Day 187 - Monday 3 July - Chasing Waterfalls

Day 187

Monday

3 July 2017 –

Babinda – Millaa Millaa

It rains here, a lot! We found out that Babinda is now attempting to wrest the title of wettest town in Queensland from Tully, going by what we have seen these past few days I certainly think they are up there. I am glad Perth is fighting for the title back home.

The weather certainly doesn’t induce early morning starts. The body and mind go into hibernation mode, happy to stay curled up in bed for a little longer, well a lot longer really. I didn’t wake until 8.20am when those around us began to stir and move on.

We stayed in bed until after 9 but then I got the guilts and figured we should get up and get started as I wanted to chase waterfalls. We made our way through the breakfast routine, forging a shower, making lunch and packing the car before starting our journey just after 10am.

We had seen the turn off to Josephine Falls as well as the road heading to Millaa Millaa when we were out and about yesterday, my decision was in which order to do everything. I was trying to be optimistic and chose to head on to Millaa Millaa and hope the weather abated for our return.

We made our way up into the mountains. Queensland’s tallest mountain, Mt Bartle Frere at 1622m, is part of this range and we made a steady climb edging higher into the soggy clouds that were insistently dripping on us. We passed Crawford Lookout hoping it would be clearer on our run back and move further on the road. A permanent road sign warned of impending fog and to put on your headlights.

We saw the sign for Mungalli Creek Dairy, so made a right down the narrow road, stopping to photograph how thick the cloud cover was at this point. We followed the street, which felt far more like an English country lane traversing between the paddocks before finally coming across the dairy. I was hoping it would be more like the one at Atherton but it was only a small scale. We tried a few of their wares, but they didn’t super impress us so we made our way to our next spot, Mungalli Falls.

You drive over the top of the falls to begin with before parking up just below the initial tier. I took some photos and then we moved on to a viewing platform, where a drenched looking bush turkey was walking the balustrade. From the platform we had a good view of the falls as they dropped over the second tier and plunged some distance to the rocky pool below.

We then returned to the car, completed the loop road back to the main highway and continued on until we came across the Waterfall Tourist route and turned left once again. Only a short drive down the road you come across the first of three falls, Ellinjaa Falls.

We walked the boardwalk and followed it down hill until it came to a clearing at the base of the falls. We were lucky to have it to ourselves so I was able to set up the tripod to take some photos and claim my spot when the hoards arrived.

I took the shots I wanted, admired the volcanic pillars that the water tumbles over and then we returned to the car to move on to the next waterfall, Zillie Falls.

We again arrived to a near empty car park, trundling our way through the wet forest covered in raincoats and brolly to the viewing platform situated at the top of the falls. The water comes in from a small creek over a flat rock surface before plunging away to the floor. Unfortunately the forest is growing so well it impeded the ability to get a clear view. Making our way across the platform also required great skill, as it was thick with mud and required me to straddle the railing and place my feet between the uprights slowly inching across. Paul walked the path in places he thought were safe to put his feet only to find it wasn’t so and came out with very muddy boots.

There was a further path leading down the hill through the forest that I began to descend but after seeing buttressed tree roots pooling large amounts of water and orange mud caking the path we decided it probably wasn’t the smartest of moves and returned the way we had come.

Feeling a little damp, I was glad to be back in the dry of the car. It wasn’t a particularly cold day, in fact at times it was still quite muggy but being wet just wasn’t particularly comfortable.

The final waterfall on this trail was Millaa Millaa. This is the most photographed waterfall in Queensland and was used in a herbal essence ad some time back. You can swim at the falls as they cascade into an easily accessed waterhole and there were some backpackers doing just that when we arrived, along with the many taking selfies.

I set up where I wanted to take some photos, pleased that the other tourists disappeared and gave me a clean canvas to take the shots, it was just a shame the rain set in and made it difficult to keep the lens free of water droplets. It also hampered our enjoyment of the park, so we packed up and made our way into the town of Millaa Millaa.

The Lions Park was located in the main street and had covered picnic tables where we ate our lunch as we took in the view and read about the history of the town. With lunch consumed we continued a short distance out of town to Millaa Millaa Lookout for what it was worth.

As suspected on the drive there was nothing to be seen when we reached the top of a hill. Grey, blanketing cloud filled the landscape, keeping secret any treasured landscape that may lay before us, oh well.

With that ticked off, we returned towards Babinda, stopping at the Nucifora tea farm to take some photos of the beautifully sculpted and manicured tea bushes. We bypassed the Crawford Lookout once again and then popped out on the Bruce Highway heading this time to Josephine Falls.

Once parked, we walked the 700m boardwalk through the dripping forest to a number of platforms that gave views of the falls and the raging river waters. The roar of the water was just incredible and the force with which it was travelling was amazing. You wouldn’t survive for long if you were tossed into the current.

 At the final platform the mist from the waterfall was so strong I couldn’t get a clear photo, no sooner had I wiped the lens than spray landed on it again.

Our waterfall chasing complete we made our way back to the van, thankful that the rain had eased off but wary that it was likely to return at any moment. We took some time out to rest before we walked into the town of Babinda for a look around the main street and to pick up a couple of grocery items.

Cloud was again making itself known amongst the hill line and it wasn’t long before it was raining again. Rain hoods on and umbrella up, we walked back to the van knowing we were stuck for the rest of the evening in the van, no way to get the extra steps needed to make it a half decent day.

I worked on the photos, while Paul read and then we got hungry so dinner was thrown together and we ate and cleaned up all within half an hour. It was then time to sit back, listen to the rain continue its downpour and make ourselves ready for bed.