Lamington National Park, O'Reilly's & Vineyard Tour

Great experience

Great this trip was still scheduled as planned despite only 2 participants. However, forgot to try the vine in the vineyard. Otherwise, all are good

Lamington National Park

Had a fantastic day!! Great trip to the rainforest. Stopped for coffee in Canungra, then morning tea at the top of the mountain, with amazing views. Then went to O'Reillys, walked through the tree tops. Fed the beautiful birds, then off for lunch and wine tasting....delicious. Finally walked an Alpaca, another great experience. Mark, our guide was brilliant. He is very knowledgeable and really easy to talk to, so made the day relaxing and a great experience!! Highly recommend!!

Great trip at a good value!

The mountain lookout was a beautiful pit stop on our way up to the tree walk. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and shared lots of fun facts about the rainforest with us. After the beautiful walk, the winery was the perfect end of the day. Would recommend!

Brilliant day out

Great tour! Pick up location was easy to find, bus is comfortable and air conditioned. Our tour guide Mark was not only very knowledgeable but also clearly passionate about the area. We learned lots of interesting facts about the wildlife and nature. The first stop is a beautiful view, then the walk through the rainforest is very easy and interesting (seeing from the top of the canopy is cool). A big highlight is getting to feed the wild birds! They are so friendly and calm, they will happily eat seeds from you for ages. The vineyard to end the tour is lovely; good food options for gluten free and very reasonably priced wine tasting (one per couple is probably enough as they give you BIG tasters!). All in all very happy with this tour company and would highly recommend this tour in particular as a fun day out.

I learned a lot about the hinterland area and its history.

This was a great trip with Bill our experienced driver and guide who was very knowledgable and informative about the region and sights to look at.

Ask for Marc as your guide and you won't be disappointed

Marc was such a great guide, he's told us so many cool stories about the areas we visited and GC itself but also about the NT where he was raised. It was a very enjoyable day, but if you have a motion sickness, make sure to take your tablets in the morning as the road is a bit windy - I loved it and wished I could drive myself! My suggestion would be to extend the time spend in the winery, we only had time for a meal (loved the pumpkin salad) and we had to go back to GC. I'd like to get an hour to walk around and explore or just chill under the tree, that's my only criticism.

Highly recommend!

Our guide, Bill was great! He was full of great facts and stories, altered the tour to accommodate our interests and kept things moving.

Lovely daytrip

Had so much fun on this tour! Andy is an amazing tour guide and is very knowledgeable about the area. I especially love feeding the birds. Would recommend

Awesome tour

Great day out and Bill is an awesome tour guide! Stunning rainforest canopy walk, hand-feeding the parrots and rosellas, and lunch at O’Reillys was amazing!

Rushed and you lunch isn't really optional

We went on the Lamington Park tour from the Gold Coast. The pick up time was 9:15am and they ask that you arrive 5-10 minutes early. We did and they were early so this made for a smooth start. Our guide did not introduce himself (later learned that his name is Andrew) or any of the other guests (on other tours guides have surveyed the guests to find out where people are from, if it is there first visit, etc. and we have found this to be a nice way of getting people to talk/make connections). He did give us some interesting history of the Gold Coast as we left the area which we appreciated. Our first stop was a restroom break (advertised as a coffee/tea break but there was no time for that). From there we went to a nice lookout and cakes/popcorn/pretzels and boxed drinks were provided. At this point he passed around menus for us to choose our lunch choices (lunch was not included). We had noted when booking the tour that lunch is listed as "optional" and so I had asked if we could bring our own lunch. I was told yes, that we could bring a picnic lunch to eat at the winery. When we told our guide that we had this and were not going to order lunch, he seemed very surprised and said that wasn't really allowed and we would have to be very discreet and eat away from the main area where we couldn't be seen. Our next stop was O'Reilly's Rainforest. This was a fascinating place and well worth spending time here. Unfortunately, the whole thing felt very rushed. It was not crowded at all, so we really just wanted to take a few minutes in one place and really see/hear all the amazing life around us. The pace was set to keep moving and not linger in one spot, so this was disappointing. After leaving, we went to the winery for lunch, where there are clear signs prohibiting any outside food on the premesis. We took our lunch down to the river (a beautiful spot!) and discreetly ate our lunch. The bird life there was amazing. A quick drive home had us back at our hotel by 3:20, making us feel that we could have had more time at the rainforest. The trip was worth taking because we wanted to see the area, but we will not use Southern Cross tours again.

Excellent

Excellent tour ...our tour driver Andy was really good .So much knowledge about the area we visited especially the birds we saw and got to photograph I highly recommend .

Great Day Out!

We very much enjoyed the whole day in the Lamington National Park. Our guide, Andy, was very knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic.

Must do on the Gold Coast

My mum and I did this tour on the weekend and we had a blast . We fed birds ,pat some cute alpacas ,did a treetop walk and even climbed inside of a tree ! Daniel was a fantastic tour guide that is great with his customers !

Great day out

The national park was very interesting. The guide Bill was very informative. We went on the bush walk and over the swing bridges which were great. The highlight was going to Oreillys Vineyard with lunch. There were lots of families enjoying the Sunday afternoon. Lots of alpacas you could pat there also. A fantastic day out.

The inspector was so...

The inspector was so good! I could take good pictures. I enjoyed and relaxed in the forest.I had free time too.

Fabulous day

Fantastic day with tour guide Amber exploring the hinterland. Saw some fabulous views, walked in the National park and fed the birds. Lovely lunch at O’Reillys vineyard. Highly recommend.

Fantastic

very friendly staff, we have learnt a lot and seen a lot. thank you. The tour guide was very helpful

A short day trip

It was a good experience, the treetop walk was really worth it. We had the opportunity to do bird feeding and also spend some time at the vinery.

Really enjoyable and worthwhile

Emma our guide was the best and the tree climb on the treetop walk was so fun. The snacks were yum on the car break up the mountain and the scenery was great. We even paid a bit extra to walk an alpaca at the vineyard. Only thing that could’ve been a tad better was the lunch at the vineyard, but that’s no fault of the tour operators, I just don’t recommend paying extra for it as it was pretty overpriced and not good.

Great tour!!

It was a beautiful day, the tour guide was very friendly, knowledgeable, and his commentary was interesting! Lamington national park was beautiful! The treetop walk was really cool as was feeding parrots! We ended the day at O'Reilly winery with a glass of bubbly, an amazing picnic basket full of food and homemade ice cream! You can't beat that🌈💖!!

Mt Lamington

Magnificent part of the country! A must if you visit GC. Bill did a wonderful job and shared his vast knowledge and exepertise of the area to make the two super enjoyable and informative. We were well looked after :)

Very good

Good experience,the nature clean and beautyfull, the staff is very friendly and warm-hearted, food is tasty and fully. I absolutely will come back.

Relaxing tour

The tour was relaxing. Feeding the birds and the alpacas were the highlights for me! The guide was friendly and knew a lot of things about the area and the local fauna and flora

Thank you Southern Cross Tours!

Bill, our guide was great and very experienced. The whole experience was very educating and useful. Would highly recommend Southern Cross Tours.

Trip worth doing.

Andy, our guide, he was really knowledgeable and helpful. He drove effortlessly up the somewhat challenging road . The Booyong walk and tree top experience were very interesting thanks to Andy's information. The bubbles on the way down were an added treat. Thanks Andy!

A very good day tour to the Hinterland (apart from the bumpy ride)

Excellent views from the bus most of the way (once out of suburbia) and at the lookouts. Intelligent and informative commentary by Daniel, an easy going type who took the time to talk to passengers individually when we stopped for breaks and at points of interest. He shared a few interesting personal anecdotes but did not go overboard like some guides do who want to make the tour about themselves. First stop was for a short convenience break at a small park in the town of Canungra. Morning tea stop was at Kamarun Lookout. A small selection of goodies was offered. My wife and I each had some cake and a large (400 ml) flavoured milk - enough to see us through to lunchtime. Then on to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat for some more outstanding views and a walk through the rainforest. On the way to the retreat Danial told us about a plane that crashed in the rainforest not far away in February 1937. It was an Airlines of Australia Stinson that disappeared during a flight from Brisbane to Sydney, carrying five passengers and two pilots. Both pilots and two passengers were killed in the crash. One of the surviving passengers died while attempting to get help for the other survivors. The wreckage was found by a member of the O'Reilly family who then returned with help to extricate the wounded survivors. A replica of the Stinson airplane is on display at O'Reilly's Retreat and statues as a tribute to the survivors and their rescuer. After another bumpy ride on the bus, and a long delay where repairs to the road were being made, we arrived back at Canungra to visit O'Reilly's Vineyard. On arrival, the complimentary glass of bubbly went down a treat. We shared a pizza for lunch, then on a tip from Daniel, we ordered a wine tasting paddle consisting of 5 wines of your own choice from a list provided. Good wine for a very reasonable $20 considering that some of the wines were being sold for more than $36 per bottle, with a great shiraz selling for $45 per bottle available for tasting. On returning to Surfers Paradise, Daniel kindly agreed to drop us off at a different location to the one we earlier specified.

Amazing experience! A must do!

Amazing experience. Our guide Andy was really knowledgable and made this such a great trip from start to finish. He packed in so much for us and we really enjoyed everything. The highlight for us was feeding the birds and getting to climb inside a dead tree! Lunch at o,Reillys vineyard was delicious with a glass of their champagne on the house! and the day ended with feeding some very cute alpacas! We also met some great people on our tour so thank you to Andy and everyone! This is a must do for anyone visiting the Gold Coast!

A day of satisfaction

Great commentary great scenery great bird life great winery bubbly and a great burger…a cool experience with a knowledgeable Aussie bus driver…what more could you want?!

Rainforest Deluxe Tour

Everyone should visit this treasure! This tour was such a good way to see it all without having to navigate the mountain roads. Bill was an exceptional and knowledgeable guide who made the experience even better. Feeding the birds at O’Riley’s was an unexpected treat. The lunch at the serene winery setting added to the enjoyment of the day. Anyone wanting to experience the rainforest should book this tour.

Good

Really enjoyed the tree walk and vineyard. Guides were great. No hard walking involved. Feeding birds was a great experience

Terrific tour by Trent

Our tour guide Trent was very informative and made our trip to Lamington National Park memorable. We all highly recommend this tour. You will not be disappointed.

Beautiful day with the birds

I like taking tours because I'm able to go to the places I want without driving and navigating directions. Our guide Andy was great. We had time to stop at each location and spend time. We weren't rushed from one spot to another like some tours that try to get everything done quick. It was very related and enjoyable. The weather was perfect. Because we went on a weekday, lunch choices were limited but it was very tasty.

A brilliant day!

Thanks to Paul for a wonderful and enlightened day to the Scenic Rim in the Lamington National Park. Informative commentary sharing many first hand experiences and showing a real concern for the environment and Australian wildlife. Glad to have had such an exceptional driver to navigate the terrain with well-timed stops along the way. Thank you! - Karen and Kristine B

Relaxing day trip with occasional highlights.

The tour started out with great narration from our driver/guide. We weren’t too long in the van stopping for a short break/toilet stop and a longer tea break at a hilltop viewing spot. The winery stop was nothing more than a place to have lunch, next time I won’t buy a meal there. The tour could have had less of the one topic that the guide kept on about.

Feed birds, walk an alpaca

The tour guide was excellent 👌. Paul tells great stories and is well informed. He speaks well and lets fun moments happen organically. It is worth noting to start that the drive can be fairly scary along one lane windy mountain paths and I was very happy to be with an experienced driver. The view at the top is excellent, though not so great from the tree top walk because many trees have grown around it and it is a bit harder to see. The walk itself is fairly short and easy. And the forest is beautiful to walk through. Feeding the birds was a definite highlight. Worth it for sure and the tour includes some trays of bird food for customers to share. There was a lot of birds and bird food to spare. The final visit to the alpaca farm for lunch was a bit rushed. The lunch costs about 25 dollars per person and is ok. I think the fizzy wine is good for the price. The meal takes quite a while to prepare so I recommend that you first line up to take the alpacas for a walk while waiting for the food. The walking session is only 15 minutes so it should work out that you will be done walking around when the food is ready.

Highlight of my GC trip

Andy, our driver/tour guide is very knowledgeable and pleasant. The tour was spectacular too. Lamington Park and O'Reilly's Vineyard is definitely a well recommended place to go to!

Enjoyable half day tour for the family

We did the half day Lamington National Park tour with Paul as our driver and guide. Great tour - we enjoyed the scenic views, rainforest treetop walk and picnic bubbles, and our 12 year old loved the bird feeding!

Excellent tour, highly recommend it!

This was such an educational and pleasant tour, at a leisurely pace and with gorgeous scenery. You’ll love it!

Loved it

I went on 3 different day tours with Southern Cross (one in December 2020 and 2 in December 2021) and loved each one of them. The Lamington National Park tour so far was the best - it's so much fun to feed the birds, pat alpakas and explore forests! Andy (excuse me - Ricardo!) was very nice and helpful and agreed to drop me off at Surfers for the Markets rather than at my hotel when we came back from the tour which saved me heaps of time (and money). Very well organized, interesting day tours that I will highly recommend.

Wonderful escape

A wonderful adventure and so good to leave the city and see some of our precious pockets of rainforest. The guide was very friendly and the lookout at Canungra Valley is spectacular. Feeding the birds is really fun too. Definitely worth it!

Lohnenswerter Ausflug auch für Jugendliche

Die Tour war wie beschrieben. Wir wurden pünktlich abgeholt und unser Guide Kenny war sehr freundlich und humorvoll, was die ganze Tour noch besser machte. Genossen habe ich ebenfalss die kleinere Gruppe die wir waren. Wir hatten genügend Zeit die Aussichten zu geniessen und Fotos zu machen. Das Wissen des Guides war lehrreich aber kocht langweilig in die Strecke gezogen. Mein Highlight war das Füttern der Vögel und der hausgemachte Meat Pie in der oreilly vineyard. Kann diese Tour nur empfehlen.