Champagne Falls – Tully Gorge’s Hidden Gem

Champagne Falls is a hidden gem of Tully Gorge. It truly lives up to its name! Best seen during the wet season. A short stroll from the road and this spectacular waterfall comes into view.

Where and How to Get There

From Tully, follow Tully Gorge Road North-West toward Tully Gorge for roughly 40 minutes. You’ll pass the day-use area and eventually reach a small parking area for Cardstone Weir. You can barely see the falls from here, so you will want to back track 100m or so to a dirt road that branches off the main road. You can drive down here or walk. Follow the path to the river for a better view.

Just a reminder – you cannot access this from the Tully Falls side of the gorge (accessed via Ravenshoe).

Ultimate Aussie Bucketlist Experience

Initially on our trip, we skipped Tully Gorge as we were on a bit of a time frame to do the Big Lap. This all changed of course, and we spent another four months in Far North Queensland haha. To much to see and do! So, of course we made time to go back to Tully and see what we missed.

The drive out to Tully Gorge is very scenic – especially on a cool, misty morning. We enjoyed it even more because it was sealed the whole way!

As you enter the National Park section, you’ll notice the turn off to Cochable Creek Campground. Unfortunately the bridge that accesses this camp site had a 2 ton load limit… so I could imagine only very small 4WD vehicles could access this (4WD is recommended, but we aren’t certain if it can also be done with SUV’s etc).

We continued to the day-use area, had a look around and then did the short 350m Butterfly Walk. There were a few butterflies around (late January) but not as many as we had anticipated.

Continuing our drive, we finally made it to Cardstone Weir. To the side of the road is a small parking area and the steps leading down to the lookout. The weir isn’t anything special, but it provides a nice view of the Tully River – and of course – a glimpse of Champagne Falls downstream.

From here, you can walk downstream roughly 100m, or follow the road back to a dirt side road. This has a 30m walk to the edge of the river with a direct view in front of Champagne Falls.

The waterfall isn’t massive in terms of height and width… but its worth is its beauty. There’s a real WOW factor with these stunning falls. It cascades its way over a rocky section at the top, falls 20m or so, then multiple channels form into a single stream as it makes its way into the Tully River.

Off to the right is a massive tree that looks like it is growing directly out of the cliff face – very impressive!

While you’re up there – ensure you make another side trip to view Pony Tail Falls. This is another small waterfall that cascades from a creek on the cliff face. Look for a parking area between Marker 10 and 11 (signs and numbers painted on the road).