Moran Falls Castle Crag and The Bluffs Loop

The nouthern slopes of Lamington are much dryer than the southern Slopes. The walk across the crags and bluffs provides great views out towards towards Main Range and Mt Lindesay. As the rain comes from the south the northern slopes get much less rainfall.

This hike visits more and falls, Castlecrag, Python Rock, at Bluff and Lukes bluff. The hike contains components of rock scrambling over large boulders, walking over razorbacks and many sections close to cliff edges. Though we make this hike as moderate if you are scared of heights you will feel exposure.

The hike begins at the O'Reillys main restaurant area before proceeding down the Moran falls track from O'Reilly's. There is a small section at the start where you need to hike through the resort to get to the track to the falls. At Moran falls you then progress to the lookout next to the Falls. At the back of the lookout is a stairway that takes you up to the track which progresses up to Moonlight Crag and Castle Crag. Eventually you hit the track that concludes at Balancing Rock.

The track now becomes a narrow track that progresses along the Razorback out to the end where Castle Crag is. The track has sections which require you to walk across large boulders. This can be quite scary for some people. At the end of the crag is a viewing area above the cliffs that looks out towards Main range.

The hike returns back to balancing Rock and you then follow the trail in Reverse that you came out on back to Moran falls. From here you head back to the road before taking the Python rock trail. At one point you will pass a junction with a seat in the middle of it. You will come back to this junction after you visit Python Rock.

Returning from Python Rock and the seat in the middle of the track you then turn left and left at the T Junction to take the track to Pat's Bluff. You should pass a National park sign showing you are on the track to Bluff track. At the end of the track you will hit Pat's bluff where you can admire v views towards Castle Crag and Luke's bluff.

There is a fire trail leading from Pat's Bluff which you will pick up next and follow down to the creek before taking a narrow trail out over the hill down to the next gully before picking up the fire trail to Luke's bluff.

After checking out the views down over to Buchanan's Fort and to the falls adjacent to Luke's Bluff called Stockyard Creek Falls you follow the fire trail that you came in on all the way up the steep slopes past a residential property and then through a gate to eventually join up with the Lamington road in.

After a short section of following the road you can duck back into the National park track that follows the road back to the start point

There are elements of this track which are on private land and we were not aware of any delineation of boundary or signage that would indicate that we weren't allowed to walk on the track. An enjoyable hiking day out which will probably take about 6 hours at a good pace to complete. Note that elevation gain is not correct as the mapping of the area is quite poor.