Spectacular Wallaman Falls, Qld

Stony Creek tumbles 70m off the Seaview Range before plunging 268m in a clear single fall to the pool below which is 20 m in depth. This forms Wallaman, Falls, the highest permanent, single drop waterfall in Australia. It is a spectacular sight. And one does not need to walk to it as it is accessible by car some 39 km from Ingham. It is a steep drive. but well worth it

The walk down to the pool below the falls is 2 km. You can’t swim in it as it has a fence around it. I suppose there are too many silly people around. Andrew walked down to it (photo above of him at the pool below) but I stayed behind. I had had my walk for the day by then. We had previously walked to see the far less spectacular Jourama Fall but we enjoyed that very much in an active way. The many rockpools below Jourama Falls were so inviting that we took a dip on the way down from the 1.5km walk up to the waterfall.

The Wallaman falls are located in the Girringun National Park which is still part of the Queensland Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The national park provides 110kms of walking opportunities and it forms a diverse landscape where open forest transforms into rainforest within a few metres. The creeks and rivers are home to a range of creatures, platypus, eastern water dragons, saw shelled turtles – none of which we saw by the way but we had seen them elsewhere. Birds in the NP include the southern cassovary and the reclusive musky rat kangaroo also abides here. The roads warn that “cassovaries may cross” but I am afraid only the oft sighted bush turkeys did that for us.

This photo shows the Herbert River into which the water from the falls runs. Plus the majestic peaks of the NP.

This is a photo of the lower part of the Jourama Falls ane one of the rockpools where we swam. Only modesty prevents me from showing my naked self at the very pleasant waterhole. The water was surprisingly warm.