Oct 17

Oct 17 Wallaman Falls: Australia’s tallest waterfall

When you go chasing waterfalls, finding the tallest single-drop waterfall in the country is pretty cool.

Staying in Townsville, we decided to take a day and go visit this impressive feat of nature - Wallaman Falls. It took us about 2 hours one-way, but it is an easy drive.

It was a little overcast as we headed north, but hopeful that it would clear we pushed on!

The final section of the drive is a windy, narrow road uphill and as we climbed, the cloud got thicker. We were inside it and had to take it pretty easy as it was impossible to see any oncoming traffic.

We saw a lot of signs saying to watch for Cassowaries but we weren’t lucky enough to see one.

As we reached the main carpark, there was drizzling rain but we were determined not to let that hamper our adventure. Leaving jumpers in the car so there was something dry on our return, we set off.

Measuring 268 metres from Stony Creek down into the Herbert River Valley, it would have been great to see it from the viewing platform, but it was not meant to be. You could hear the thundering falls but seeing them was impossible.

It may not sound like far, but it is about 1.6km to the bottom of the falls and remember, you have to come back up! There are signs saying it was very steep, needing a certain fitness level and notifying us that people had in fact died attempting to walk this path to the base.

The track begins as a sealed path before giving way to rocky and rooty, rainforest undergrowth. The cloud was still thick around us and our ears were heightened to the sounds of what felt like a jungle.

The further down we went, the wetter it got, with thick moss growing on rocks and tree trunks. Even without the cloud, we wouldn’t have been able to see the falls until we reached the bottom as the vegetation was thick and lush as we made our way down the path.

Eventually, nature’s majesty revealed itself to us. We were below the rain cloud and had a spectacular view of Wallaman Falls. We could feel its power and were amazed by its beauty.

Looking up, the mist from the falls creates a rainbow of colour – even on a day as grey as the one we visited on.

Apparently, you can swim in the 20m pool at the bottom of the falls. I am not sure how safe that would be given how slippery the large boulders at the base are and how powerful the falls sound. I was pretty happy to feel the spray on my face and soak it in from land.

Then it was time to head back up. I can definitively say that the incline is definitely more noticeable on the way back up, so we moved at a slower pace and worked up a sweat!

Back at the car and drying off for our trip back to Townsville, we stopped in Ingham for a late lunch. We couldn’t go past the Lees Hotel, better known as the official ‘Pub with no beer.’

The story goes that the song “A Pub With No Beer”, made famous by Slim Dusty, was first written as a poem in the original Day Dawn Hotel (now Lees Hotel) in 1943, by an Irish cane cutter Dan Sheahan, after some American soldiers drank the pub dry the previous night. Luckily for us, there was plenty of cold beer – and a giant pub meal – to revive us after our adventure to Wallaman Falls.

If you want to swap the inland tropics for the coast, Magnetic Island is not far away and makes a great escape!