Boonah & Lake Moogerah — the Western Scenic Rim

The other half of the Scenic Rim

Almost everything written about the Scenic Rim is about its eastern end — Tamborine, Lamington, Springbrook, the rainforest plateaus an hour from the Gold Coast. The western half is a different landscape and a different trip. Here the country opens out into the Fassifern Valley, a broad agricultural basin of beef, dairy and vegetable country, ringed by abrupt rhyolite peaks that stand up out of flat paddocks like something dropped there.

Boonah is the town at the centre of it, and Lake Moogerah is the water. Between them sit the Moogerah Peaks — Mount French, Mount Greville, Mount Moon, Mount Edwards — along with a scatter of farm gates, a growing food scene, and roads that carry more cyclists and motorcyclists than tourists.

The reason to come is that it is emptier. On a Saturday when Tamborine's car parks are full and the O'Reilly's road is nose to tail, you can climb Mount Greville and see four people.

Boonah

Boonah is a working country town of a few thousand people, with a wide main street, a couple of pubs, a bakery, cafes doing genuinely good coffee, an art gallery and the practical infrastructure — supermarket, fuel, hardware, chemist — that makes it the base for the whole western valley.

It has picked up a food reputation over the last decade, driven largely by Eat Local Month and by the producers around it. The main street now supports several places worth eating at rather than just eating in, and the markets and the town's calendar of small events pull people out from Ipswich and Brisbane through the year.

What it has not done is turn itself into a tourist village. There is no boutique strip. It is a farming town that happens to have good coffee, and that is a large part of its appeal.

Lake Moogerah

Moogerah Dam sits on Reynolds Creek about 20 minutes south-west of Boonah, and it is the region's water hub. The lake is used for kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing, small boats and water skiing, with a boat ramp and a caravan park and camping ground along the foreshore. The setting is what lifts it: the escarpments of Mount Greville and Mount French stand directly over the water, and the light on them in the late afternoon is the reason photographers keep coming back.

The dam is a stocked impoundment, so fishing for bass and yellowbelly is worthwhile with a Stocked Impoundment Permit. Camping on the foreshore is the other draw — sites with the water on one side and the peaks on the other, and skies dark enough that the Milky Way is fully visible on a clear winter night.

Practical notes: the foreshore is largely unshaded, water levels vary considerably with the season, and blue-green algae advisories occasionally close the lake to contact recreation. Check before you drive out with a boat.

The Moogerah Peaks

Moogerah Peaks National Park protects four separate sections, and between them they carry the best walking and climbing in the western Scenic Rim.

Mount Greville

The pick of them. Around 6 to 7 kilometres return with roughly 500 metres of climbing, using either the Palm Gorge or Waterfall Gorge routes on the way up and the south-east ridge down — a genuine circuit rather than an out-and-back. The gorges are the good part: narrow, cool, full of palms and vine scrub, with scrambling sections where you will use your hands. The summit gives a full sweep of the Fassifern Valley, the lake and Mount Barney to the south.

It is graded hard, it involves route-finding in the gorges, and it should not be attempted in the wet, when the rock in the gorge sections becomes genuinely dangerous. Allow four to five hours.

Mount French

The accessible one. You can drive most of the way up, and the lookouts at the top — over the valley, the lake and the ranges — are a short walk from the car park. It is also home to Frog Buttress, a crack-climbing crag of national significance that has drawn climbers from across Australia since the 1960s. Even if you do not climb, walking out to the base of the cliffs and watching people on the rock is worth the drive.

Mount Moon and Mount Edwards

Quieter again. Mount Edwards, above the dam wall, gives a steep, straightforward climb with a fine view down the lake. Mount Moon is more remote and less travelled. Both suit walkers who have done Greville and want more of the same country with fewer people.

Mount Barney country

South of Boonah, the road runs down towards Rathdowney and the Mount Barney country, which is a different order of mountain again. Mount Barney itself is a Grade 5 proposition and not a casual walk, but the same area offers the Lower Portals — about 7.4 kilometres return to a deep swimming hole between rock walls, and arguably the best half-day walk in the western Scenic Rim — along with Yellow Pinch lookout and the camping at Mount Barney Lodge, Flanagan's Reserve and Bigriggen.

Maroon Dam sits nearby and is the quieter of the two western lakes, with camping, fishing and Mount Barney standing over the water.

The farm gates and the food

The Fassifern Valley is where the Scenic Rim's food actually comes from, and a good number of producers sell at the gate.

• Harrisville — the camel dairy, Australia's largest, with milking, a cafe, tastings and camel milk products. It is the single most popular farm stop in the western valley.
• Kalbar — vegetable and salad country at commercial scale, along with edible flower growers and, in season, the sunflower fields that draw crowds for a few weeks each year.
• Aratula — the stop on the Cunningham Highway at the foot of the range, with a well-known roadhouse and pie stop, and the gateway to Cunningham's Gap.
• Around Boonah — olives, honey, macadamias, eggs, dairy and beef, plus a scattering of small cellar doors and a brewery.
• Peak Crossing and Harrisville — small heritage villages worth a stop on a loop drive, with cafes and produce.

Most of these are weekend-focused. If a specific farm gate is the reason for your trip, check its days before driving out — midweek in winter the valley goes quiet.

Cunningham's Gap and Main Range

West of Aratula the Cunningham Highway climbs to Cunningham's Gap, the pass through the Main Range, and the national park either side of it holds excellent public day walks. Mount Cordeaux is the standout — around 6.8 kilometres return through rainforest to a lookout over the Fassifern Valley. Mount Mitchell on the southern side is longer and steeper. There is a short rainforest circuit from the car park for anyone not walking far.

This is also the country the guided Spicers Scenic Rim Trail crosses, on private land north and south of the gap. The public walks give you a genuine taste of it for nothing.

A day in the western Scenic Rim

1. 8:00am — leave Brisbane via Ipswich and the Cunningham Highway.
2. 9:15am — coffee in Boonah, then out to Mount French for the lookouts and Frog Buttress.
3. 11:00am — down to Lake Moogerah for an hour on the water or a walk on the foreshore.
4. 1:00pm — lunch back in Boonah or at a farm gate on the way.
5. 2:30pm — the farm gate run: Kalbar, Harrisville and the camel dairy, with an esky in the boot.
6. 4:30pm — home via the highway, or stay for the sky.

The walking version of the same day swaps the middle out for Mount Greville, which will absorb five hours and most of your legs.

When to go

Autumn and winter are the seasons here. The valley is dry, the air is clear, the climbing on the peaks is comfortable, and June brings Eat Local Month and the region's busiest, best month of food events. Winter mornings are cold — frost in the paddocks is normal — and the nights are excellent for stars.

Spring is warm and pleasant with wildflowers on the peaks. Summer is hot and exposed; the western valley runs hotter than the coast, the peaks have little shade, and storms build over the ranges in the afternoon. Water activity at the lake is the summer option; climbing Greville in January is not.

Where to stay

Boonah has motels, cottages and farm stays, and it is the practical base. The Lake Moogerah caravan park and camping ground puts you on the water. South towards Mount Barney there is camping at the lodge, Flanagan's Reserve and Bigriggen, and Maroon Dam has sites as well. Prices across the western valley are noticeably lower than the eastern Scenic Rim, and availability is far better at short notice — except in June, when Eat Local Month fills everything.

Practical notes

• Fuel: Boonah, Kalbar and Aratula. Nothing at the lake or on the peak roads.
• Phone coverage: reasonable in the valley, patchy on the peaks and in the gorges.
• Roads: good but unlit, with heavy kangaroo and wallaby traffic at dawn and dusk. Avoid driving the valley roads at night if you can.
• Water: carry your own for any walk. There is none on the peaks.
• Snakes: present across the valley and the peaks. Carry a compression bandage.
• Cyclists and motorcyclists use these roads heavily on weekends. Expect them on blind corners.

Kalbar, Aratula and the heritage villages

The valley's small towns are worth more than a drive-through. Kalbar has a preserved main street of timber shopfronts, a couple of good cafes, and the surrounding farmland that grows a serious share of South East Queensland's vegetables. Aratula sits at the foot of the range on the Cunningham Highway and is the traditional pie-and-fuel stop before the climb to Cunningham's Gap. Harrisville and Peak Crossing are small heritage villages north of Boonah, with old hotels, churches and halls, and they make a good loop drive on the way in or out from Ipswich.

The loop that works: Ipswich to Peak Crossing to Harrisville to Kalbar to Boonah on the way in, and back out via Aratula and the highway. It adds twenty minutes and turns the drive into part of the trip.

The Kalbar sunflowers

For a few weeks each year the fields around Kalbar come into bloom and the district fills with people photographing them. It is a genuinely spectacular thing and it has become a minor phenomenon, which brings its own problem: the fields are private, working crops, and the damage done by people walking into them is real.

The way to do it properly is to visit a farm that opens its paddocks for the season, usually ticketed, with parking and marked paths. Do not stop on the highway verge, do not climb a fence, and do not pick. The bloom runs on the crop cycle rather than a fixed date, so check locally in the weeks before rather than planning a trip months ahead.

Cycling and motorcycling

The valley roads are among the best riding in South East Queensland, and on a fine weekend you will see far more bikes than tour buses. The loops out of Boonah towards Mount Alford, Maroon and Rathdowney are the local favourites, the climb to Cunningham's Gap is the long test, and the gravel roads through the back of the valley have become a destination for gravel riders in their own right.

For drivers, the implication is the same as everywhere in this region: expect riders around blind corners, and give them room. For riders, the hazards are gravel washed across the surface after rain, cattle grids, and wildlife on the verges at dawn and dusk.

Wildlife and dark skies

The valley's wildlife is different from the rainforest side of the region. Eastern grey kangaroos and wallabies are everywhere at dawn and dusk, which is both a pleasure and a genuine driving hazard. Wedge-tailed eagles work the thermals over the peaks. The lake and the dam edges hold pelicans, cormorants, darters and, in the shallows, spoonbills and egrets. Around the gorges on Mount Greville, listen for whipbirds and look for the palms that give Palm Gorge its name.

The skies are the underrated part. An hour and a quarter from a capital city, the western valley has genuinely dark skies, and on a clear, moonless winter night the Milky Way runs from horizon to horizon over the peaks. Camping at Moogerah, Maroon or Mount Barney requires nothing more than a groundsheet and a forecast.

A little history

The Fassifern Valley was opened for grazing in the 1840s and settled heavily by German farming families from the 1860s, which is why the district's churches, cemeteries and family names still read the way they do. Cotton, dairying and small crops followed, and the valley's agricultural character has been continuous ever since — unlike the eastern Scenic Rim, which turned to tourism as the timber ran out.

Moogerah Dam was completed in the 1960s on Reynolds Creek, primarily for irrigation, and the recreational use came afterwards. That order of events explains the lake's character: it is a working water storage with a caravan park attached, not a resort, and the water level moves with the season and the irrigation draw rather than staying picture-perfect for visitors.

Combining it with the rest of the region

The western Scenic Rim is a day in itself, but it pairs well in two directions. South, the Mount Barney country and Rathdowney continue the same landscape and add the region's biggest mountain and its best swimming hole. West and up, Cunningham's Gap puts you into Main Range National Park with the Mount Cordeaux and Mount Mitchell walks, and beyond it the Darling Downs and Warwick.

What it does not pair with in a single day is the eastern Scenic Rim. Boonah to Canungra is well over an hour across the base of the horseshoe, and trying to combine Lake Moogerah with Lamington means a day spent mostly in the car. Treat the two halves of the region as separate trips, or split them across a weekend with a night in between.

A weekend in the western Scenic Rim

Two days is the right length. Saturday: drive out early, climb Mount Greville while the gorges are still cool, come down to Boonah for a late lunch, and spend the afternoon on the farm gates with an esky. Camp at Moogerah or stay in town, and give the evening to the sky. Sunday: a slower morning on the lake with a kayak, then either the drive up to Cunningham's Gap for the Mount Cordeaux walk, or south to the Lower Portals for a swim before heading home.

That itinerary covers a summit, a lake, a national park walk and the region's farms in two days, for a fraction of what the same weekend costs on the eastern side.

What it is not

Worth being straight about. The western Scenic Rim has no rainforest plateau, no canopy walk, no glow worm cave and no strip of galleries and cafes. If what you want from a hinterland weekend is browsing, high tea and a rainforest boardwalk, go east to Tamborine. What this half of the region has instead is space, working farms, better walking with fewer people on it, and a lake under an escarpment — and it is entirely possible to spend a Saturday here and see almost nobody.

Eating in Boonah

For a town this size the food is better than it has any right to be. The main street carries several cafes doing proper coffee and cooked breakfasts, a bakery, two pubs with counter meals, and a scatter of places that have opened on the back of the region's food reputation. There is a brewery in the district and a small number of cellar doors around Mount Alford and the valley.

The pattern to watch is the same as everywhere in the region: weekend-focused hours, with several venues closing Monday and Tuesday and winter hours contracting further. If you are coming midweek, check before you build a lunch plan around a specific place, and note that the supermarket in town covers self-catering perfectly well.

Country

The Fassifern Valley and the peaks around it are Country of long standing, with Mununjali, Ugarapul and neighbouring peoples connected to these valleys and ranges. Several of the peaks hold cultural significance, and the gorges on Mount Greville in particular are places to move through quietly. Stay on established routes, take everything out, and leave rock shelters and cultural material untouched.

Why it is worth the extra half hour

The western Scenic Rim is 20 minutes further from Brisbane than Tamborine and carries a fraction of the visitors. You get better walking with fewer people on it, a lake instead of a queue, the region's actual farms rather than its gift shops, and skies dark enough to matter. For anyone who has done the eastern plateaus and wondered what else there is, this is the answer.

Common questions

How far is Boonah from Brisbane?

About 1 hour 15 minutes via Ipswich and the Cunningham Highway. Lake Moogerah is a further 20 minutes south-west of the town.

What is the best walk near Lake Moogerah?

Mount Greville — roughly 6 to 7km return with about 500m of climbing, up through Palm Gorge or Waterfall Gorge and down the south-east ridge. It is graded hard, involves scrambling and route-finding, and should not be attempted in the wet.

Can you swim at Lake Moogerah?

The lake is used for swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding and water skiing, with a boat ramp and camping on the foreshore. Check for blue-green algae advisories before travelling, as these occasionally close the lake to contact recreation.

What is Frog Buttress?

A nationally significant crack-climbing crag at Mount French, near Boonah, which has drawn climbers from across Australia since the 1960s. Mount French also has lookouts a short walk from the car park for non-climbers.

Where can you camp in the western Scenic Rim?

Lake Moogerah has a caravan park and camping ground on the foreshore. South towards Mount Barney there is camping at Mount Barney Lodge, Flanagan's Reserve and Bigriggen, and Maroon Dam has sites as well.

When do the Kalbar sunflowers bloom?

It runs on the crop cycle rather than a fixed date, so check locally in the weeks beforehand. Visit a farm that opens its paddocks for the season, usually ticketed with parking and marked paths — the fields are private working crops and walking into them causes real damage.

Is the western Scenic Rim quieter than Tamborine?

Considerably, particularly midweek. The trade is fewer cafes and shops; the gain is walks, lookouts and campsites you can have largely to yourself.