The Best Things to Do in the Gold Coast Hinterland

Away from the beach, there’s more to the Goldie than meets the eye. We’ve rounded up the best things to do on your next Gold Coast Hinterland getaway.

The just-add-water holiday formula of the Gold Coast’s beaches has drawn sun-seekers to Queensland for decades but just a 50-minute drive north-west lie the sleepy mountains of the Gold Coast Hinterland. Friendly locals, delicious produce and bucolic beauty remind you that even though its views stretch to the Glitter Strip, you really are a world away.

Drop your bags

Look to your left from the cedar hot tub perched on the fringe of Verandah House Country Estate’s sprawling lawns in Tamborine Mountain and you’ll see all the way to the Pacific. Pan right and you’ll take in pinch-yourself views over the region’s “green cauldron”, a volcanic caldera scooping back up to NSW’s Wollumbin (Mount Warning) and across to Binna Burra in the Gold Coast Hinterland’s Lamington National Park.

As hard as it may be to drag yourself away from this vista, the estate itself – with eight country-luxe suites cloaked in Ralph Lauren and Hermès – is equally easy on the eye. Owner Judy Pereira – an award-winning interior designer who, along with her builder husband, Laurence, transformed the site in just eight months – is the jewel in the B&B’s crown, offering a warm welcome the moment you open the car door.

Local fare

The restaurant at the Tamborine Mountain Coffee Plantation dishes up share-style brunch and (not surprisingly) excellent coffee. Loll in the sunshine with a flat white and a seasonal menu that never misses – the Baja Benny with smoked pork, grilled green peppers and sriracha hollandaise on sourdough is a food memory in the making.

Pause for lunch at The Historic Rivermill in Mount Nathan, about a 15-minute drive east. This multitasking family-owned ranch, originally an arrowroot mill, hosts weddings, a petting zoo and horseriding adventures as well as its café. Nab a table on the deck or make the most of the serene riverside ambience with a picnic amid the trees. Dishes comprise classic café fare, elegantly executed, such as Caesar salad with sourdough croutons and chicken parmigiana with housemade Napoletana sauce.

Come dinnertime, The Paddock takes meals into fine-dining territory, albeit in a relaxed hinterland fashion. The award-winning restaurant, located on the grounds of luxury lodge Beechmont Estate, makes the most of the surrounding farmland and thriving kitchen garden. The seasonal menu is devised daily by executive chef Chris Norman and executive sous and pastry chef Alex Norman, while the résumés of the husband-and-wife team leading the kitchen boast Michelin-starred restaurants around the UK. They’re serving up dishes such as whipped Summerland camel fetta with Valley pride beetroot and garden sorrel pesto; Brisbane Valley quail with pearl barley, smoked bacon and nasturtium; and garden hibiscus poached rhubarb with Tommerup’s crème fraiche sabayon, warm crostoli and fennel pollen.

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Happy hour

If you arrive at family-run Witches Falls Winery on Food Truck Sunday, when there’s crowd-pleasing eats, live music and happy kids playing tag in the vines, you might think you’ve stumbled into a party. Book ahead for a table – weekends are especially busy. If spirits are more your speed, two minutes down the road on seven hectares of rolling meadows you’ll find Cauldron Distillery, where the award-winning Five-To-Five gin range is produced.

Take a walk

Three hundred metres of steel somehow manages to camouflage itself inside the soaring canopy of Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk. A 1.5-kilometre round trip will take you through palm trees, gums and strangler figs jostling for their glimpse of the sunlight above.

The surprise

It’s quiet in the hinterland at 7am – even more so 3000 metres above the earth, drifting silently in a hot air balloon over the blanket of mist covering the region’s farmland. Hot Air Balloon Gold Coast doesn’t put a time limit on its sightseeing flights so you’ll find yourself floating for as long as the wind – and gas in the balloon – will allow, before landing in time for a Mimosa and eggs at O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyards. Any vertigo-sufferers can skip the early-morning drift amid the clouds in favour of a sleep-in and a pleasant drive to rendezvous for breakfast at the winery.

After breakfast, make friends with some alpacas, care of the neighbouring Mountview Alpaca Farm, where you can even take a long-necked companion for a walk or engage in a (one-sided) conversation.