitement while declaring, “This is the best holiday house ever”.
That was the first impression of our villa, with our earlier first impression of O’Reilly’s and Lamington National Park being the abrupt landscape shift as you rise in altitude from sparse, more monocultural forest to — what seemed instantaneous — the kind of thick, jumbo-sized, biodiverse jungle you find in southeast Asia. It’s like God struck a wand and went boomph! From nowhere, a splash of fantastical, equatorial-looking rainforest, but at a subtropical latitude of 28 degrees.
As for that grand tree-tunnel for the final few kilometres before you reach the resort, the road gets swallowed by vegetation so dense that unless there’s a track — or indeed, a road — it’s mostly impenetrable.
O’Reilly’s is considered Australia’s first eco-tourism resort. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Rooms: Sixty-six rooms, 48 villas and a campground means O’Reilly’s can pull a wonderfully mixed and varied crowd, but all drawn in by that rainforest — everything from fit young solo travellers wanting a base for some extended hiking, to honeymooners after some luxury in the trees, to retirees in search of some fresh mountain air, to Gold Coast locals seeking refuge and exercise away from the heat, to families wanting to educate their children about the glories of the natural world.
Our two-bedroom villa gave our daughter, Riley her own room, while Austin (1) was in a portacot next to our bed. We had a full open-plan kitchen, dining and living area, complete with a fireplace. But without question, the headliners are those floor-to-ceiling windows and the spa on the balcony with views overlooking the Macpherson Ranges. And with the villa almost entirely surrounded by trees, all around is birdsong. Magic.
Families can enjoy educational wildlife experiences, including bird shows and snake encounters. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Bathroom: Two well-sized ensuite bathrooms with the Wash range from EcoPure.
Food and drink: ‘The Dining Room’ is the focal point of O’Reilly’s in that it’s everything from a cosy, wood-adorned, enthusiastically-portioned lodge restaurant, to the sort of welcoming communal story-swap locale where you’ll be chatting to strangers about where they’ve been in the national park and where you should go next. The kind of place where you know before your plate has arrived that you won’t be returning to your room hungry. And if you’ve got a window seat, don’t be surprised if you see some wildlife by way of brush tail and sugar glider possums, as well as an array of native birds.
Beverage-wise, O’Reilly’s also operates a vineyard just out of the national park, so expect some excellent local wines to go with the international selection.
The Dining Room, O’Reilly’s. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Facilities: O’Reilly’s world-renowned ‘Treetop Walk’ may have put it on the eco-tourism map long before people used the term “eco”, but even without these striking suspension bridges some 16 metres above the forest floor, O’Reilly’s still wouldn’t be short of things to do and eye-catching facilities. From private spa tubs to an Insta-worthy infinity pool, to a 185 metre zipline that Riley said was the best thing she’d ever done in her life (to go with an all-time favourite “holiday house”), O’Reilly’s even offers things such as table tennis, a pool table and air-hockey if the kids need a break from exploring.
The retreat offers a thrilling 185m zipline for kids and adults alike. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
In the neighbourhood: O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat is the neighbourhood. That and a landscape that dates back over 225 million years with over 160 species of subtropical birds and other native wildlife who call Lamington National Park their home.
Guests can walk among the treetops on a famous 16m-high suspension bridge. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Family friendly: There’s a huge emphasis on creating experiences for children at O’Reilly’s that are equal parts educational as they are fun. From the Treetop Walk to bird shows to snake encounters to glow worms to that life-affirming, almost two-rugby-fields-length zipline, O’Reilly’s has an ethos that says we are all better off when our children grow up with a love of nature in their blood.
The rainforest surrounding the retreat is over 225 million years old. Photo / Tim Roxborogh
Accessibility: There are two dedicated wheelchair-friendly Mountain View rooms, as well as wheelchair-friendly bathroom facilities.
Sustainability: O’Reilly’s website has entire page listing the retreat’s eco-initiatives, including their policies on recycling, energy creation and usage, water supply and wastewater. There’s an argument to be made – and potentially won – that O’Reilly’s is Australia’s original eco-resort.
