Binna Burra Lodge or O'Reillys?
 

We're looking to spend 3 or 4 nights in the rainforest in SE Queensland. Trying to decide between Binna Burra Lodge or O'Reillys. We're a family of 4 (2 teens, 13 and 15.) My wife and I enjoy short hikes, 10k or less, and enjoy guided hikes with a naturalist. We also enjoy meeting other travelers and sharing stories. Our kids could care less about the hikes - they just want to play outside with other kids.<BR><BR>We're coming in from Brisbane in mid-August. Not quite sure how we're going to get to the rainforest and back from Brisbane but we have some time to figure that out. As for the accomodations, we're not big on amenities, as long it's clean, cozy and comfortable, we are just fine. "Touristy" is a big turn off too. <BR><BR>Can anyone recommend one over the other - or perhaps there is something better that I haven't learned about yet?<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR>John in Miami

Both are over-rated and expensive for what they are and you can do exactly the same for far less money in many other places with much more to offer than they have. They have a captive audience if you stay there. As you will have a car you would be much better staying independent and going to both of those places yourself. Firstly the cost will be far less and the quality of the content will be much better.

John- we went to O'Reilly's from Mermaid Beach/Brisbane last summer. Once up there, the lodge was very nice, and we enjoyed an easy and interesting hike. Inside the guesthouse was posted a list of guided tours for their guests in the early morning or evenings. It would be really nice to do them before or after the many day tourists were gone, and the views from the rooms looked gorgeous. The big down-side was the drive up there. It is on a mostly one lane road that switches back and forth all the way up the mountain. My Australian brother did the driving..if I had had to, I would have turned around. If you meet another car, one of you has to back up. As it was, one teenager and one adult got very carsick. We were very careful to leave so as not to get caught driving down at dusk. I'm sure there are other places to stay that have the same rainforest feel, but we envied the guests who arrived in the O'Reilly's vans.

Whilst I don't recommend the two lodges because of their cost and because of their content I must say that although the road is narrow and with many bends it is not scary at all and my husband goes up there for a motor bike ride neally every weekend because he likes the trip up there and by the way he is 67 yrs old. If the previous poster's family got car sick going up they would still have got car sick in the O'Reilly's van. <BR>There are many tours around this region to specific places in the rainforests which abound in S.E. Queensland. Probably the most popular are the ones that go at night so that you can do some spot-lighting for nocturnal animals which you would not see at other times during the day. Mount Warning in Northern NSW is also a lovely place to go for a hike in the rain forest. Springbrook too is a particularly nice area with many waterfalls and walks. But the best of all trip is through the Numinbah Valley going into NSW and stopping at Natural Bridge, particularly if you do that in the evening when you can have a picnic and walk down to the cave, swim and wait for nightfall and watch the gloworms come out. You can wait and listen to the guides with all of the bus tours and get their information for free.<BR>Doing this area on your own you get to see and do a lot more if you are not stuck up in one place. However if you are coming soon then I would suggest that you check with us first to see if we have had rain because none of the waterfalls at present are falling anywhere which is a real pity.

hate to disagree with you Liz, but John says they don't know how they'll get there..which I assume to mean he doesn't yet have a car planned. You may be "captive" at one of these lodges, but you can also look at it as a chance to be picked up in Brisbane and not have to do a thing but relax till they leave you off. They asked for guided hikes, the chance to meet other travellers, and a place to play with other kids. <BR>Both have family style dining, good play areas for the kids, and offer good hikes, nature talks and night walks. in addition, both offer free rides to the other resort...you can hike back along the connecting trail. I'd say the activities for little kids are better at BinnaBurra, but your teens might enjoy the birds and walks at O'Reilly's equally well. I tend to prefer Binna Burra's Acacia cabins and find the whole spot a bit more social. Some might find the roads up exciting, but I find them quite tiring as they demand the driver's full time attention. For about $20 a head, you can let them drive and use the time to enjoy the scenery.

My wife and I were talking into staying at O'Reillys Guest House for 4 nights. The food was very average, the accommodation also very average but the cost was top-level stuff. We stayed there for the 4 nights and then stayed at Tamborine Mountain for another 4 nights and for my money Tamborine Mountain was far and away the best value for money. When we didn't want to do any walking we could just sit and watch the sunsets with our wine and cheese and relax. We went horse riding, digging for thunder eggs, bird watching, spot lighting at night to see the animals and a lovely walk in the evening to see the glow-worms. We had high tea at one lovely place, dinner at a fabulous restaurant and other nights we had dinner at other Internation restaurants and had a picnic breakfast watching the sun rise over the sea. There was so much to do that we actually ran out of time. We had the fortune to see the dance of the Lyre birds in courtship and found the bower of the beautiful satin bower bird. My wife was tempted to go hang gliding but the day we were there the wind sprang up and flying was abandoned. Fortunately we got to see some platypus which incidently is at the Cunungra Winery which is owned by the O'Reilly Family. You can just about guarantee seeing them if you go there and go down to their little crrek at the back of the winery. If you just want to walk in rainforests and do nothing else then the Lodges are OK but if you want quality and variety then they are not. <BR>I didn't notice anything wrong with the drive up to the Lodge though and it was very pretty. There is an especially nice walk just before you get to the top which goes around the side of the mountain. <BR>Anyway thats my tuppence worth

Thanks to all for the info! I couldn't decide between the two but based on what I read online and Franks comments, I was leaning towards Binna Burra. I ended up calling them directly. (used 10-10-220, $1.99 for 10 minutes overseas) If the rest of the staff is half as nice as the woman I spoke with, we are going to have a teriffic time.<BR><BR>Thanks again for the help!<BR>John in Miami