Yerralahla and Python Rock Lookout

Lamington National Park surrounding O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat - overflowing with bustling tourists that arrive to the mountains by the busload - might be the last place you would expect to find a quiet walk. But if you choose the right track, the right kind of day and the right time, you can be lucky enough to have the bush all to yourself.

Rainforests are so beautiful on miserable, overcast days that I generally won't choose to pay a visit at any other time. This also has the added benefit of deflecting fair-weather folk from the mountains, as these strange people believe that only sunny days are worth spending outdoors.

I recently linked several short tracks to create a circuit that visits a few interesting features at Green Mountains. Starting from O'Reilly's, I headed downhill to Yerralahla (also known as Blue Pool) via the graded track through great rainforest scenery punctuated by the odd landslip or waterfall.

Small waterfall en route to Yerralahla

Some of the beautiful rainforest close to the pools

Yerralahla is a large rock pool fed by Canungra Creek (West Branch) during its journey north from the Lamington plateau. In many ways this pool and the walk there are similar to Gwongoorool Pool at Binna Burra.

Yerralahla, the blue pool

Looking upstream from Yerralahla

For the return journey I sought the faint track leading up Bull Ant Spur, a steep ridge that takes a more direct route to O'Reilly's. I took a little time in locating the starting point, as it is not obvious from the graded track. The steep path disappeared into and reappeared out of the bush at random intervals, but was easy enough to follow: keep heading up.

Having a break on the Bull Ant Spur

Bull Ant Spur ends at the main road several km from O'Reilly's. To minimise the risk of being squished by a passing car, I had planned to follow a historic (that is to say, disused) rainforest footpad known as the Pack Horse Track - apparently the route favoured by the original O'Reilly family members when they first came to the plateau.

At first this track was (relatively) easy to follow.

The old Pack Horse Track, in all its glory

Unfortunately, this rather tenuous path petered out into nothing fairly quickly, and I found myself bashing my way through the rainforest in (what I hoped was) the right direction. It soon became clear that this was not a particularly viable option, given the thickness of the scrub, so I instead chose to bash my way directly back to the road, which was only about 20 metres away.

It was at this point I encountered my old friend, the wait-a-while vine, which hooked its nasty barbs into all my available surfaces (e.g. clothes, skin, hair, hat etc) ultimately trapping me in a world of pain and misery that, by some miracle, I eventually escaped from.

Some fungi I almost fell over after untangling myself from the wait-a-while

Instead of just heading straight back up the road to the car park, I decided I had just enough time to squeeze in a short side trip to Python Rock Lookout.

With the sun sinking low down, patterned rays of light beamed through gaps in the foliage to create a stunning display.

Views from Python Rock Lookout were very impressive, particularly with sunset just around the corner.

Castle Crag, the Lost World and beyond

Looking back up the valley to Morans Falls

Having an enjoyable walk often depends not just on selecting the right track, but also choosing the right time of day. I was lucky enough that I barely saw another person all day, and was rewarded with stunning rainforest and sunset views.