There’s nothing better than being outdoors and getting in touch with nature. 

With a long weekend coming up, it’s a great opportunity to go walking and hiking. 

Here’s eight great walks around Ipswich to help you start planning you long weekend adventure. 

Colleges Crossing 

Colleges Crossing is a great place to take the family for a walk.  Check out the frog sculptures along the way and the lake for fishing and kayaking.

And there’s bike and scooter paths, walking tracks, and sheltered tables.

River Heart Parklands 

Enjoy the riverside boardwalk along and learn while taking in the information boards on the history of the river. 

There’s 1.2km of wheelchair and pram-friendly boardwalks that lead through to Bob Gamble Park. 

Stroll through a mini rainforest and past a cascading waterfall and sculpture pond.

At night the River Heart Parklands lights up with a beautiful lighting display on the river.

Queens Park 

One of the oldest parks in Queensland, Queens Park, includes the Japanese inspired Nerima Gardens and the Ipswich Nature Centre.

Enjoy the green expanse of the park which turns purple in Jacaranda season, and don’t miss the outdoor chapel behind the café. 

Flinders-Goolman Conservation Estate 

The conservation estate covers just over 2200ha and supports extensive forests and rugged volcanic peaks and slopes including Flinders Peak, Mt Blaine, Mt Catherine and Mt Goolman. 

A range of recreational activities are on offer to visitors in the Flinders-Goolman Conservation Estate including bird-watching, hiking, mountain bike and horse riding (bring your own bike or horse). 

The Hardings Paddock and Flinders Plum Picnic Areas have picnic tables and public toilets.

Purga Nature Reserve 

For a unique nature walk just 15 minutes from Ipswich, Purga Nature Reserve is a peaceful getaway.

It has the largest remnant of Swamp Tea Tree protected in Australia, and there are short, self-guided walks amid the ghostly, ashen trees that are truly spectacular. 

The reserve has two Class 2 tracks for easy level walking, including the 350-metre wheelchair-accessible Tea Tree Boardwalk Circuit, raised high enough to keep your feet dry even if the wetlands have had rain.

The longer Melaleuca Circuit is still a fairly short stroll on flat land, and with the native herbs, wildflowers and ground covers in place, it’s an inviting habitat for birds.  There’s picnic tables, compost toilets and drinking water available.

Denmark Hill Conservation Reserve 

Once you descend the walking tracks amid huge native trees, you completely forget that you’re in the middle of Ipswich.

Denmark Hill is a popular place for bird watchers, with owls, kookaburras, wrens, finches and others making their homes here. 

You can take the five-storey staircase to the top of the water tower for a spectacular vista then you have a choice of walking circuits that range from 200 to 800 metres.

It’s a relaxing walk down to the picnic area where you venture into Triassic Park, complete with a Stegosaurus structure protecting the dinosaur footprints and fossil displays that have been found there. 

Castle Hill Blackstone Reserve 

From culture-rich mining heritage to adrenalin-fuelled downhill mountain biking, Castle Hill is a unique place and offers an experience unlike anything else in the region. 

For those wanting to discover the Reserves historical significance, take a walk along the Lewis Thomas Historical Trail.

Explore the coal mining history of the reserve as you pass open mine tunnels, hand-dug mine shafts and relics of the imposing three storey “Castle” which once towered over Blackstone. 

Robelle Domain 

The Robelle Domain parklands, half an hour from Brisbane’s Central Business District, offer visitors a rainforest walk, waterfalls, water play areas, bike tracks and more. 

Robelle Domain has an 11 kilometre pathway network for family fun during the day and at night the 9-metre high light tower installations give off a spectacular light and sound show.

Across a footbridge is Orion Lagoon – an amazing oasis of interconnected pools of varying depth.

White Rock 

The White Rock – Spring Mountain conservation estate is also a great place to go walking.

Visitors can enjoy the full gamut of outdoor activities including hiking, bird-watching, horse riding (bring your own horse), mountain bike riding and nature study.

For the bushwalker, there’s everything from a leisurely 200 metre walk to the more challenging 19 kilometre round trip trail, with most of the trails suitable for hiking and mountain bike riding. If you’re on horseback, then the Yaddamun Trail is perfect.

The entry to the Estate is the Paperbark Flats Picnic Area, at the end of School Road in Redbank Plains. Amenities on site include toilets, picnic facilities and horse float parking.

• As per Cultural Protocol the Traditional Owners have requested no one climbs White Rock.
• Pictured is the view from the Main Ridge Lookout.