• Stop for a rest at Picnic Rock. Photo credit: Nicholas Hill © Queensland Government
• Elabana Falls is not to be missed! Photo credit: Cameron Semple © High and Wide

From the Border Track, branch off onto the Toolona Creek circuit and finally onto the Box Forest circuit track. Head anticlockwise through rainforest and past impressive stands of smooth, pink-barked brush box Lophostemon confertus and a few Antarctic beech trees. In spring, delicate white flowers of box orchids cling to their fibrous branches and trunks. Similar brush box in other parts of the World Heritage area have been radiocarbon-dated at 1,500 years, making these giants the oldest ever carbon-dated trees on Australia's mainland.

Stop for lunch at Darragumai Falls or Picnic Rock and stay for a while at pretty Elabana Falls. Watch as the clear mountain water cascades from high in the forest, plunging into deep swirling pools, over rocky faces and down the rainforest valley. This is a photographic opportunity not to be missed!

Return the way you came or walk the whole circuit and be rewarded with views of many other picturesque waterfalls such as Bog Log Falls and Yanbacoochie Falls . If you intend walking this entire circuit, walk in a clockwise direction and exit via Elabana Falls and Picnic Rock.

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).

Getting there and getting around

The Box Forest circuit is in the Green Mountains section of Lamington National Park, 110km south of Brisbane.

• The circuit starts 3.2km along the Border Track from the trailhead at the Green Mountains day-use area.
• The Green Mountains day-use area is at the end of Lamington National Park Road, 5.7km from the park entrance.

Getting to Lamington

• Green Mountains section map (PDF, 542.1KB)
• Binna Burra section map (PDF, 725.7KB)
• Gold Coast and hinterland parks locality map (PDF, 377.0KB)
• View Google map

Lamington National Park is made up of two sections—Green Mountains and Binna Burra. Green Mountains section is located on the western side of the Lamington Plateau. The Binna Burra section encompasses the rest of the park to the east.

Getting to Green Mountains section

From Broadbeach, drive 40km to Canungra via Nerang. From the north, take Pacific Motorway exit 34 to Beenleigh, route 92 to Tamborine, and route 90 to Canungra. The 36km winding and often narrow bitumen road from Canungra requires care and takes at least 50min. This road is unsuitable for recreational vehicles (RVs) longer than 4m and vehicles towing caravans and camper trailers.

Getting to Binna Burra section

Allow 70min from Broadbeach. Drive 38km to Beechmont via Nerang. From the north, take Pacific Motorway exit 69 and follow the signs west to Lamington National Park—Binna Burra section. The final 1.8km of the drive is very narrow and winding.

There are many commercial tour operators that conduct tours to Lamington National Park. See the tourism information links for further details.

There is no public transport to the park and getting taxis and ride share operators to pick up from the park can be difficult.

Wheelchair accessibility

There are wheelchair-accessible toilet facilities at the day-use area in both the Green Mountains and Binna Burra sections of Lamington National Park. Binna Burra section also has wheelchair-accessible picnic tables.

At Green Mountains section there are two wheelchair-accessible walking tracks. The Centenary track is a 900m universal access track, and the first 700m of the Border Track is accessible for wheelchairs with assistance.

Before you visit

Opening hours

Box Forest circuit is open 24 hours a day.

Check park alerts for the latest information on access, closures and conditions.

Visiting safely

For more safety information see Visiting Lamington safely and Walk with care.