📍7 Best Places To Watch The Sunrise In The Gold Coast Hinterland From A Long Time Local Photographer.

Springbrook National Park.

Springbrook National Park is a massive wilderness expanse that forms part of the pristine Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. Thanks to much of the visitable area being atop a stunning plateau with breathtaking sheer cliffs, it is abundantly rich with many incredible mountain-fed waterfalls. And because it does have that type of landscape terrain, which is also ideally eastward-facing, it has many of the Gold Coast hinterland’s best sunrise spots, which is the perfect way to kick off a day in the rainforest.

2. Canyon Lookout.

It’s already hard enough to leave the comfort of your bed or sleeping bag to catch the sunrise, which is what makes Canyon Lookout the ideal place to witness the dawning of a new day at the last minute. Surrounded by the mountaintop town, with accommodation and the camping ground nearby, it’s only a super short drive to reach the car park on Boy-Ull Road if you’re staying in the national park, which lies about 10m from this clifftop viewpoint.

From here, you get magnificent views of the breathtakingly vast and unspoilt valley and canyon that make up the western side of this incredible rainforest, beautifully backlit by the sun rising directly in front of you. It’s a magical and awe-inspiring place to be. Plus, if you look across to the southern cliff face, you can see two of the national park’s biggest plunge waterfalls. Rainbow Falls is the easiest one to spot, with Twin Falls hiding behind the branches on the extreme right.

If you’re keen on an early morning hike, this is one of the access points for the Twin Falls trails and the Warrie Circuit extension, where you can follow it north or south along the ridgeline before descending into the valley below to see the two aforementioned waterfalls along with several others. However, I recommend starting north as there are more lookouts to enjoy the golden hour light touching the terrain along that way.

3. Goolmoolahra Falls & Boojerahla Lookout.

Another easy-access sunrise viewpoint is Goomoolahra Falls & Boojerahla Lookout. Located at the very end of Springbrook Road, it’s only a short 250m walk to the lookout for the waterfall and 450m to the viewpoint over the breathtakingly rugged valley.

Both are gorgeous places to watch the sunrise and enjoy the evolving light and shortening shadows it casts over the landscape as it rises, and occassionally, mist lingering low, it’s a stunningly dynamic place to kick off a day in the rainforest.

Psst: Goomoolahra Lookout is wheelchair accessible.

4. Wunburra Lookout.

Another beautiful place to watch the sunrise is Springbrook is from Wunburra Lookout. Located on the road up to the mountaintop village, it is just north of Apple Park, where it rejoins after briefly splitting into single lanes. This makes it a bit awkward and last minute to find and park, but it’s just in the middle of the rejoin.

As for the scenery, there are gorgeous panoramic views of the dense, unspoilt mountain forests of the national park’s northern slopes, which are beautifully backlit by the eastern rising sun. If it’s a clear day, you can also see the glittering skyscrapers of Surfers Paradise, so it’s a fabulous snapshot of the Gold Coast’s duality.

Lamington National Park.

Offering even more pristine wilderness to Springbrook’s already vast ancient terrain is Lamington National Park, which is also part of Queensland’s section of the breathtaking Gondwana Rainforests Of Australia.

Comprised of two sections that are home to several outstanding walks to many incredible natural landmarks, these places are fantastic hinterland day trips from the Gold Coast. And thanks to each having world-class mountaintop accommodation, they are even more exceptional destinations for short trips, so for nature lovers out there, Green Mountain (O’Reilly’s) and Binna Burra are excellent places to include in your Gold Coast itinerary.

Psst: Many of the lookouts at Lamington National Park’s lookouts are westward facing, so they are better viewed at sunset. Click here for the Gold Coast’s best places to see the setting sun.

6. Rosins Lookout.
Beechmont.

The Binna Burra section is the closest of the two sections from the Gold Coast, and to get there involves passing through the mountaintop town of Beechmont, the last one before the long ascent to the village. Although there’s not much to see there, one place that you will absolutely want to stop at is Rosin’s Lookout.

This is a gorgeous open slope just by the roadside that offers gorgeous east and southeast views over the picturesque, rugged foothills of Lamington and Springbrook National Park, which is only even more beautiful to witness at sunrise. However, unless you’re staying nearby, you will have to wake up pretty to catch it, but it’s well worth it to see it ascend over this spectacular landscape.

That said, even if you can’t get up that early to drive this far out it’s stunning any time of day and the perfect picnic spot too, thanks to the soft grassy area and free BBQ. And here’s something that not many people are aware of: the cleared slope isn’t just for views. It’s also the launch site for hang & paragliders. Better yet, it’s where visitors can do tandem paragliding flights over the hinterland, which is just the most epic way to do it! Plus, you don’t have to feel bad about sleeping in, so win, win, win!

7. Kuraman Lookout.
(Greenmount Section.)

Further south-west lies the much larger and more popular Green Mountains sections, also more well known as O’Reilly’s, thanks to the world-class rainforest accommodation that lies there. Just a few kilometres before reaching the end, where it and all the walks and activities are, is Kamarun Lookout.

From this gorgeous spot, enjoy breathtaking scenic panoramic views of rolling landscapes, farmlands and long shadows of the northeastern terrain while watching the sun rising in the east, making it a perfect way to kick off the day if you’re staying at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, (you could even have a breakfast picnic up here.) or from driving up the long and challenging road to get up here, which involves many narrow and single-lane roads, blind turns and steep drop-offs at pre-dawn.

Psst: Honestly, it’s better driving at this time than during the day when you have to be hyper-vigilant of oncoming traffic. And don’t even get me started on weekends and public holidays, which make the already long, slow journey even longer and more intense.