Felicity Loughrey

Need to reconnect with nature but don’t want to drive for hours? Discover these great easy bushwalks all within Brisbane. You’ll still need passable walking shoes, a hat and a water bottle, but you’ll be on the trail within minutes of stepping out your front door. As with any hike, check the weather conditions, glance at a map, walk with a friend and avoid the hotter part of the day. Don’t forget to stop, look around and listen. Soak up that bushy ambience! These local walks will rejuvenate your soul without losing your mobile signal because that Map app will be useful when the trail gets confusing. RECOMMENDED: The best easy day hikes near Brisbane. 

When Covid first hit and we were confined to within a few kilometres of our homes, I Googled bushwalks near me and found my new, near daily routine: Seven Hills Bushland Reserve.  When I first walked this track I did it with Google Maps open on my phone, consulting various signposts as I went. I now know the track so well, I have no need for my phone (except to listen to podcasts) and can even provide directions to others. There are many entry points to this city-bush spot. I sometimes park on Richmond Road, Cannon Hill, but really any street nearby that is easy to park and not a nuisance to locals is fine. Within the 50 hectare reserve, there are essentially two loops and it’s up to you whether you want to do it as a figure-eight or a letter B, or you can just start with a single loop.  Despite the Seven Hills Bushland Reserve being in the middle of southern Brisbane suburbia, I’ve seen a koala up a gum tree, the most incredible black cockatoo holding still on a tree stump, a fluorescent green tree snake and in the Perrin Creek gully there are often blue-winged butterflies.  A friend, who I had cajoled into walking with me, asked if I get scared walking on my own? Not at all. I walk the track so much I know many of the regular walkers by sight. Am actually in debt to the Seven Hills bushwalking community as one time I lost my car keys and so I asked everyone I saw, if they found my keys to leave them on the wooden post at a particular junction spot. When I had completed the