Whian Whian NP NSW to Lamington NP QLD

[chelcee]

I'm looking to hike the scenic rim in Northern NSW, starting at Rummery Park in Whian Whian NP and ending at Lamington NP in QLD.
Does anyone have experience with joining any of these multiday hikes? If so, which topographic maps / resources do you suggest I refer to when planning this hike?
Thanks in advance, Chelcee

[Aardvark]

Firstly, you perhaps need an overview of the whole Tweed Caldera. Lismore 100k and Murwillumbah 100k will do that.
Huonbrook 25k will show you from Rummery Pk to Mt.Neville in Nightcap NP. The historic nightcap track is the route the postman used to take between Lismore and Murwillumbah. There is a large, hollowed out old tree between Peates Mtn and Doon Doon Saddle that is known as the sleep tree. Used by the postman.
If you are thinking of leaving Nightcap from its westernmost point you would need Nimbin 25k to link up with the Tweed Range. Only the most persistent off track walkers would likely do this. Beyond Mt.Nardi can be problematic.
Brays Creek 25k shows the Tweed Range road. That gives access to Lamington NP at its southernmost point.
Perhaps you're thinking of going more northward through Mt.Jerusalem NP, Nullum State Forest and into Wollumbin NP (Mt.Warning). Burringbar 25k would be required.
These parks do not marry up seamlessly and likely some off track would be necessary. There is no one track to follow. Roads would be crossed or followed in places.
Technically Wollumbin NP is closed until march 2022. This is largely about the one and only graded track to the summit which is closed due to cultural reasons.

[Aardvark]

Nightcap NP and its' adjacent parks form the southern end of the Tweed Caldera. This caldera abuts a larger caldera of which the Scenic Rim is a part. They share a common border from the northern end of the Tweed Range (just south of Tweed Trig) to Mt.Wagawn or Numinbah Gap. (easternmost point of Lamington NP).
I too would once have been entertaining the thought of walking the Tweed Caldera.
A bushwalking friend spent decades working for Tweed Council, visiting properties and making contacts. He shared a fraction of what he knows with me over several years.
You could spend a lifetime trying to take in all there is to know around the Tweed.
About twenty years ago he related a story of a guy on his 60th b'day who walked from Antarctic Beech (NE corner of Wiangaree SF, Northern tip of Tweed Range, just south of Tweed Trig where the McPherson Range of the Scenic Rim meets the Lamington Escarpment) to Numinbah Gap. I think it was in one day.
We took on the challenge ourselves. We (four of us) had up to date familiarity with those routes, particularly between Antarctic Beech and Point Lookout (5hrs) which is off track and heavily strewn with regrowth, wait-a-while, gympie vine and the like. We were dropped off at 3am at Antarctic Beech and reached our car at Numinbah Gap twelve hours later. I believe we had about 1 hour of break time. Kathryn was a trooper as she had a cyst in her knee break up along the way and endured 6 hrs of knee pain.
Subsequent visits to Tweed Trig suggest less and less people are visiting the area as the route has degraded further and would require considerable work to re-cut a path and gain enough familiarity. We covered the first two hours in the dark back in 2002. I would suggest it would take much more than 5 hrs from Antarctic Beech to Point Lookout, at present.
The route from the graded track at Echo Point, heading southward to Point Lookout is another story. At least to the site of the long gone Rat-a-tat hut is a fairly discernible path now due to the volume of traffic. It gets a bit scetchy after that, past Mt.Throakban but people keep persisting in placing tape and not retrieving it. So it is somewhat followable.
Getting back to Tweed Range. There is a good dirt road all along the Tweed Range which has considerable traffic (even 2 wheel drive). You need to be careful picking the route at the southern end around to the Murwillumbah - Kyogle road in order to link up with Nightcap NP and stay with the Tweed Caldera. It is these roads and the absence of another route on public land that make the Tweed Caldera either impractical or somewhat boring/dangerous to walk.

[chelcee]

Thanks for your reply, Aardvark. I am considering going West Whian Whian, Nightcap, Border Ranges, and then Northeast to Lamington. I do see the gap between Nightcap and Border Ranges and have not yet planned how I would safely travel this portion of the hike. I am not too worried about that section, but more so connecting Border Ranges with Lamington. Your experience with Antarctic Beech to Numinbah Gap is what I am particularly interested in hearing about. I was curious if anyone has done it before and if they would recommend others or if they themselves would do it (again).

[Aardvark]

We equated the route from Antarctic Beech to Numinbah Gap to a 50k walk. It isn't that on a map but taking in the altitude gain and loss it is more realistic. The graded track section from Echo Point to Mt.Wagawn is about 18km.
Breaking that down. It's said to be 8.?km from O'Reilly's to Echo Point and the turnoff on the border track eastward out of O'Reilly's is 5km. That leaves 3.?km to Echo Point. It's 21.4km for the border track from O'Reilly's to BinnaBurra and the turnoff to Wagawn is 5km before BinnaBurra. The turnoff 5km out of BinnaBurra to Mt.Wagawn is a bit more than 3km.
So you reach Echo Point from Antarctic Beech and you therefore have appx 18km to Mt.Wagawn. Wagawn to Numinbah Gap is a 600m drop and takes about 1 hour . It's not a graded track and requires some scrambling. I would equate that to 5km. That's a total of 23km. Yet if you took it for face value on the Murwillumbah 100k map it would look like 12k or so.
The leg from Echo Point to Antarctic Beech looks to be about 16km on the same map. It's definitely more than that on the ground.
If i were you i would do sections of this route for familiarity. Personally, i am not one to do a walk like this ,off the cuff, without first familiarising myself. I am not one to subsequently tick it off as done and never to be done again. Every leg of it has been included by me in many different walks, many times over. It's been a fixation for nearly 40yrs.
I am not finished with any of it.
Before i did the entire Scenic Rim (which i have done 4 times now as a complete walk - 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2018) from Lockyer Laidley area to Mt.Tomewin, i had done every leg of it . Some many times over. I would also dare to say i could do it without a map and beforehand step through every part of it in my mind.
My suggestion for you would be to go to Numinbah Gap for a daywalk. Walk up along the fenceline to Bushrangers Cave, appx 30mins out. Go through the length of the cave to a scree slope on the far side, head up. 10m up is a large tree where you'll contour right. There is some tape in places to follow. Ascend to the top of Mt.Wagawn. It'll take about an hour or more. It's definitely an off track route. Some sharp vegetation on the way. Some rock to scramble up. Not exposed. But in saying that, there are places where if you slipped and fell through trees a few metres, you would go on for a couple of hundred metres.
I regularly do this to Binna Burra and back with a bite to eat at the cafe . It takes about 5-6hrs or more. The descent is the last leg of your proposed walk from Antarctic Beech. Your other option is to walk into BinnaBurra. You could then follow a much easier route to the prison Farm at Numinbah.
I do not know your abilities or experience level. My experience has taught me to be careful of liabilities. Having been a social walker and a club leader the pendulum has swung in both directions. I am reticent to suggest meeting up to guide you through it. If you are looking for assistance, send a private message. I'm sure there is a lot more i could tell you.