Toolona Creek Circuit

Lamington National Park

A beautiful walk along Toolona Creek and an endless number of waterfalls! Many creek crossings and beautiful, lush areas deep in the valley.

Waterfalls
Lookouts
Bird Watching
Scrambling or Climbing
No Dogs Permitted
Camping Permitted
Rainforest
1193m
Maximum Elevation
480m
Total Climb

Getting there

From the Canungra township take Lamington National Park Rd. Follow until arriving at O'Reilly's where there is plenty of public parking. The trailhead is 100m up the road from here.

Maps

http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/pdf/lamington-green-mts-map.pdf

Route/Trail notes

Descends from the border track to Picnic Rock, with a short detour Elabana and Box Log Falls can be reached. The track then meets Toolona Creek and follows it up until meeting the Border Track. Wanungara (with a short detour) and Toolona lookout can be reached while completing the circuit and returning via the Border Track.

Permits/Costs

Free, camping at mount Bithongabel remote bush camp is subject to standard NP camping fees.

Other References

QLD Nat parks

Comments

Beautiful rain forest and waterfalls. Bit leechy and muddy at the time, which took some of the fun out of it for me.

Cfizzle on Dec, 2022

Beautiful walk, a bit muddy, and slippery around the waterfalls, but not too challenging.

samkramer on 17 Sep, 2022

Completed in 3.5 hrs half running half walking. Went at first light the morning after some rain and it was gorgeous, the beech trees and waterfalls were awesome. Shorts and a light t-shirt were fine, only managed to nab one leech. The trail was littered with slippery rocks and roots on the Toolona section of the trail. Only saw other hikers whilst returning to Green Mountains trailhead.

asherbasher on 10 Sep, 2022

A lovely hike, managed to complete it in ~5hrs including a brief lunch break. Nothing too challenging, but some narrow overgrown sections and rock hopping. Beware of some very muddy sections, mostly after it connects to the border track, if it has recently rained.

Ben on 14 Aug, 2022

so beautiful

TrinaAtley on 30 May, 2021

Great waterfalls and just beautiful rainforest. Took heaps of photos. There was lots and lots of mud. Took us 9 hours and walked 35 kms full trip. After arriving at the Toolona Falls and kept walking we got a bit stressed when we thought we were lost and it was getting late and dark and we ended up on the Border Track. We just kept following the signs to O'Reilly's. GPS wasn't woking on the mobile so panic station set in. We just didn't know how long we had to go as no kms are on the signs. I think this was the fastest we walked all day getting back before dark. I fell over a few times even with good hiking shoes on as the rocks were a bit slippery. Walking in a bit of water and mud and nephew got a Leech on his finger that latched on. Was a good hard walk and felt it the next day. We survived.

Caparker on 14 Mar, 2021

Only a few creek crossings that aren't to bad but you still need to watch your footing and an easy to follow trail. It poured down rain for most of our walk and no view at the Toolona Lookout due to fog and cloud. Even with the rain I really enjoyed it. We had full overnight back packs on as we were going to be camping at Echo Point for the night but unfortunately the thunder started coming in so we continued back to Oreillys. A few trees to climb over/under but not to bad. Glad have ticked this one off and will do it again when the weather is better. This one is not hard, its just a long one, elevation isn't to bad either for those who arent fans of walking up steep hills like me. We did it anti clockwise which I think is the better way with it been all pretty much flat and easy going for the last 5 kilometers. Trekking poles are a great help!!!

Janelle on 24 Oct, 2020

Personally will not recommend... Roads are mostly flat but with mud/little rocks. Could be long and boring, especially very tough on the ankles after 15kms. It also seemed like people barely go there, lots of spiderweb (hitting your face) and lack of signages - we often thought we were at the wrong route.

Waterfalls aren’t that beautiful either, you could see heaps that are a lot more beautiful in Tamborine mountains. The drive to O’Reilly’s rainforest retreat (parking) was quite long and heaps of one lane routes (took us 4 hours return from Surfers).

Toolona lookout was beautiful tho! Well, if you enjoy a jungle walk, this will probably be your go. It took us 5 hrs (17.5km).

Rosalie Wang on 13 Oct, 2020

A gorgeous walk. Highly recommend. Considering the distance not that hard and extremely scenic. Lots of pretty little waterfalls (10+) as you cross cross the creek. Heard about the dingoes but didn’t see any. Could see Crays if looking carefully. Saw stands of amazing ancient Antarctic Beech trees. Whoever said this was boring has no appreciation for Mother Nature and the earth that gives us life. Without the rainforest where will we be? This walk even has views. Highly recommend. If wet, bring spare socks, waterproof shoes, gaiters to protect from leeches and insect repellent.

Caroline on 10 Oct, 2020

We did 23.64km in total, took 9 hours exactly, with multiple stops at the waterfalls and lunch at Toolona waterfall. Not much wildlife around but the track was very busy.

KLEEWDO on 3 Oct, 2020

This is a great walk, HOWEVER. If you use the shortcuts at the switchbacks you’ll miss the track split from Box Forest CCT to Toolana Creek CCT. We wandered around Box Forest for about 2 hours (and added an extra 10km to our trip) before backtracking far enough to realise our mistake..

Total trip for our group was about 28km. We left the car park at 7.30am and got back at about 3.30pm

September is the right time of year for this one, not too cold, not too hot. I used 2 x 600ml bottles of water which was plenty. My fitness level is only about 5/10.

Note that the cafe closes at 2.30 so if you leave this one too late in the day you’ll miss out on lunch when you get back.

Remy on 3 Sep, 2020

Stunning! After some heavy rains in the week before the waterfalls were glorious and the multiple creek crossings a little challenging and the track was muddy but nothing to bad. Did the circuit clockwise.
Leaving a bit late at 10:30am, with a stop for lunch and many photo stops, got us back just after 5pm to catch some sunset. Only saw 3 other people all day once past the Picnic Rock track.
This is a world class walk!

Pi on 28 Jul, 2020

We started the walk along via the Tree Top Walk, straight onto the Boarder Track then looped back along the Toolona Creek track to complete the circuit. 20 kms in total taking us 5 hours with lots of photos!

It is seriously an endless number of waterfalls! Heaps of awesome fun creek crossings and beautiful, lush areas deep in the valley.

Toolona Creek Circuit is a Grade 4 hike and we certainly felt it! Chalahn Falls and Toolona falls were standouts! Gorgeous Antarctic Beech forest and views over the NSW from the Border Track section via four lookouts. Wanungara, Toolona, Bithongabel and Boolamoola lookouts.

BE AWARE THE TRACK CAN AND WILL GET MUDDY! Wear shoes that can handle the mud!

We saw heaps of Lamington cray, but no dingoes even though others have been lucky enough to see some. Don't forget to take some insect repellent and spray your legs and shoes well to prevent leaches.

Would recommend to everyone!!

Wade Boyes on 26 Jul, 2020

A fantastic walk with lots of variation - 10+ beautiful waterfalls, gorgeous Antarctic Beech forest and views over the NSW from the Border Track section. Also, for a 17km walk it's not very hard, there's lots of switchbacks to make the uphill sections easy.
Would not recommend after heavy rain however - we only had light rain in the week before doing the walk, and the path was already quite muddy and slippery in places.

Sophie P on 27 Jun, 2020

First time to Lamington NP. Walked the Toolona Creek Circuit. What a gem of a walk. I think I missed Elabana Falls. 17.8k all up in 4hrs 34mins with stops for video & photos. I pushed the pace as wanted to get back to Brisbane before peak hour traffic. 5 degrees at the start with a nice breeze. No leeches :) I had the circuit to myself until about 7k to go. Came across a black dingo just after Toolona Falls. Just staring at me from the above single track. youtube video https://youtu.be/pxz7rP2IluQ to share. Not a fan of the long windy road but look forward to head back to explore some more

Grunter on 24 Jun, 2020

Waterfalls, lovely rainforest scenery and if you stop to listen (& people are not loud)...silence. #bliss Lovely walk that I don’t consider to be hard. Switchbacks are really good with going up in place of steps - I was glad there weren’t many as they kill the knees. I would return to explore other walks but do get worried that the parking and picnic area were quite busy and some people tend to be quite loud when walking and you lose the sense of serenity which this area can really provide. Overall though, I enjoyed the walk and the scenery.

Anoogle on 6 Jun, 2020

Started this walk at 9am and finished at about 2.30pm. We stopped and took lots of photos and to watch some birds foraging. This is a really lovely walk - nothing hard but there are some sections of rocks to walk over and often uneven/rocky trails. We walked clockwise (veering left at the first fork in the track after the bitumen section) which was awesome to see all of the waterfalls in this first 8 or so km’s. Lots of switchbacks but even going uphill was easy here. The last 7-8km’s is downhill and a very different landscape full of Antarctic beech trees. The entire walk is stunning and I can’t wait to do it again or make it longer and stay overnight in the area!

S K on 5 Jun, 2020

This is an amazing walk - well worth it. We lost count of the waterfalls but estimated around at least 12. The change of scenery up near the Border Track was quite dramatic with the ancient beech forest, is also saw some very strange ‘furry’ rocks. Keep any eye out for them - they look almost alien! We didn’t see much fauna apart from birds, although we were lucky enough to see a lyrebird which was amazing. Make sure you take some warm clothes in the cooler months, we were wishing we had some gloves for the last section of the hike.

Energy Renegade 💗✨ on 12 May, 2020

The track was quite damp and muddy in patches and I stopped for lots of photos of the beautiful little waterfalls, so it took a bit longer than I planned (4.5hrs - however I mostly jogged the last 6km).
Really nice walk, if you do the track clockwise it means the last third will be in the coolness of higher altitude and mostly downhill. However if you did it counter clockwise, you might be able to stop for a swim in one of the waterfalls closer to the trailhead at the end.
Great walk to find Lamington cray, saw a couple of big ones on the track, a few dozen in the water. Spotted a few dingoes on the way out which pretty cool!

Pete on 2 Apr, 2020

Second time doing this walk and was glad that i didnt encounter a single leech, last time i went it was ridiculous how many there were. Super nice walk with plenty of waterfalls, i lost count halfway through but i think saw somewhere just above 10! really easy to also include a small detour to box log falls if you want to add another 30 minutes or so to your trip.

Itonist584 on 21 Mar, 2020

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