If you love chasing waterfalls, the Albert River Circuit in Lamington National Park (Green Mountains) would be one of the best long distance walking tracks (around 21km) to spend a day exploring on. I would also recommend the Tooloona Creek Circuit (17km) and the Box Log Circuit (10km) if you have done the Albert River Circuit already.
It took me roughly around 7-8 hours to complete the walking track at a slightly relaxed walking pace with breaks for lunch and photos. I would definitely recommend an early morning start if you plan to do this track in full, as some sections of the track involve creek crossings, and parts of the track are slightly overgrown and can get confusing especially for first-timers doing this track. The park map comes in handy when the tracks get confusing, you could ask for one in the information centre near the resort before you start the walk.
One of the great benefits of driving up a mountain early in the morning, is that animals, like the Whiptail Wallaby, are happy to be your roadside travel companion. An awesome start to another great day out exploring South East Queensland.
Once you have parked at the top carpark near the O'Reilly's Resort, head to the start of the Border Track. Follow the Border Track until you reach the first sign pointing towards the Albert River Circuit. You can either start here (anti-closewise direction) or walk a few metres further to start at the next turnoff (closewise direction). I did the circuit starting from the first turnoff.
You will find yourself submerged in the Antarctic Beechtree Forest, surrounded by these ancient/huge circularly grown creatures every few metres once you have entered the Albert River Circuit Track from the first turnoff. Not long after starting the Albert River track, you will arrive at a section where the track looked like it continued straight passing the giant Beechtree, however, this is where you should turn sharp left. If you see a bunch of dead tree branches stacked on the ground next to the giant beechtree, make the turn here. I'm curious as to where the straight track leads to though, if anyone knows?
Keep following the slightly overgrown track, you will see a metal triangle mark on the tree, turn right at this point and you should see the first waterfall shortly after this. This is a multi-tier fall. My recommendation is keep walking until you reach the valley, it is the easiest access point to see the whole scale of the waterfall. There are quite a number of waterfalls for photo opportunities if you keep continue the track. After slightly heavy rainfalls, the creek crossings can be tricky to navigate, if you are not confident in rock hopping or comfortable walking with wet feet, I would suggest to do this track during drier period of the year (or not straight after recent rainfalls).
Eventually you would start walking up out of the waterfall filled valley and reach the first lookout beautifully named, the Echo Point Lookout. The valley down below is The Valley of Echos, and you would be able to see part of the ancient Tweed volcanic crater and its plug, Mount Warning. It's a perfectly shaded lunch spot if you haven't decided to take lunch break next to one of the waterfalls in the valley.
(Imagie from: www.geocaching.com)
The track gets easier as it is mostly downhill walking all the way back to the O'Reilly's Resort. The second option to return to the resort is to take the Booyoong Walk which leads to the Tree Top Walk, and then back to the resort.
Enjoy hiking in SEQ!
