TAKE A WALK ON WET AND WILD SIDE
Waterfalls are the star attraction of this circuit
THIS is the festival of the waterfall.
With more than half a dozen cascading falls in the dry season – and countless more with wet weather – the Toolona Creek circuit at O’Reilly’s is for hardcore H2O lovers.
With a track that traverses 17km, you’re best to take a whole day to soak in the sights and sounds … not to mention appropriate festival fashion. And by that, we mean good shoes. Ones that you don’t mind getting wet.
The circuit combines the very best that Lamington National Park has to offer – scenic waterfalls, swimming holes, boulder-strewn creeks, tall rainforests, gnarled Antarctic beech trees and views over Byron Bay and the WorldHeritage listed rainforests of Queensland and NSW.
The track branches from the Box Forest circuit near Elabana Falls. From here, walk clockwise up beside Toolona Creek to a gorge and past its headwaters to emerge on the Border Track near Wanungara Lookout.
See Chalahn and Tooloona Falls and a myriad of cascades along the way before returning along the Border Track to Green Mountains.
The walk is classified as an Australian Standard 4 hike due to the rocky path along Toolona Creek, rather than difficulty of the track, which takes four to six hours to complete.
Hiker and photographer Kenneth Ware says while rain adds to the drama of the multiple falls, it’s best to walk the circuit in drier weather.
“It’s not a difficult walk, but with all this rain you’re doing a lot of wading through water. If we have a few days of sunshine conditions should be perfect – lots of water in the falls, not so much on the path.”