Between Cairns and Port Douglas you wind find the underrated Hartley’s Creek Falls. This area is most famous for Hartley’s Creek Croc Tours – but be sure to add the local swimming hole and waterfall to your list!

Where and How to Get There

The start of the Hartley’s Creek Falls track is situated at the entrance to Hartley’s Creek Retreat – 4069 Captain Cook Hwy, Wangetti QLD 4877. Remember to keep access clear when you park in the gravel and grass clearings. Ensure not to trespass on private property as you begin the trail. A path leads to a gate – which you walk around to begin the trail.

Flat Rock – 2km one way

This is the first stop – perfect for swimming. Follow the creek upriver a little and you’ll find awesome rock pools!

Hartley’s Creek Falls – 3.5km one way (from carpark)

Hartleys Creek Falls

What to Expect

Waterfall, hiking, swimming, rock pools, wide trail, rock-hopping.

Hartleys Creek Falls

Ultimate Aussie Bucketlist Experience

We had heard from a couple of people that Hartley’s Creek Falls was worth a visit – but never really heard what to expect or how awesome it actually was.

As we parked up at the beginning of the trail, we packed water, snacks and of course – a celebratory beer.

Hartleys Creek Falls

Being summer in FNQ, it was quite warm and a bit muggy, but it made the anticipation for a swim even stronger – and this is always a good motivator to walk a bit faster! Initially, the landscape feels very dry and void of much greenery (at least when we went), but as you finally reach the area of ‘Flat Rock’, the flora begins to liven.

Flat Rock provides an excellent swimming hole – kid friendly as well.

As a side note, if you can manage to go on a weekday and not in the school holidays, you may have this place to yourself.

Hartleys Creek Falls

From here, we encourage you to carefully head up along the left hand side of the creek until you reach some beautiful rock pools. The pools (when filled and flowing) are incredible! This spot was definitely one of the highlights of the hike that day. If you have ever been to the rock pools of the Blackdown Tablelands in Queensland, this might give you similar vibes!

Keep your eyes peeled for the beautiful Kingfishers that fly around this area. There are also turtles, eels and small fish to spot in the water.

Now from here, you have two choices – head back to Flat Rock and take the trail up to the falls OR continue to head upstream from the rock pools until you reach the waterfall. Of course, we love the adventure so we decided to follow the creek until we reached our destination.

Hartleys Creek Falls

As I led my wife up the creek – she began to doubt that I actually knew where I was and where I was going. So… out comes the drone. After flying it up in the air, I flew the drone upstream until the waterfall came in to view – all was okay at this point – STATUS: CONFIRMED haha.

There are some beautiful cascades on the way upstream and even more chances to spot some Kingfishers flying from branch to branch.

After rock-hopping for a while, we seen where the regular track comes to the river and there was a final 100-200m rock hop before we reached the inviting swimming area at the base of the falls. 

The waterfall was a beautiful sight and without hesitating, we jumped in the frigid water and reaped the rewards of an adventurous trip upstream.

Hartleys Creek Falls

After enjoying our cold beer and snack, it was time for me to explore.

Just a note – be extremely careful in the wet season. This waterfall can really get going and swimming would be insanely dangerous.

After the flying the drone, I noticed there were more waterfalls around the corner of the main falls. So with a rope, I headed up the right hand side of the falls and scrambled to the top (again, be careful as there have been several rock slides here). Upon reaching the top, another waterfall emerged and there was nice swimming hole at the base.

Exploring further upstream again, several more smaller (but very nice) waterfalls and cascades emerged. There are more areas here that you can swim – but it can be quite dangerous getting to them via rock climbing and rock-hopping.

Hartleys Creek Falls

All worn out from the adventure, it was time to head back to the carpark – this time via the main trail.

The trail undulates a fair bit as it dips down in to various dry creek beds and there are certain ascents and descents that last 100m or so. I would rate the trail as MODERATE. If you plan on tackling the creek route and also the waterfalls upstream – definitely ADVANCED difficulty. Please be careful out there 🙂

Be sure to add Hartley’s Creek Falls to your #ultimateaussiebucketlist

About Author

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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