World Heritage Rainforest showcase - Tooloona Creek, Lamington National Park, Australia

Toolona Creek Circuit is a spectacular bushwalk located in the Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, and commences from O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. It is a truly stunning 20 kilometre (7 hour) trek through World Heritage Rainforest, with endless waterfalls and cascades, extraordinary flora diversity and breath-taking views at the border range escarpment. This video showcases some (not all) of the waterfalls, cascades & the extremely rare blue crayfish along this spectacular walk. There is something new at every bend in this track. The "immense flora diversity" along this track is truly staggering. From the Green Mountain trailhead at O’Reilly’s, you walk along the Border Track for 3.2km and then branch off onto the Toolona Creek circuit. Follow the circuit beside Toolona Creek and enjoy the cool spray from the many waterfalls, such as Chalahn and Toolona falls, as you journey up through Toolona Gorge. The narrow gorge creates a protected, moist and shady refuge for many ancient flowering rainforest plants. From the gorge, you emerge at Wanungara lookout and enjoy endless views down the Limpinwood Valley and to Mount Warning, Point Lookout on Strandbroke Island, Murwillumbah to the sea and as far south as Byron Bay. This is a great spot for lunch before returning along the Border Track past Mount Bithongabel. This park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, famed for its ongoing geological processes, evolutionary history, and diversity (especially of rare, threatened and endemic species). The Gondwana Rainforests provide an interesting living link with the evolution of Australia. Few places on earth contain so many plants and animals which remain relatively unchanged from their ancestors in the fossil records. Some of the oldest examples of the world's ferns and conifers are found here and there is a concentration of primitive plant families that are direct links with the birth and spread of flowering plants over 100 million years ago. The giant king fern Todea Barbara is a relic from one of the oldest fern families, Osmundaceae, evolving even before the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana approximately 200 million years ago. Many large clumps of Antarctic Beech Nothofagus Moorei trees are found in the area. The Antarctic Beech grows in cool temperate rainforests from the Barrington Tops plateau in New South Wales, north to the Lamington Plateau and Springbrook Plateau, in southern Queensland, between altitudes of 480 m and 1550 m. The Antarctic Beech is considered by many to be the key genus in the evolution and biogeography of plants of the Southern Hemisphere, The Lamington Crayfish (also known as the Mountain or Skeletal Crayfish) Euastacus Sulcatus, is best known from its type locality in Lamington National Park, Queensland. A member of the Giant Spiny Group of crayfish (McCormack 2012) they grow to a large size and are fearless. Colour varies with location :- * Lamington and Springbrook crayfish are vibrant blue or blue-green contrasting with white; * northern NSW crayfish are red and white; * western populations are green-brown with less contrast. Their habitat & range is restricted to streams bordered by rainforest and sometimes wet eucalypt forest at more than 300 m altitude. Cameras – Autel Evo 2 Pro, DJI Mini 2, Xiaomi 11T Pro & iPhone 12 Pro. Videographers – Edwin Mens (precision flying) & Ross Langdon.