Green Cliff Falls and the surrounding cascades and swimming holes are an incredible hidden gem nestled in the Goldsborough Valley of Far North Queensland. It’s a challenging all-day adventure, but well worth the journey!

Where and How to Get There

Strap yourself in for a bit of a journey! 

From the Babinda Boulders carpark, you’ll take the track that heads north from the playground. This is the Goldfield Trail. Follow this for roughly 5km – the gradient isn’t too bad, but in the wet season, be prepared to take your shoes off for a few small creek crossings.

This is where having the AllTrails app on your phone is handy! About 5km in, there is a very discreet track that detours right – up a small embankment (a worn out section). From here it gets rough and steep. Keep an eye out for pink tape as the final 1.5kms or so can be a bit tricky. The final descent to the river is the roughest part – so please be mindful of this if you decide to do this hike.

Once at the river, if you’re adventurous, you can scramble to the top of the main waterfall downstream, and then head upstream. I found it easier to rock hop and swim in sections to get to the upper swimming holes.

Google has the waterfall added here:

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Goldfield Trail

Where to Stay

Babinda is an excellent choice for free camping! There’s a free camp (limited spaces) just 100m before the main carpark. There is also a large free camp back out on the other side of the main highway – at the Rotary Park. Both have toilets and showers.

There’s more info at the Babinda Information Centre.

Ultimate Aussie Bucketlist Experience

The plan was to visit Babinda Falls… but how often during travelling does everything go to plan? Haha we have given up on that!

There was a fair bit of rain around and I heard that it could be a bit dangerous heading to Babinda Falls – so… Plan B – Green Cliff Falls. They were marked on Google and had a marked trail on AllTrails, so I thought it couldn’t be too bad.

Goldfield Trail

There were a few leeches and spider webs along the track, a few undulating inclines and declines – but overall the 5km of Goldfield Trail was okay. Of course, I was still a sweaty mess… it was January after all.

As I came to the crest of one of the hills, I was startled to see a wild pig digging up the side of the track – I think we both gave each other a fright and it took off down the hill into the scrub. As if my heart rate wasn’t already high enough haha!

Green Cliff Falls AllTrails
Enter here >
Green Cliff Falls AllTrails
Credit: AllTrails

After finding the entrance to Green Cliff Falls, I started to rough trek up and up and up. The way up is fairly easy to follow, just a bit of a burn on the legs.

After reaching the peak, it flattens out and then it is a matter of navigating in search for pink tape. Sometime I lost track of it but eventually rejoined.

There’s a few small creek crossings (feet wont get wet), and then it eventually begins the descent to the waterfalls.

The descent is pretty rough again… I actually lost the track and just made my own way down by scrambling down the creek. After a fair bit of rain, everything was a bit slippery

Green Cliff Falls

The dense forest finally emerged to giant sections of boulder and the sounds of raging rapids! I knew instantly that this was worth the journey.

With all the recent rain, the river was pumping and the cascades and waterfalls were displaying their full roaring potential.

The shoes came off and I proceeded to make my way downstream (along the rocks), to the top of the main waterfall. The sheer force of the waterfall was incredible – which made me extremely cautious on how close I got to the water.

Green Cliff Falls

There is a great place to swim at the base of the falls, although, it was quite challenging getting down there!

As I made my way back up the waterfall and the entrance of the track, curiosity got the best of me. So… I continued upstream and found more cascades, waterfalls and incredible places to swim. The water was so clear – and damn cold!

As I was time-limited (spent too much time swimming and relaxing haha), I didn’t get too far upstream as it involved rock scrambling and swimming. But there were so many more waterfalls and swimming holes further up.

Green Cliff Falls

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Currently travelling Australia! Our dream is to complete the 'Big Lap", and we've learned quite quickly that we want to share it for all to experience. We hope this website helps you all plan your next adventure.

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