Lamington National Park experience

[Champion_Munch]

While we are all reminiscing... a few weeks back I did an interesting variation of the Ships Stern Circuit, coming in from the valley via Turtle Rock. The scramble up the Ships stern was very hot and exposed but exhilarating!

[Champion_Munch]

Some fungi from my last couple of trips to Lamington...

[GarethMcguigan]

Hi,

Below is a video link from my recent trip in Lamington National Park. Taking in the Border Trail, Toolona Creek Circuit and Black Canyon.

Hope you enjoy it.

https://vimeo.com/76940807

Cheers

Flinders

Great video, is it difficult to spot the right place to turn off the Albert River Circuit and start the off track walk to Black Canyon ?

[weeds]

Nice

[n5750547]

Hi all

I was hoping to visit Lamington for the first time next weekend and was hoping to get some opinions. The link below is the circuit I want to do over the course of 2 days:

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=6138274

From what I've read this should be a decent loop to get a bit of a feel for the place and scope out some longer walks for my next visit. I did want to do the border track from Binna Burra To Green Mountain but we've only got the 1 car so it has to be a loop. What do you think?

Cheers
Phil

[weeds]

Where bouts are you camping??

We walked to Rat A Tat over two days.

[Champion_Munch]

Hi Phil,

Sounds like a good plan! The circuit appears to take in both Toolona Creek and Albert River circuits, both very scenic creek walks with lots of waterfalls, with sections along the Border Track where you will get some great views towards Mount Warning and the coast to the south. This circuit would give you two options for an overnight camp - either at Bithongabel or at Echo Point. From Echo Point there is a short walk to a good lookout that (I imagine) would be nice at sunrise or sunset. If you have never been to Lamington NP then this will give you a good introduction.

Enjoy your walk!

Cheers,
Munch

[RonK]

I did want to do the border track from Binna Burra To Green Mountain but we've only got the 1 car so it has to be a loop. What do you think?

What do I think? Walk Binna Burra to O'Reilly's, camp there and have a nice dinner in the cafe, return to Binna Burra next day.
I've done this a couple of times.

[n5750547]

I think we will be camping at either Echo Point or one of the Lost World sites. We will probably get walking reasonably early so we will decide what suits best when we are there and have had a bit of an explore. I have heard Bithongabel is a good place to camp but unfortunately its already booked out.

While I wouldn't mind a nice dinner at O'Reilly's, I'm looking forward to cooking some spam hash for dinner while sitting in my hammock in the middle of nowhere.

Cheers for the help!
Phil

[weeds]

Check campsite bookings.......it's surprising how often echo is fully booked..........

[n5750547]

So we ended up doing a 2 day walk around Lamington and pretty much followed the Wikiloc link I posted above with a bit of extra exploring (ended up covering 38km). It really is an amazing place and I will definately be going back soon




Cheers
Phil

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[Nungulba]

[quote="tas-man"]I've still got my O'Reilly's Tourist Map which was all I used for many years for exploring that part of Lamington. Looks positively ancient against Google Earth!

I remember that map - A classic! It hatched many bushwalking adventures throughout the 60s (My first trip to O'Reilly's was in 1959, staying at the guest-house for a fortnight) As well as the standard daywalks into the park, we did a long day's trek down into the Kerry Valley, with lunch at Bernard's Lost World guest-house. I definitely recall having scones and tomato jam, with lashings of billy tea!!! After lunch we slogged back over the foothills and rock-hopped up Moran's Creek.

Great Days, tas-man!

[phan_TOM]

Some photos from a wet and windy overnight trip to Lamington last weekend. Like my last two Lamington trips I started at Binna Burra and walked via the Toolona Creek Circuit to green Mountain to camp for the night, returning via the Border Track direct to Binna Burra the next day. Pretty much perfect conditions for walking through the rainforest, atmospheric, nice and cool, beautiful soft light, 6 billion leeches, the wonder of standing near the edge of the escarpment in the clouds as they went whipping past etc

All taken with my Sony RX100 as the E-M1 is currently with Olympus getting repairs from me falling with tripod and camera into a creek at Dorrigo NP the week before

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[phan_TOM]

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[Champion_Munch]

Great photos. We'll be up there for an overnight walk sometime in the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed for similar conditions!

[phan_TOM]

There's a good volume of water in the creeks so the waterfalls should be looking great for you. And I'd recommend doing the Toolona Creek Circuit if you are after some nice falls, I think it's the track with the highest concentration of picturesque falls in the park. I would have taken more waterfall shots but the rain and wind got too heavy along that section

[Champion_Munch]

Yup, Toolona Creek Circuit is one of my favourites. We'll be doing either that or Albert River Circuit, depending on which campsite we end up picking. My only concern is that the water levels might make some of the creek crossings a bit tricky with a heavy pack, but we'll see how we go.

The lighting in your photos is fantastic. Can I ask what settings you were using on your RX100 for the shots? I have a similar camera... these shots give me hope that I can achieve similar quality one day.

[Nungulba]

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Terrific photos, mate. Definitely a "Lord of the Rings" atmosphere in some of them. Well done!!!

[phan_TOM]

Definitely a "Lord of the Rings" atmosphere in some of them

Yeah it's fully prehistoric along some sections up there, especially along some of the high points through the cloud forest with all the usnea and other epiphytes. There was only one odd creature with big hairy feet up up there on the weekend (that I know of) and unfortunately it wasn't a hobbit, it was me

Can I ask what settings you were using on your RX100 for the shots? I have a similar camera...

I've had my RX100 for a few years now and I'm still surprised at how great the photos it takes are, it's a top little camera. One accessory I would recommend is a CPL filter which is almost essential up in the rainforest. It will cut the reflections on a damp day and really bring out the colours. I'm not sure if there are other manufacturers but I have one of these. It was easy to install and well worth the money - http://mogopod.com/products/magfilter. A couple of things I find when using the CPL filter though is that 1) the colours can come out too saturated and nearly always need the volume turned down later when editing & 2) it will cut the amount of light entering the lens so you will need to use a slower shutter speed (or turn up the iso, not ideal; or open up the aperture, again not ideal depending on the shot)

Otherwise I had the camera set on the usual: ISO 200, on a medium sized tripod, stabiliser off, aperture at f8 for adequate dof or wide open to separate the subject from the background, self timer on at least 2 seconds, RAW file format, etc

Then it's just trying to frame up a decent composition which is a lot harder than saying "Then it's just trying to frame up a decent composition". It's so busy in the jungle that you really need to isolate your subject and take your time to remove any unwanted or distracting elements from the shot. Otherwise the subject won't be clear and you will probably end up with something dull. There's heaps of books, web pages etc dedicated to understanding composition but one trick I find helps is to fill the frame completely with the chosen subject and then slowly move backward (or zoom out) until you have something that you like and also maybe move the subject around in the frame until it feels balanced or you find some other sympathetic elements that work with the shot etc.

I'll look forward to your trip report

[Champion_Munch]

We ended up camping at Rat-a-tat hut, walking in via the waterfall section of the Albert River Circuit and out via the shorter lookouts route. Fine weather on the Sat and misty and drizzly on Sun - perfect mix for the trip. This was a training walk for our upcoming walk in Tassie and I think the missus found it a bit tough, but we made it in before dark this time and got to see the campsite in mist, at it's very best! Beautiful spot. Didn't bring a tripod so didn't take many photos in the end.

[Kingy77]

Hi Champion_Munch,
Just wondering what sort of time your trip to Rat-a-tat took you.
Myself and a mate intend doing this exact route you took.
Mostly want to know how the Albert River section was on the way out.
Cheers!

[Champion_Munch]

Hey Kingy,

Albert River circuit took us maybe 7-8 hours, all up? Would be something like 4-5 h via the waterfalls and 3 h via the lookouts with packs. From Echo Point campsite it's about 2.5 h one-way to Rat-a-tat hut, allowing for the general rainforest hazards and storm damage that you will encounter along the way (there was certainly a lot of recent storm damage when we went through - including a particularly large section just east of the Mt Worendo summit). Bear in mind we were a pretty slow party, you could probably do it a bit quicker if you are a fast group.

It's quicker via the lookouts but the waterfalls are well worth checking out if you have time to do that end of the circuit as well. We have done it both ways (in via waterfalls and out via lookouts, as well as in via lookouts and out via waterfalls), and would suggest seeing the waterfalls on day 1 to avoid a long uphill climb at the end of day 2.

[Kingy77]

Thanks for that!
We were thinking of going out via the Albert River Cct, if we felt up to it, this will be a great guide for us.

It's been almost 10 years (WOW... time flies) since I've been to Rat-a-tat, coming from the Border Ranges. (that was a good hike!)
I'll post photos if i get some good ones.
Cheers.

[dis]

Finally made it out to Black Canyon yesterday. AMAZING!! Although the return journey on the border track is just pure torture.

[drewmac]

Hi there,

Nice photo.

Thinking of doing this at Easter as part of a loop walk.

Why was the border track torture?

[dis]

The border track is boring drewmac.

Visited Bohgaban Falls yesterday. Absolutely beautiful after all of the recent rain. The rock hop was a little nasty as everything was super wet and slippery.

[Champion_Munch]

Nice photo dis. Did you bash above the falls back to the lower bellbird track after the rock hop?

[dis]

We went up bellbird creek, bypassed lower bellbird falls on the left bank then bashed up a nearby ridge to lower bellbird track.

[embrs]

Hey guys, I am looking to walk into the black canyon soon. Could you possibly give me an idea of were you left the Albert river Track for the offtrack section? Any extra details you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[dis]

Hello Embrs,

After the near hairpin turn on the Albert River Circuit you keep going for around 500m and go past Shooting Creek. From the track and creek intersection, walk and count approx 100 paces. That's it turn off the trail and head down hill.

From memory, there is a faint down arrow carved into one of the trees near the track. Keep your eyes open and it shouldn't be hard to miss.

Cheers.