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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Behind fear, apparently, you\u2019ll find happiness. It\u2019s there, waiting for you, all warm and fuzzy, when you venture beyond your comfort zone.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the motto of the new Happitat Adventure Park, at least \u2013 they have these kinds of messages carved in pretty letters into the woodwork here. But allow me, if you will, to surmise: when you do something terrifying and don\u2019t die, the lightness that follows feels really, really good. Here, happiness and relief are one and the same.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re a thrill-seeker or not, there\u2019s no denying that these adrenaline-inducing mountain adventures come with a trillion-dollar view. Every mountain has a great view, even if it\u2019s straight down. But of the adrenaline-inducing mountain adventures I\u2019ve experienced \u2013 though my pursuit of them has waned since realising I\u2019m actually not going to live forever \u2013 the view here takes the cake.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve walked down a dirt track through World Heritage-listed Gondwana rainforest along a kilometre-long trail dubbed \u2018the kookaburra path\u2019.<\/p>\n Having lived in a major American city until recently, the sound I missed most from home was that unrestrained, maniacal belly laugh of a kookaburra. Except for those birds \u2013 and a chorus of crimson rosellas, king parrots, and whipbirds \u2013 I\u2019m completely alone here in the forest.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter<\/p>\n Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.<\/a><\/p>\n I reach base camp, eventually, where a handful of guides in harnesses are waiting beside a cafe.<\/p>\n Through the trees I see the view for the first time, and it\u2019s mesmerising. We\u2019re on the edge of Bellbird Clifftop, 400 metres above Numinbah Valley. The valley appears to be a mass of tall rainforest trees like hoop pines and thick palm groves. On the other side is Ship Stern Range, covered entirely in thick green foliage, even taller in elevation than where I\u2019m standing. From here, the ground drops away steeply into the depths of a 20-million-year-old volcanic caldera. When I look off in the distance, towards the east, I can just make out the blue of the ocean.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in Binna Burra National Park, part of the 20,000-hectare World Heritage-listed Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast Hinterland. There are three World Heritage-listed parks up here, barely an hour\u2019s drive from the coast, containing some of the world\u2019s oldest surviving rainforest, with species of flora and fauna dating back 180 million years to the supercontinent, Gondwana. This wilderness is a special part of any Gold Coast experience, but most people don\u2019t know about it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what I\u2019m ensconced within \u2013 ancient forest. But Happitat Adventure Park wants to take visitors beyond the national park and throw them over its edge on three zip lines, and along fixed steel cables and steps, ladders, suspension bridges and tightrope walks across the near 90-degree slopes of a cliff face.<\/p>\n The brains behind the adventure park call it \u201cthe world\u2019s first cliff park\u201d. They note visitors can experience a variety of climbs and adventures in a single location \u2013 experiences that would normally require travelling to far-flung destinations like Italy\u2019s Dolomites, where the via ferrata concept was born.<\/p>\n Now, don\u2019t be put off by that part of its name, Adventure Park. The Gold Coast might be famous for its theme parks \u2013 think Movie World, Sea World, Dream World, White Water World \u2013 but this adventure park has nature and ecotourism at its heart, even if it aims to scare the pants off you.<\/p>\n In fact, it\u2019s the first ecotourism business the Queensland government has helped fund as part of a monumental push to become the ecotourism capital of Earth. The government plans to spend $1 billion towards establishing 45 new ecotourism experiences by 2045.<\/p>\n It makes perfect sense that this world-domination pledge is happening here. This is where ecotourism in Australia was invented \u2013 the home of Binna Burra Lodge, founded in 1933 and technically the world\u2019s first eco-lodges. It\u2019s also an area that was partially destroyed by the most devastating bushfire in the park\u2019s post-European-settlement history.<\/p>\n A less obvious addition, perhaps, is the Austrian-born former pro snowboarder with the waxed handlebar moustache of a French waiter, who\u2019s the brains \u2013 and brawn \u2013 behind Happitat Adventure Park. That\u2019s Michael Neururer, who\u2019s here, with operations manager, Tyson Smith, to show how this park actually works.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been fairly secretive about what information and pictures are released online,\u201d Smith says. \u201cWe want people to get here and see this view and freak out.\u201d<\/p>\n Congratulations, you did that. Once I\u2019m set in a safety harness, and I\u2019ve shown staff I can navigate my way around the practice via ferrata and zip line course at base camp, I\u2019m free to roam Happitat Adventure Park. The whole point of the place is about giving visitors the freedom to wander at will, with no schedule, or waiting in line.<\/p>\n But now I\u2019m out on the edge of infinity and, like Smith says he wants us to be, I\u2019m kind of freaked out.<\/p>\n \u201cOur most profound moments come in pushing through our fear,\u201d Neururer says, which would sound corny except there\u2019s nothing corny about Neururer, who\u2019s about as earnest as any person you ever put your life in the hands of. This concept \u2026 everything here \u2026 was all his vision.<\/p>\n \u201cI had this in my head,\u201d he says, motioning to his park, and beyond, into space. \u201cI spent months looking for this place, I looked at over 300 sites around Australia. It\u2019s taken me seven years to complete, and I had to tender against the likes of AJ Hackett [international action sports mega-company].\u201d<\/p>\n I choose to do the via ferrata course first, because Neururer tells me it draws out the time I\u2019ll spend on the cliff face beyond my comfort zone. He says I\u2019ll feel just like a rock climber might, minus the safety ropes. I have a harness, and helmet and am attached to steel safety cables, with carabiners. But I can still fall far enough to hurt myself before the carabiner halts my descent. \u201cThat\u2019s part of what the via ferrata is about,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou have to be aware: nature can always win, this isn\u2019t a free ride. But, it\u2019s still safer than driving.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m climbing now like Spider Man might, edging my way along an almost 90-degree cliff face. When I step out on an 80-metre-long suspension bridge which wobbles under my weight, there\u2019s nothing below me. And when I stop for a breather, with my legs dangling from a long, narrow bench, I can look down to the forest 400 metres below.<\/p>\n It\u2019s intimidating, though it\u2019s really just a lesson in concentration. Sure, my knees wobble like a drunkard\u2019s as I walk across a tightrope cable suspended in thin mountain air. But none of this requires previous climbing skills, just common sense. \u201cI didn\u2019t build this for climbers,\u201d Neururer says. \u201cI built this for those who aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Neururer intends to make this area of Lamington National Park the world\u2019s best mountain adventure destination. He has 12 more adventures dreamed up, ready to build.<\/p>\n We pass by sections on the rock face where rainforest grows. The rock I\u2019m climbing over may be only 20 million years old, but the rainforest is part of one of the oldest ecosystems on Earth; it provides a record of our planet\u2019s evolution. This sinks in more while I\u2019m hanging on for dear life \u2013 my timeline on Earth feels even punier against the near-immortality of this big green forest. Whatever it is, Neururer might be on to something when he says, \u201cOur most profound moments come in pushing through fear\u201d. Just as insightfully, he adds: \u201cThis is so much better than hiking\u201d.<\/p>\n The zip line course is another beast entirely. The fear is in stepping off the edge into space, but once you take that giant leap, there\u2019s nothing more anyone can do. I\u2019m flying like a big, awkward bird with arms flailing as I\u2019m spinning and shouting and grinning, whizzing past an entire cliff face at pace, half-a-kilometre in the sky. There are three zip lines, and I ride them all three times (there\u2019s no limit to how many times you can complete the zip line or via ferrata course).<\/p>\n Related Article And now in a physically spent, post-adrenal state (I think Neururer might call \u2018ultimate Zen\u2019), I look back over the cliffs I\u2019ve conquered to the prehistoric park beyond, and the kookaburras are laughing even harder, and the trees look taller and greener, and the sky-scrapers I can just make out on the horizon look so much further away.<\/p>\n THE DETAILS<\/p>\n FLY STAY DO MORE The writer travelled courtesy of Happitat Adventure Park.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/212ee3a0da01419c93d6d5db9f163404a1314062.jpeg\")
An 80-metre-long suspension bridge is one of many challenges in the new park.Chris Crawford<\/p>\n![\"Don\u2019t](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4b17afdc27b776b8d3c9678f06d3f699c4063681.jpeg\")
Don\u2019t look down \u2026 a suspension bridge 400 metres above ground.Chris Crawford<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/81a5c8b32a274137492bef498315f21038a0f8ce.jpeg\")
A daring zipliner at \u201cthe world\u2019s first cliff park\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Visitors](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bb75448023177d0b44b5f015d86c0ee9ba0c2ef4.jpeg\")
Visitors must complete the practice courses before gaining access to the rest of the park.<\/p>\n![\"Climbing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/97cb69b70e720fca2a0ba47b4fceb8e1aae4269d.jpeg\")
Climbing like Spider Man \u2026 tackling Queensland\u2019s via ferrata.<\/p>\n![\"Conquering](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5a51e3a9193634e54001ccff1e09cdf9f26d3077.jpeg\")
Conquering fears half-a-kilometre in the sky.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dd136f985d70a7ab989e16948b265513a2d50a77.jpeg\")
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Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar fly to Gold Coast Airport, then hire a car \u2013 all major car rental companies operate at the airport. Happitat Adventure Park is an hour\u2019s drive north-west (you can park at their carpark at Beechmont).<\/p>\n
Binna Burra Lodge has cliffside cabins, 500 metres from Happitat Adventure Park, from $325 a night. See binnaburralodge.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n
A five-hour unlimited access pass to Happitat Adventure Park costs $377 and includes a complimentary return bus ride from Happitat\u2019s car park at Beechmont, 20 minutes down the mountain (if required). See happitat.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n
parks.qld.gov.au\/parks\/lamington<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Craig](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780430536_524_909782d3ca1cabc6a20020d33495a631275c252f.png\")