Rainforest and views on the Moonlight Crag loop

Having done most of the “better known” Lamington National Park bushwalks, I’m keen to explore the less-travelled walking tracks and lookouts in the Green Mountains section of the park. The highlight of the loop is the Moonlight Crag Walking Track, which is more of a route than a track as it follows the edge of the escarpment…

…but to get there, I start out along Border Track from O’Reilly Guesthouse, one of the more popular and easiest trails of Lamington National Park that connects the Green Mountains to Binna Burra, and acts a the “the backbone of the Lamington walking track system”. (In other words, it’s hard to avoid walking at least part of this track!)

Although initially a paved track, it immediately enters the rainforest, which is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area. (A junction on the left provides access to the West Canungra Creek Circuit, one of the best full-day bushwalks you can do in Lamington NP.)

After 700m, the paved track becomes a regular bushwalking track, but like most of the Border Track it’s very easy and level terrain – and it passes more stunning rainforest scenery.

It doesn’t take long to reach the next junction, where a trail descends to the Box Forest Circuit and the longer Toolona Creek Circuit.

I leave the Border Track at the 2.4km mark, veering slightly left onto what was the original Border Track, until it was re-routed a little further east. This track is now called the Forestry Department Cairn Track.

The reason for this name soon becomes fairly obvious: the track goes to a stone cairn that commemorates the Queensland Forest Service, who developed and maintained the Lamington National Park’s “world class walking track system” from 1915 to 1975. Just after the moss-covered cairn is Morans Creek Camp, the site of a long-term bush camp that was operated from about 1935 to the late 1960s for the teams that constructed the tracks in this area.

The walking track descends to Morans Creek – which would have been the source of water for the workers – and passes some of the relics that have been preserved from the camp.

Rather than back-tracking from here, I continue off-track for a short distance (there are a few pink ribbons marking a route, but they eventually head off in the wrong direction) until I hit the Moonlight Crag Walking Track.

I’m pleasantly surprised to discover that the Moonlight Crag Walking Track is not a graded track, but more of a route. Most of the time there is an obvious trail, with regular pink ribbons marking the route where the track is less obvious.

The Moonlight Crag Walking Track soon reaches Lyrebird Lookout, which offers some tantalising glimpses through the mist of the valley below – but no further.

The Moonlight Crag Walking Track continues to follow the edge of the escarpment, under some enormous beech trees. A few overgrown sections necessitate either occasional checks of the topo map, or keeping on eye out for the next ribbon.

The next stop is not a lookout, but the Orchid Grotto, which has an incredible collection of orchids covering multiple large boulders.

Soon after the grottom the track leaves Lamington National Park and enters the O’Reilly Guesthouse property, before reaching a junction with the Red Road.

I stay on the walking track, and after another hundred metres reach the Moonlight Crag Lookout, a fenced platform which (despite the lingering mist) offers spectacular views down the Albert Valley towards Lamington (and up the valley towards the McPherson Range).

From the lookout I continue along what is now the Balancing Rock Walking Track; it also follows the edge of the escarpment, offering the occasional view to the south.

The vegetation gradually changes from rainforest to a more dry, open forest and there are some views up the Albert Valley towards the east.

The trail follows the top of an increasingly narrow ridge that juts out between Morans Creek Gorge and Albert Valley.

Re-entering Lamington National Park, there are some great views along this section of the Moonlight Crag loop.

Along the way is Balancing Rock, which looks like it might topple over at any moment – and quite possibly will, hence the chains around the base and warning signs not to stand on the southern side of the boulder.

The path gets a bit rougher from here as it follows the rocky “spine” of the narrow ridge; there are pretty steep drops in places, and one short (but easy) scramble.

Halfway along the ridge the clouds roll back in and there’s a burst of rain… before I’m treated to a spectacular rainbow as the sun comes out again. (Even without the unexpected rainbow, this is the most scenic section of the walk.)

The trail continues to Castle Crag the end of the ridge, where there is a steep drop on three sides – and a sweeping view to the distant mountain ranges in the west, and over the Lost World and Albert River Valley.

The only way out is to return along the ridge; to the left (north) you can see into Morans Creek Gorge, and Morans Falls in the distance – which is my next destination.

Just after Balancing Rock, the bushwalk trail meets Red Road, and I follow this for the next kilometre or so.

Red Road goes to Morans Falls Clearing Lookout, which is a slightly confusing name as you can’t see the waterfall here. Just a nice view into Morans Creek Gorge and the valley beyond.

From the lookout the Morans Falls Track follows Morans Creek upstream, to a rocky platform where the trail crosses the creek.

To get a better look at the waterfall, continue along the Morans Falls Track to a fenced lookout.

Morans Falls is best seen from this platform, which provides a view of the full waterfall drop into the deep gully. (There are couple of off-track routes you can take to reach the base of Morans Falls, but this would require more time than I had and preferably a drier day!)

An informal trail follows the creek downstream to the top of Morans Falls – but while you can a nice outlook down the deep valley carved out by the creek, you can’t see the waterfall from here. (An old track – which has been closed for over 50 years – descends from the top of the waterfall down the cliffs on the southern side of Morans Falls.)

O’Reilly’s Trail follows Morans Creek on the northern site back towards the Mountain Villas and Guesthouse, meeting up with the Red Road just before reaching the villas.

I make short side-trip to have a look at Hidden Gully, which is nice but not particularly interesting after the rest of the walk.

After navigating the network of sealed roads around the Mountain Villas, I find the “Access Track to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat”, which provides a pleasant route back to the main carpark. (An alternate and even better way back would be to continue along the Red Road and take the Wishing Tree Track back via the Wishing Tree – but I was running a bit late!)

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Getting to the Moonlight Crag loop

As with almost all the bushwalks in the Green Mountains sections of Lamington National Park, you start at O’Reilly’s Guesthouse. The Moonlight Crag Walking Track is accessed from the well signposted Border Track at the eastern end, or the Red Road at the western end. You can do the loop in either direction.

It’s about 70km (1:25min) drive to O’Reilly’s Guesthouse from the Gold Coast via Canungra, or 115km (2 hours) from Brisbane.