Warrie Circuit and Twin Falls at Springbrook

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Posted 2023-01-19 by Roz Glazebrook ⇒ follow

It was my second walk on the Warrie Circuit. I did the previous one back in 2016 and wrote about that one here . A couple of years later I did go on another walk there but when we got to the track, we discovered it was closed due to damage from bad weather. That time we did a few other walks in the area .

Luckily the track was open this time and I really enjoyed being back there again.

Eleven of us from my bushwalking club drove down from Brisbane to the Tallanbana picnic area at Springbrook where we began our walk. There are toilets and picnic shelters. The walk takes around 4-5 hours but can be shorter or longer depending on how many rest stops you have and how fit you are. Some creek crossings can be impassable after heavy rain. The walk, including the detour to Twin Falls, is about 18 kilometres.

Springbrook National Park is a 90-minute drive from Brisbane via Nerang. We took Exit 69 off the Pacific Motorway and followed the signs to Springbrook along the Nerang–Murwillumbah Road. Springbrook National Park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, located in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland. The 6,197-hectare (15,310-acre) park is situated on the McPherson Range, approximately 100 kilometres south of Brisbane.

Warrie Circuit is classified as a class 4 walk by the Queensland Government Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing (NPRSR). We started the walk at the Tallanbana picnic area. From here we descended, crossing and going under waterfalls to the base of the cliffs. The rock formations were spectacular.

The walk was up and down but fairly gentle and anyone with reasonable fitness could do it. You do need to wear good shoes with grippy soles or boots as after rain the track and rocks can become very slippery. The track is well-marked. You need to carry at least 2-3 litres of water and lunch and snacks. Poles are very useful, especially for balance on the rocks crossing the creeks and helping to prevent you from tripping over all the roots and uneven surfaces of the track.

The Warrie Circuit is well named because Warrie is the Aboriginal word for "rushing water". We saw lots of rushing water as we walked under and beside lots of beautiful waterfalls. There was lots of flowing water after all our recent rain.

We descended through the rainforest, walking under waterfalls to the base of cliffs through spectacular rock formations. It was a beautiful walk through the forest, crossing over creeks, trying to avoid mud and leeches. I wasn't successful in either of these.

We stopped along the way on some rocks for morning tea, then had lunch at "Meeting of the Waters", which is about halfway along the track. There had been rain recently and the track was slippery and muddy in places. You can do the track either clockwise or anticlockwise.

One of the men on our trip told us a very interesting story. He said when he was a young boy, his family used to take him and his siblings for lots of rainforest walks. Back then he said you could light fires and have picnics. They even provided paper and matches. One day a helicopter flew low and one of the fires in a fireplace took off out of control and destroyed a lot of rainforest. After that time all fires were banned in the park and the old fireplaces were decommissioned. I've often seen the remains of these old fireplaces at Springbrook and Lamington National Park and wondered why they were there. I thought they were made for the track workers to boil their billies on.

There were also lots of leeches. Most of us got them on us. I managed to get most of them off me before they latched on except one on my arm, which left a lump and has been itchy for a few days since I got home.

One of the women scraped hers off with her flybys card. I had heard about using credit cards and it looked like it worked well to remove them quickly and easily. I don't like using salt because it harms the leeches. I must get a card to keep in my pocket.

One of our newer walkers had never seen a leech before. I saw her on a training walk the next day in Bunya forest. I asked her what the highlights were for her on the Warrie Circuit walk. I was surprised when she said the waterfalls and leeches. I don't think I've ever heard anyone saying leeches were a highlight of a bushwalk before.

We saw a couple of land mullets. I remembered being very excited to see my first land mullet on that walk back in 2016. Land Mullets (Egernia major) are lizards that are one of the largest members of the skink family (Scincidae). This time, the couple I saw took off into the undergrowth before I could get a photo.

I also saw an interesting skink sitting on a moss-coloured rock. It wasn't worried by people looking at it, and I managed to get a photo. I posted my photo on the Australian Reptile Identification site and was told it was a Murray's Blue-spotted Forest Skink (Karma murrayi)

This lizard has a very small range along the southeast coast of Queensland and the adjacent northeast coast of New South Wales. It is golden brown to coppery brown with many dark dorsal spots, and a dusting of fine pale lateral dots. You can read more about these lizards here .

On the way back to our cars, we stopped at Canyon lookout for a spectacular view over the hinterland, with views to the Gold Coast.

You do need to be very careful walking under the waterfalls as the rocks can be slippery. In the past, I did see a woman slip over under one of the waterfalls while we were having a break. Luckily she wasn't hurt and got straight up, but if you went over the falls it could be very bad.

We are very lucky to have such beautiful areas close to Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Springbrook is a great place to go, especially on a hot day. This is a wonderful rainforest walk In the Gold Coast Hinterland at Springbrook. I hope I don't wait 5 years before I do this walk again.