Lower Portals swimming hole

TextRoz Glazebrook

PhotosRoz Glazebrook (unless otherwise noted)

The Lower Portals bushwalking track is in Mount Barney National Park, which is part of the Gondwana Rainforest of Australia’s World Heritage Area. The national park is recognised as one of the world’s outstanding and valuable natural places.

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Mount Barney from the road to the car park

The area is near the small rural town of Rathdowney, south of Beaudesert. To get there from Brisbane, head onto Boonah-Rathdowney Road then take Upper Logan Road. Follow the signs to Mt Barney Lodge, until you come to a sign for Lower Portals Road on your right. It is a dirt road, but is suitable for two wheel drive cars. Then follow the Lower Portals sign to the car park.

There are great views along the way of Mount Barney, Mount Maroon, Mount May, Mount Lindesay, Mount Ernest, Mount Ballow and Mount Clunie. These rugged peaks are the remains of the ancient Focal Peak Shield Volcano, which erupted 24 million years ago. Mount Barney National Park is one of the largest areas of undisturbed natural vegetation remaining in South East Queensland.

You can do the walk as a day walk or overnight camping trip. I’ve done both several times, but prefer to camp in the remote area. It can get very hot in summer and freezing in winter, but both times are very interesting.

The access trackThe track into the Lower Portals is well marked, but it can be slippery on the downhill parts. Poles are great to prevent sliding. The

track is in the open for a lot of the way, so you need to wear a hat and sunscreen and take plenty of water. There are lots of tree roots, which you need to watch out for, as it would be easy to trip.

This beautiful hike in the foothills of Mount Barney is a gentler alternative to summiting the mountain itself, and the Lower Portals offer the added bonus of the chance for a wild swim. We could see the top of Mount Barney poking up above the rocks at the Lower Portals.

There are a couple of creek crossings along the track. I’ve crossed Mount Barney Creek when it has been ankle deep and most recently when it was up to my waist. You never know what to expect when going on a bushwalk there, so be prepared for anything.

Happy bushwalkers Laura and Mel

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The walk in to the Lower Portals from the car park is only 3.7 kilometres, but there are five ridges to climb up and go down. The walk in takes about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on rest stops.

You need a permit to camp in the national park ($6.15 per person per night, or $24.60 per family per night).

FaunaIf you are lucky you can see some amazing native animals during this walk. I’ve seen bearded dragons, endangered brush tailed rock wallabies and Northern Brown bandicoots. I saw an Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata) on one of my day walks there. It was my first sighting of one of these dragons. I have seen lots of water dragons and goannas and even the beautiful Boyd's Forest Dragon, which lives up in Far North Queensland previously, but I'd never seen an Eastern Bearded Dragon before.

The Bearded dragon was sunning himself on a large log next to a fence on the track into the Lower Portals. He was very well camouflaged. I read that dragons usually freeze if they feel threatened and puff themselves up, and extend their beard under the throat and open their mouth wide to reveal a bright yellow lining. Our dragon obviously wasn't concerned about us as he didn't puff himself up, or show us his bright yellow throat lining.

These dragons live along the eastern quarter of Australia in open forests, heathland, scrub and in disturbed farmland areas. Dragons mostly eat vegetable matter such as leaves, fruits, berries and flowers, and will also eat insects. I’ve been very lucky on two of my previous trips to see endangered brush tailed rock wallabies.

On my first camping trip there, after setting up our tents, a group of six of us set off to walk up the ridge behind the large water hole. After a short while one of the other women and I turned back to go for a swim as it was pretty hot. We had an American, a Canadian, a German, a New Zealander and two Australians in our group.

The track ends at a deep pool set within a rocky gorge of Mount Barney Creek. There are some large rocks to negotiate to get to the large swimming hole. The other Australian and I climbed up through the rocks to the beautiful Lower Portals pools. Some bushwalkers don’t realise they have to climb up through some

Eastern Bearded Dragon

Brush Tailed Rock Wallaby from 2016 trip

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rocks to get to the large swimming hole. I was lucky the first time I went there that someone showed me the way.

After our swim, we were sitting quietly on the rocks when an inquisitive brush-tailed rock wallaby came and sat near us. The rock wallaby shared the rocks with us for about three-quarters of an hour. It took off when the others returned and bounded straight up the vertical rock face. The four non-Australians were very disappointed they missed seeing this unique native Australian animal up close.

Being very agile, beautiful brush tailed rock wallabies (Petrogale penicillata) feel at home on the steep rocky outcrops in the area and can climb very high cliffs. They used to be hunted for their beautiful fur coats, and because they were thought to be a pest. In some areas they have lost their habitat due to timber clearing, and have to compete with introduced animals such as foxes, feral goats, sheep and rabbits for food. These wallabies have a distinctive bushy tail and are listed as vulnerable to extinction. They balance with their tails and grip rocks with their padded

feet. There are still fragmented populations from the Great Dividing Range from South East Queensland to Western Victoria's Grampians. On another visit, I saw some beautiful blue triangle butterflies at the rock pool.

Swimming and weatherPeople do need to be careful swimming in the large pool. I spoke to a woman last year who told me she saved someone from drowning when she was there one day. The group she was with was leaving the area when they heard someone calling out. She jumped in and swam to save the person who was in difficulty. She said they were very lucky her group was there, as otherwise, the person would have drowned. I've also heard of people getting into trouble in winter in the extremely cold water, so people need to be very careful as hypothermia could be a problem.

Mount Barney Creek

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Well marked track

I’ve camped in the campsite there in ferocious storms, where my friend’s tent washed away, and freezing cold nights when thieving bandicoots tried to steal our food. On the night of the storm I was sleeping in my new Tarptent Moment tent which I had bought from America and seam sealed it myself. I was very happy with it because I stayed dry and warm. We later learned the Lower Portals was in a black area on the weather radar report. One of our walkers had bought a large plastic fly which we all huddled under. It kept filling up with water which we had to tip off, but it kept us dry until we got into our tents.

Another friend had a problem there once when a large goanna ripped into his tent and urinated all over his sleeping bag and clothes while he was swimming in the gorge. It must have been looking for food in his tent. So be careful when you are camping there and protect your food well. We took all our food with us when we went for a swim. Lucky for him, he had hired the tent from our bushwalking club, so their insurance covered the damage and he didn’t loose an expensive lightweight tent.

The recent tripOn my recent trip three of us drove down from Brisbane on a Friday morning in mid-May. The dirt road leading to the car park is accessible by a 2WD. The last couple of hundred metres up to the car park are a little steep and may be rutted if there’s been recent rain. The drive takes about two hours from Brisbane.

After washing our boots at the pathogen control station, we set off on our walk to the campsite. The track leaves from the Lower Portals car park and ends at a beautiful pool along a gorge on Mount Barney Creek. The walk has moderate to steep gradients and is classed as a class 4 track.

The walk was very pleasant. There were a few hills, but it was quite cool so the walking was pretty easy. It is a nice walk with grass trees and bushland. The track was fairly rough and eroded in places and there were a few moderate steep slopes. On other trips I’ve done to the area in summer, the heat has made the walk much harder. Walking poles are very helpful on the steep bits and for crossing the creek when it is deep.

The track can be fairly slippery so you need to wear boots or shoes with good grip, although on other trips there I’ve seen people walking in thongs. You also need to carry plenty of

Start of the track, nice grass trees

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drinking water. On a day walk I did to the area on an extremely hot day in 40 degree heat, we all ran out of water on the way out. We were very grateful to our driver who had a large ice cold container of water in her car.

There are a couple of creeks to cross. The last one before the campsite was a lot deeper than on previous walks there. I went across first and obviously went very deep. My two friends took more time and found a shallower place to cross. On previous walks it was only

ankle deep. This time it was up to my waist, although I think I went through a deep hole.

After setting up camp, we took our lunch and headed off through the rocks for a swim in the gorge. It was absolutely freezing, but we all bravely did it. We then headed back to camp and spent some time down by the creek behind the campsite. I had seen rock wallabies there before, but they must have been hiding this time.

Roz crossing Barney Creek Mel Grecco

The look on Mel's face says it all

Mel coming through the rocks

Laura sqeezing through the rocks to the large swimming hole

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The Lower Portal campsite in 2019 before the big storm