I’ve not been to Lamington NP but I’ve also heard it’s well worth a visit. I don’t know QLD very well, though I’ve been to Cairns and the Atherton Tableland and enjoyed them.

The Gold Coast itself is not my sort of town. Too much concrete & glitz. The Sunshine Coast further north (Noosa) is more appealing. Less high rise towers. SE QLD generally … Brisbane-Gold Coast…is one of fasting growing urban-suburban areas in Australia. 

Another National Park to consider visiting is The Warrumbungles north of Dubbo near Coonabarabran.

One of many quirks of Australia’s three tiered  government system is that National Parks are almost all administered by individual state governments, not by the national government. 

Hence you’ll be able to find information about the parks through state and local government sites. Also note that in NSW at least, there’s an extensive system of State Forests which also have good camp sites and conservation areas.

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/regions/country-nsw/map

Re: heat. Today’s maximum in Dubbo is 42°C. Similar in western Sydney.
A massive heat wave is crossing most of mainland Australia. I’m glad I have another couple of days in New Zealand.

Hi Jean-Marc

it is a long time since I heard Hadedahs  so you will have to form your own opinion after you have encountered a flock of Cockies or Corellas.

If you are happy to go off the bitumen you can travel Stanthorpe-Warwick-Toowoomba-Thagoona completely off the highways and through some beautiful back country. Thagoona is the outer limit of the Brisbane suburban rail network. You can take bikes on Brisbane trains however during rush hour only if you are going against the flow.

If you take the Inland route north you can also travel Toowoomba-Roma off the highway with an occasional bush camp (only once if you can manage a reasonable distance on the bike). If heading north from Roma I would recommend a slight detour through Lonesome National Park and Arcadia Valley although some bush camping would be needed. Lake Nuga Nuga is a beautiful camping spot if (big if!) it has water in it. Arcadia Valley gives you the option of ducking back to the highway for Carnarvon Nat Park, or continuing to Rolleston and deciding if you want to go back to the coast or continue inland.

Alternatively you can head out of Brisbane via train to Ipswich and the the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail and Kingaroy-Kilkivan Rail Trail to get as far north as Gympie. If doing this either take back roads or catch the school bus from Kilivan to Gympie; the main road just isn't worth the risk.

Just my two cents worth on the little areas I'm familiar with! I'm sure whatever route you choose you'll have a fantastic time, and will see lots of birds.

Thanks for more good advice, Catherine.   It's eleven weeks to go before we leave so we still have lots of time to develop plans that will be broken but, with so many possibilities,  I have a suspicion we could arrive in Australia with no plan to break.

“If you are happy to go off the bitumen you can travel Stanthorpe-Warwick-Toowoomba-Thagoona completely off the highways”

Hi Catherine 

I’m really interested to know more about this Stanthorpe to Thagoona route. I’m planning to cycle from Canberra to Brisbane from that general direction in April. Do you know if the unsealed surface would be ok for normal road tyres and reasonably sturdy loaded touring bike? But it’s not a mountain bike.  I’ll be on Thorn Sherpa 26” bike carrying an average self supporting load. 

I had no difficulty on a entry level mountain bike without knobby tyres, however some sections particularly between Stanthorpe and Warwick were quite corrugated and some patches of very loose gravel. Unfortunately I don't have up to date knowledge of the road conditions and the gravel roads do vary considerably over time.  My general answer is that you would probably be more comfortable with wider tyres.

This is similar to the tyres I had: https://www.pushys.com.au/continental-ride-tour-26x1-75inch-urban-tyre-reflective-sidewall.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj_CrBhD-ARIsAIiMxT--LEPvedbMnSq_l2Kfw9OLudNWlwTDRCULOo1oNir0CeUg-nhzUZMaAg8kEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

(I hope that link works).

Graham, my wife and ride Thorn Ravens, the same frame as your Sherpa except fitted with a Rohloff hub.  Tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Mondials.  The bikes have handled the ripio of Patagonia on three trips and far worse conditions here in South africa.   My bike is usually heavily loaded, often weighing north of fifty kilograms.  I have a feeling you shouldn't have any problems.

Thanks Catherine and Jean for the helpful advice. Much appreciated. 

Why call the bike a Raven? A Sherpa is descriptive of the job it might do. A Raven being a bird is not much of a load carrier.

Our Thorn tandem is a twin Raven and it is only quite recently that I had a look at the Rohloff logo, a Raven! Duh!

Apparently Robin Thorn had the decency to ask Herr Rohloff's permission to use the Raven name on his bikes.

Nonetheless, I'm guessing a bird on the back of a porter is worth two on a bicycle.