We really enjoyed Paluma Range – great campsite, loved the history and of course the majestic Jourama Falls.
Kerry’s snippets in fucsia
Getting there
Airlie Beach > Bowen > Home Hill > Ayr > Townsville > Mutarnee (346km)
As we packed up getting ready to go, a mass of black clouds approached. Just as we were hitching up, the heavens opened and we got drenched. This rain stayed with us all the way to Proserpine when it eased and, as we head north, the clouds broke up leaving us with lovely weather.
initially it’s quite pretty country we drove through, but this flattened out to vast flat farmland with the occasional plug or hill. Approaching Townsville there are a number of mountain ranges around the city. We have been into Townsville before and skirt the city.
At Mutarnee we get to the Crystal Creek Caravan Park, right beside the highway.
The place
Mutarnee is a small rural/residential township approximately 67 kilometres north-west of Townsville, and 44 kilometres south-east of Ingham. Blink and you will miss it. It is situated on the banks of Crystal Creek, is near the rainforest village of Paluma, and provides a gateway to Paluma NP.
Facilities at Mutarnee include a state primary school, a recreational waterhole, and a camping area at nearby Crystal Creek. The popular cafe and ice-creamery, Frosty Mango, is also there, north of the Crystal Creek bridge.
The Traditional Owners of Paluma Range National Park are the Nywaigi Aboriginal people. The Park is known as the ‘southern gateway’ for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. This is the most southern patch of rainforest in Australia. The traditional name for the Paluma Range is Munan Gumburu, which means ‘misty mountain’, an apt description as we will see.
The Park is located between Ingham and Townsville, and is a favourite escape from the tropical heat for Townsville residents. The park contains the Jourama Falls, Crystal Creek and Lake Paluma.
The narrow and twisted Mt Spec Road up the escarpment (17.5km) was constructed by unemployed relief labour during the Depression – over the period 1931-35. The lovely bridge at Little Crystal Creek was completed in 1932.
The camp
Crystal Creek Caravan Park is great – we love it. It was deserted when we arrived but the receptionist had earmarked a very large drive-through site for us towards the rear of the park. There is a massive lawn area behind us so heaps of room to move.
The sites are great – all surrounded by trees and bushes to provide space and privacy. Some are grass, some have slabs. Ours is about twice as long as our total rig. The amenities are also excellent, including a dump point.
However, the BBQ area at the pool is being renovated and there is not really a typical camp kitchen – its a key-coded room in the amenities block.
Have a look at the video linked at the bottom of this blog to see how good the sites are.
Day 0 – arrival
Set up, looked around and had a swim. BBQ fish later.
Day 1
We went up the escarpment to Paluma and had a great day, despite the weather. We had some really heavy showers overnight and dark and depressing clouds were still hanging around in the morning.
The road up is close to our van park and it is a pleasant drive to the start of the climb. This is a very narrow and tight road, and great care is needed. Our first stop, only about 6km in, was at Little Crystal Creek.
This is a brilliant spot where the quaint old bridge crosses the Creek over waterfalls and waterholes. It is a spectacular spot, especially after all the rain this area had had – the falls are really pumping.
There are pathways down each side of the bridge and a connecting path underneath. There are also walkways on the other side but we did not go there. There are picnic tables perched near the Creek edge.
We took so many photos there, especially trying to get the lovely old bridge included.
As we wind up the Road, we see many little waterfalls, plunging down the hillside next to the road. But with the clouds closing in we don’t get to see any views.
At Paluma township we first went to McClellends Lookout, but all we see is mist. So unfortunately that took out all lookouts for us. We walked through the town and saw that a few house had historical plaques opposite outlining their history.
I had read that there was the “Ivy Cottage Teahouse” – where I was really looking forward to a nice coffee and scones, jam and cream. Alas, it was closed, as was the nearby Inn.
We walked the Rainforest Walk but this is very short. As we emerge from the walk we appreciated how effective the forest is as an umbrella – we felt no rain on the walk but felt it good and proper when we emerged.
We then saw a lookout where the clouds had parted to let us see the view. But the misty clouds quickly returned.
From here we went out to see Birthday Creek Falls, which is located along Lake Paluma Road (off Mount Spec Road). This is a lovely drive through the rainforest.
By then the clouds had descended so that we were driving along a misty forested road, quite etherial, quite beautiful. And hard to really capture on camera. We felt like we should have Enya playing in the background.
Along Lake Paluma Rd we came to a large tree that had fallen across the road. The main trunk was still propped up high, but was it high enough to let The Cruiser under with a loaded roof cage? We cleared away the smaller debris so that only the trunk was left, and we just squeezed through.
From the carpark, the walk took us through the rainforest to the falls. The guide said to look out for golden and tooth-billed bowerbirds along the track, but they had taken a day off.
We came to the top of the picturesque cascades on Birthday Creek. Really pretty as we were at the point where the water plunges over the fall.
A short track leads to the base of the falls where we got a great view of the falls proper, and of the small pool where people can swim. But not today as the flow is vigorous.
As we were standing overlooking the falls, I looked down and saw a couple of 10mm leaches on my ankles, but waggling wildly. Lucky I had the Bushmans on everywhere – including my socks. When Des emerged from down lower at the falls, he also had a couple on him which I managed to brush off. Walking back up the track to the car, more tiny ones appeared – about as big as an ant – which we also flicked off…. I hate leaches (and mosquitoes) with a passion. We paused the car in a dry spot to remove our shoes and socks to check our feet etc – but no more little nasties were found.
Heading back down the road, we pass a construction crew and the fallen tree has gone. That was quick! We decided to go out to Hidden Valley, which was variously written up as a quirky little place, having a cafe, etc. It was only 25km so we drove out to have a look. The last 10km deteriorated to a really bad dirt road and badly maintained floodways. And when we got to the “town” there was nothing there except for 3 or 4 houses. So we went back the same way quite disappointed.
Next we drove back down the escarpment and went to look at Big Crystal Creek and the water slides. At the creek is a very big water hole, ideal for a swim. Except after all the rain the water was a bit murky so we did not swim.
The water slides were great. They feed off a good swimming hole, which in turn is fee by a lovely waterfall.
The slides are carved out to the rock and later I saw a man go down one of them.
From the rock pool, there is a path to the upper creek where I saw numerous other slides and waterfalls. It’s a lovely place.
I also got a great view of the waterhole and waterfall from a large rock perched above them.
We drove back to the park for s siesta. Later we went to Balgal Beach for a fish and chips dinner. Balgal is only about 20km south of us – get to Rollingstone (no singers, no moss) and turn left. The town is typical of so many clusters of homes up and down the coast. We went to the boat ramp and found Fishermans Landing, a cafe on the water. There was a free camping area nearby but it looked a bit rough.
We had fish and chips and a couple of potato scallops for an early dinner – the fish was fresh mackerel and very very nice. There were a family of kookaburras perched on the railing “cawing” at us like crows – a very different sound than they make in cooler climates. I asked the lady in the shop about crocs. She said relatively safe on the beach but don’t go anywhere near the river and mangroves.
Day 2
We woke to a good day after a night of heavy showers. Does it only rain heavy up here? Kerry spent some time keeping the laundry up to date, and then we drove about 10km north to the Jourama falls on Waterview Creek. This is the icon of the Paluma Range NP and it did not disappoint.
It’s not far off the highway, and is quite a pretty drive with lots of farmland – mangoes, sugar cane – with a nice range of mountains in the background.
Nearing the car park we came to a river crossing that looked ok’ish on inspection, but we were a bit unsure after all the rain over the last couple of days. But we thought that if it were not ok then the resident ranger would have closed the road, so we drove across that one and a second one that looked a little deeper. No problems and we were soon at the carpark. These are shown in the video link below.
It was not a long walk to the falls. On the way there is an access point to the Waterview Creek so we get to see the massive boulders that typify parts of this creek. But we also see that the river is high and flowing rapidly.
Then we come to the river crossing. There is clear path to follow, the problem being that its is covered by rapidly flowing water.
I took my boots off and tested the waters with a stick for a prop. Why had we left our walking poles at the car – beats me. Despite Kerry’s protestations (check out the video link below) I reckon we can do it.
And we do. In fact the worst part was when we couldn’t see where the path went – but there were little bits of concreted rock visible so we just followed them.
A small section of rock barefoot on dry land then plunged in again. It was all only ankle deep but you could feel the water trying to carry your feet away with it. The mozzies were exceedingly bad anywhere near the water. We had to stop and respray ourselves the minute we stepped onto dry land.
From there we soon get to a sign pointing one way to the rock pools and another to the falls. We went up first and the first view was just stunning.
Fringed by rainforest, Waterview Creek tumbles down many picturesque cascades and rapids – there are at least 6 large waterfalls that are part of the main “fall” and dozens of other smaller ones. It all starts with a big fall at the top then the water cascades down the cliff face over and around massive boulders, and then down to the pools below. A magnificent sight.
The pools are filled with raging water and even the thought of a swim is impossible. It is great to see so much water but we had read that the Creek also had many waterholes for a cool dip so we miss out on that.
The return Creek crossing was a breeze, and we wondered why we had been so concerned about it before.
We decided to go into Ingham as it was only 25km away. We were going through there the next day but with a van in tow stopping to have a look around is often problematic. As well we had seen on our fuel app that there was very cheap fuel ($1.299) at a service station there. Sadly it did not exist. There were others but only at the same rate as our van site ($1.349) which is where we preferred to give our business.
The town is not such a great place to visit. But we did some shopping and on the way out stopped at the fish shop for some more banana prawns. We also got a prawn and chilli noodle dish that was the $10 meal of the day. They only do one each day.
Returning to the van park we stopped at Frosty Mango for an ice-cream. Great ice creams. but we were surprised to see that they also did a lot to take-away food including pizzas. I mentioned to the waitress that if we had known this we would have been better customers and maybe they should have a sign out. She replied that this had been suggested but the owners were European and you could not tell them anything.
The prawns were superb, but we could not do the noodle dish as well so that went into the freezer for another day.
Green tree ants have invaded the outside of the caravan again. We use another can of spray to get rid of them. Don’t understand why they don’t stick to their trees and leave us alone!
To see photos for this blog click here
To see a video for this blog, click here