O'Reillys to Rat-a-Tat Hut (Day 2)

Day 2 - Rat-a-Tat Hut to O'Reillys (via Albert River Circuit Waterfalls)

Location: Lamington National Park (Green Mountains), SEQ
Date: 20th April, 2014
Distance: 15.9 km
Time: 7.5 hours

The full glory of our campsite was revealed to us when we woke up this morning. Nestled in the heart of the Lamington rainforest, there was nobody else within many miles and we felt truly isolated in our little haven. The only other campsite I've stayed at that comes close to rivaling the beauty of Rat-a-Tat was Echo Point on the Overland Track.

Our water source at Rat-a-tat hut campsite

We're both fairly early risers but didn't get going until almost 9:30am, taking it easy knowing that we wouldn't run out of light again today. After a reasonably steep climb up past the creek, we met the Rat-a-Tat sign and rejoined the main track, heading north for O'Reilly's.

It's pretty easy to spot in the day...

It was interesting to compare the path in the full brightness of day and see where we got lost last night. 5 minutes after the Rat-a-Tat sign we passed the Mt Durigan turnoff.

Looking backwards: veer right to get to Rat-a-Tat campsite and avoid the side trip to Mt Durigan

After another 5 minutes we encountered the right turn that led us away from the main track to a dry creekbed yesterday.

Looking backwards: don't turn right here! 

From here it was 20 minutes uphill to the summit of Mt Wupawn. It was surprisingly steeper than we remembered it being on the way down yesterday, although we were racing down the mountain at the time.

Where the track is obvious heading one direction, it can be impossible to discern going the other way. We found that out this morning, as we managed (somehow, again) to get lost a couple of times coming down from Mt Wupawn. In some sections the rainforest is fairly open and it's easy to take a wrong turn or two, but because the path essentially follows the ridge line it wasn't too much trouble to find our way again.

Is this a path? Answer: no (well, not the right one at least)

Because of our random meanderings it was over an hour of hiking between Mt Wupawn and Mt Worendo, but the rainforest was so spectacular we could hardly complain. Skirting around the southern side of Mt Worendo, we followed the right track this time. It didn't look familiar for the first 10-15 minutes, so we must have branched off from it fairly far back yesterday.

2.5 hours after packing up our tent we were back at Echo Point campsite. Again we didn't come across any other hikers, and only saw 2 more on the Albert River Circuit this morning. Even over Easter, nobody seems very keen on visiting this section of Lamington, which is a shame (or perhaps a blessing).

Morning tea at Echo Point campsite

At this point we had the option of walking back the way we came, or taking the longer, scenic route via the waterfall section of Albert River Circuit back to O'Reilly's. I convinced dad it would probably be spectacular enough that we wouldn't notice the extra few km (a statement that turned out to be mostly true, depending which one of us you ask).

Big trees leave big holes in the ground when they fall over.. thanks dad

Over the next hour we were treated to a series of stunning waterfalls as we slowly wound downhill along the Albert River. This part of the hike was absolutely spectacular, a mighty rival to Coomera Creek Circuit at Binna Burra. Some of the creek crossings were a little slippery, and I ended up crawling with my pack on at a few places to avoid falling in and dislocating another finger. We were also surprised to find many tree falls blocking our path, which were slow going with the packs on.

Bithongabel Falls

Gwahlahla Falls 

Joolbahla Falls

Gurrgungulli Falls

Cascades on Albert River

Echo Falls

Awesome tree fall near Echo Falls

After Echo falls the path started uphill again... and continued uphill for nearly 2 more hours through more scenic rainforest. It wasn't overly strenuous or steep, but after walking for nearly two days with packs on we were getting a bit tired. If I came back to do Albert River Circuit again, I'd probably do the circuit in the opposite direction to avoid this long slog uphill.

There were several (apparently freshly) fallen trees to scramble over

Circuit twists

Some poor reading of our maps led us to believe this uphill section would take no more than an hour at most, so we were very relieved to reach the top of the ridge after 2 hours. There was a lovely stand of antarctic beech trees at the top, and a track that seemed to wander off into the bush. It was a good spot to have lunch, even at 3pm.

Our lunch spot, beside an ancient antarctic beech tree

From here it was only 10 minutes or so back to the Border Track, and another hour to O'Reilly's. Fortunately it was all downhill after lunch so we zoomed along, really beginning to feel it in our feet (the last time my feet were this sore was when we combined several walks at Binna Burra and amassed 28 km in a day - ouch!). We encountered more and more people as we passed turnoffs to the shorter half-day walks. It's easy to forget how touristy O'Reilly's is when you're deep enough into the rainforest that you rarely see anyone else.

This is probably at the very top of my favourite walks in South East Queensland, combining awesome views, a beautiful and isolated campsite (complete with glowworms after dark) and a series of amazing cascades and waterfalls, all within the spectacular Lamington rainforest. Best of all, once off the Border Track we essentially had the hike to ourselves. Hopefully one day I can make it back to conquer the challenging Stinson wreck walk!

Day 1