Lamington National Park
basically sits on the NSW-Qld border and extends north within 15km or so of canungra in the gold coast hinterland.
o'reillys and binna burra are very popular tourist destinations with different accomodation ranging from campsites to spa suites.
they are just over an hours drive apart (via canungra) and are joined by the appopriately named 22.5km 'border track'.
the 'lamington classic' is run in august each year and starts from oreillys with people staying at binna burra over night before running back the next morning.
the 'quickies' do the whole thing in about 3.30hrs.
a few (cool)runners stayed down that way a few weeks back as well and spent a few days exploring.
it is indeed trail heaven.
stayed with the other half at oreillys for 3 days of sekrit 6ft training over the weekend.
the terrain is reasonably flat - the hilliest bits are around the circuits surrounding branches of the canungra creek and coomera river each of which have several spectacular falls.
the terrain is probably the closest thing in SE Qld to cradle mountain and yet nothing really like it...if that makes sense.
arrived thursday lunchtime and planned to walk to the 'blue pool' (yerralahla) and back in the arvo but turned around early as it was becoming a bit of a chore (and was getting late) and we had some longer walks planned the following days.
friday started at 5am for me with 2hrs planned for a long run before breaky.
i headed southwest from oreillys along the 4wd tracks to balancing rock/castle crag and then up to moonlight crag.
after breaky headed out with ruth along the box forest circuit (10.6km) which has several beautiful falls to look at.
saw a ?python and a red-belly black snake early on the loop and checking behind every tree around every corner thereafter certainly slowed us down!
also saw some odd colored (bright blue and yellow) crabs making their way inbetween watering holes.
quite a technical walk and took us 4.5hrs.
then that night made a trip down to 'glow worm gully' but heard some funny european soudning voices when we were almost there so turned around.
we figured it was probably a tour group at the gully but then again it could be some nutcases.
satuday got a lift to binna burra to walk the border track (22.5km) back to o'reillys.
(did have a quick run in the morning just to warm the legs up!)
we took the coomera circuit option which only adds another 2.3km or so but certainly added some time.
it is similar to the box circuit in that there are several falls for your viewing pleasure but this invloves some ups and downs as well as several creek crossings.
by the end its not so much 'how beauiful are those falls' but more 'oh not another one!'.
still glad we went that way!
made it back onto the border track after covering only 10km or so in 3hrs.
ruth started to worry when she saw me scoffing lunch down and checking the batteries in the torch!
the next section is a steady climb towards mr bithongabel and was quite muddy and misty.
so the advertised views were non-existent.
there were also some very overgrown sections which would be quite a slowing factor when running this track.
we ran into a bushwalking group soon after who were splitting up then waiting for everyone again at designated areas.
so people would come racing past us only for us to catch them later.
we didnt understand what the race was about and joked i should run past them all.
obviously not a tightly knit group!
past the albert river circiut turnoff the slush and mud dried out a bit and forward progress was steady.
made it back in under 7 hrs so in hindsight coulve taken the second detour (toolona creek circuit) but considering the first detour cost us and hour and a half we thought at the time the second may see us get back in the dark!
its certainly much easier going on the border track than on those circuit loops.
i can imagine in the wet those creek crossings would be damn treacherous.
a fantastic weekend away.
great fun planning the adventures and figuring out what gear/food we needed for which trip.
extremely proud of ruth to do so much walking and pull up so well after.
it was funny to see her scouring over the maps on saturday night.
i think we have ourselves a new trail junky!
the CR thread from the 2006 lamington classic thread is here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=12033
the EPA map of the oreillys/green mountain area is here: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/media/parks_and_forests/parks/Green_Mountains%20section.pdf
and the binna burra bit is here: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/media/parks_and_forests/parks/Binna_Burra_section.pdf
monday - cootha/gap creek/bfp mega loop aka mr g's torture test (plus 3km): 19km 2.17.
tuesday - 1hr stat bike
wednesday - nothing
thursday - massage and 2hr walk
friday - 1.45run, 4.5hr walk, 40min walk
saturday - 1hr run, 7hr walk
sunday - 1hr stat bike
ps i think i'm fit now!
2 weeks til 6ft.
better start actually thinking about things eg. pace, shoes, camelbak or bare-back!
o'reillys and binna burra are very popular tourist destinations with different accomodation ranging from campsites to spa suites.
they are just over an hours drive apart (via canungra) and are joined by the appopriately named 22.5km 'border track'.
the 'lamington classic' is run in august each year and starts from oreillys with people staying at binna burra over night before running back the next morning.
the 'quickies' do the whole thing in about 3.30hrs.
a few (cool)runners stayed down that way a few weeks back as well and spent a few days exploring.
it is indeed trail heaven.
stayed with the other half at oreillys for 3 days of sekrit 6ft training over the weekend.
the terrain is reasonably flat - the hilliest bits are around the circuits surrounding branches of the canungra creek and coomera river each of which have several spectacular falls.
the terrain is probably the closest thing in SE Qld to cradle mountain and yet nothing really like it...if that makes sense.
arrived thursday lunchtime and planned to walk to the 'blue pool' (yerralahla) and back in the arvo but turned around early as it was becoming a bit of a chore (and was getting late) and we had some longer walks planned the following days.
friday started at 5am for me with 2hrs planned for a long run before breaky.
i headed southwest from oreillys along the 4wd tracks to balancing rock/castle crag and then up to moonlight crag.
after breaky headed out with ruth along the box forest circuit (10.6km) which has several beautiful falls to look at.
saw a ?python and a red-belly black snake early on the loop and checking behind every tree around every corner thereafter certainly slowed us down!
also saw some odd colored (bright blue and yellow) crabs making their way inbetween watering holes.
quite a technical walk and took us 4.5hrs.
then that night made a trip down to 'glow worm gully' but heard some funny european soudning voices when we were almost there so turned around.
we figured it was probably a tour group at the gully but then again it could be some nutcases.
satuday got a lift to binna burra to walk the border track (22.5km) back to o'reillys.
(did have a quick run in the morning just to warm the legs up!)
we took the coomera circuit option which only adds another 2.3km or so but certainly added some time.
it is similar to the box circuit in that there are several falls for your viewing pleasure but this invloves some ups and downs as well as several creek crossings.
by the end its not so much 'how beauiful are those falls' but more 'oh not another one!'.
still glad we went that way!
made it back onto the border track after covering only 10km or so in 3hrs.
ruth started to worry when she saw me scoffing lunch down and checking the batteries in the torch!
the next section is a steady climb towards mr bithongabel and was quite muddy and misty.
so the advertised views were non-existent.
there were also some very overgrown sections which would be quite a slowing factor when running this track.
we ran into a bushwalking group soon after who were splitting up then waiting for everyone again at designated areas.
so people would come racing past us only for us to catch them later.
we didnt understand what the race was about and joked i should run past them all.
obviously not a tightly knit group!
past the albert river circiut turnoff the slush and mud dried out a bit and forward progress was steady.
made it back in under 7 hrs so in hindsight coulve taken the second detour (toolona creek circuit) but considering the first detour cost us and hour and a half we thought at the time the second may see us get back in the dark!
its certainly much easier going on the border track than on those circuit loops.
i can imagine in the wet those creek crossings would be damn treacherous.
a fantastic weekend away.
great fun planning the adventures and figuring out what gear/food we needed for which trip.
extremely proud of ruth to do so much walking and pull up so well after.
it was funny to see her scouring over the maps on saturday night.
i think we have ourselves a new trail junky!
the CR thread from the 2006 lamington classic thread is here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=12033
the EPA map of the oreillys/green mountain area is here: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/media/parks_and_forests/parks/Green_Mountains%20section.pdf
and the binna burra bit is here: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/media/parks_and_forests/parks/Binna_Burra_section.pdf
monday - cootha/gap creek/bfp mega loop aka mr g's torture test (plus 3km): 19km 2.17.
tuesday - 1hr stat bike
wednesday - nothing
thursday - massage and 2hr walk
friday - 1.45run, 4.5hr walk, 40min walk
saturday - 1hr run, 7hr walk
sunday - 1hr stat bike
ps i think i'm fit now!
2 weeks til 6ft.
better start actually thinking about things eg. pace, shoes, camelbak or bare-back!
posted by undercover brother at 8:04 PM
3 Comments:
Nice holiday mate, looking good for 6FT, keep the reverse taper going ;)
Sounds fantastic UCB - very envious.
11 Days to be precise....
*tick, tick, tick*
Looking forward to seeing you at 6 Foot Bro. Good to see you putting some time into the DTI.
Post a Comment
<< Home