We only cottoned on to The Falls Drive when looking at brochures at the Tourist Information Office in Toowoomba – the photos of Queen Mary Falls looked awesome. We were blown away with the chance to see not just 1 but 3 stunning waterfalls all in close proximity, and driving through some beautiful countryside. We have not seen too much of the Qld/NSW hinterland, but that will certainly change from now on.
We did this wonderful drive on 19 July 2019. It was a clear and perfect day.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Toowoomba > Warwick > Killarney (start of Drive) ~ 115kms.
History
Warwick Shire today covers area traditionally held by two First Nations groups of people. To the west there were the Gnarabal people and to the east the Gidhaba people. The Gidhabal people occupied an area from about Woodenbong in NSW to Allora in the north. Their language is very similar to that spoken by people in a much larger area extending to the coast in the east and to well south of Lismore, and scholars now refer to this group as the Bundjalung speaking people. To further confuse the issue, there was a clan of the Gidhabal people living mainly between Warwick and Killarney known as the Geynyan people. Their language was only occasionally different to the main Gidhabal language.
To read more about the culture of these First Nations people, click here
Killarney is the centrepiece of the area and was part of the first British settlement of the Darling Downs.
Named for a place on the far side of the globe that its founders meant to honour and were homesick for, Killarney bears no resemblance to its Irish original. It is lush country, yes, but of the green, subtropical kind, with sawmills in untidy paddocks, peak-roofed weatherboard farms, and on the skyline of low hills, bunya pines, hoop pines and Scotch firs.
No one knows for sure why it was named after the Irish Killarney but there was a Killarney Station which was an outstation of Canning Downs.
The major British settlement of the district occurred in the 1850s after cedar cutters moved in. By 1867 the Killarney Inn was providing liquor and over the next decade the settlement added a general store, a police station and a blacksmith.
South Killarney was surveyed in 1878 and a railway line arrived from Warwick in 1885. The town was then moved across the river to the north side of the Condamine River. A terrible cyclone raged through the town in November 1968 and destroyed many of the town’s historic buildings. One person was killed and two hundred of the town’s 247 buildings were destroyed.
Today, apart from the very impressive old Queensland hotel in the main street, the appeal of Killarney lies in the natural features around the town: The Falls Drive providing rolling foothills, deep secluded valleys and dramatic waterfalls. This old timber and dairying town is now the centre of a thriving mixed-farming district, producing meat, potatoes, onions, grain and timber to name a few.
Travel to Warwick
It was a very nice drive from Toowoomba to Warwick, through rolling hills and some well established farmlands.
Approaching Warwick we saw a massive area of solar panels on our left. Good to see these local initiatives. Amazing to see what people are doing in spite of our government too.
We snapped some nice buildings on the drive through Warwick.
Travel to Killarney
Driving south east from Warwick to Killarney, the hills are higher and hold the promise of something special.
We did not stop at Killarney, unfortunately, as it looked a really interesting town. We did not know what was ahead and how long we might need, before we got to our next place at Cabarita. But we did see some interesting houses.
The Drive
The Falls Drive is one of the region’s most popular. The Main Range National Park is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, famed for its ongoing geological processes, evolutionary history, and diversity (especially of rare, threatened and endemic species).
We left Killarney along Border Road, and after about 3km turned left onto Spring Creek Road. We simply followed the signs to Queen Mary Falls. Pretty soon we were driving past the town water treatment plant, and then were at the big brown sign setting out what lay ahead.
Browns Falls is the first of the trio of waterfalls – the car park is only 400m from the brown sign. The park has a play area, picnic tables, BBQs and amenities. The advice is to allow at least 20 minutes for the 600m “adventure” walk to the falls. There are a few warning signs that the track to the falls is rocky and steep – but this proved a bit of an exaggeration.
The path lead under the bridge to the river – all very pretty. We trekked along the rough track following the red discs, scrambled over trees, rock-hop and crossed the creek a few times. Along the river are many bubbling mini-falls, with rock pools between them. The river is well confined by rocky banks – quite high at times – and forested banks. It is all very pretty, even if a tad adventurous in a few places – a really enjoyable trek. But bitterly cold this early in the morning.
The Falls come as a surprise – especially as there was plenty of water coming over the top. It is a 15 metre waterfall into a rocky pool. At the top is a creeper of some sort hanging down the beginning of the Falls. It is all really lovely.
Back at the road, the unfortunately named Daggs Falls is only a couple of km further along. It has very easy access with the lookout right beside the road. The viewing platform provides a dramatic view of the 39m drop.
The beautiful Queen Mary Falls is only 10km from Killarney. The picnic grounds are excellent with covered tables, gas BBQ areas and amenities. There is a 400m well-defined track that takes you to the lookout, crossing the Creek just before you get there.
The falls spill over the basalt cliff and plummet 40m to the rocky base. They really are quite stunning.
We returned to the picnic grounds by crossing back over the bridge and continuing on that track. There is another lookout for the falls on that side but we could not see anything from it. We could have continued on the 2km Queen Mary Falls circuit. The advice is to allow 45 minutes to complete the circuit – one section includes a lot of steps. We did not do that circuit on this trip.
Across the road is a caravan park with a cafe/shop. It is surprisingly busy and there are quite a few ladies out the front with bird seed, and with King Parrots and Lorikeetes on their heads and arms and hands chewing away. Many of the trees also have a crochet wraps and hanging tea cups, very unusual.
It is about 8km to Carrs Lookout, but there are a couple of photo points along the way – and in any event it is a lovely drive. Beautiful scenery.
Carr’s Lookout is is great – the views over the Head Valley to Mt Superbus, the Scenic Rim and Tambourine Mountain are just wonderful on the clear day we had. Amazingly, this area is the headwaters of the Condamine River, which is part of the Murray- Darling River system, the longest in Australia.
Information boards identify the mountains and tells the story of a plane crash in 1955 on Mt Superbus. The famous Spring Creek Mountain Cafe is on the escarpment next to the lookout with magnificent views of the Condamine Gorge.
After the Lookout the road becomes narrow – very narrow in sections – and winding. Heavy vehicles or caravans should not even think about it. It was an amazing drive with a few photo stops now and again.
Down on the flat in the farmed areas we saw lots of green fields – very surprising in the drought. But we soon the reason – large and quite full farm dams, and irrigation taking place on many fields.
Approaching Boonah, a number of old sports cars were heading west – great to see. It would be a lovely drive the Drive in one of those.
Boonah is a very nice looking town and very busy when we were there. A car parking space was a precious thing. We had a quick lunch there and headed off to Cabarita.
To see photos from the post, click here
To see video from the post, click here