JoelWhere and How to Get There
It is about a 1 hour trip west of Ingham to get to Wallaman Falls. As you are driving, you’ll pass Trebonne and do a series of funny turns until you get to Wallaman Falls Road. As you guessed, you’ll follow this all the way up a windy road until you take a right onto Lookout Road. The Lookout for the falls are less than 50m from the car park.
What to Expect
Highest single drop falls in Australia, Lookout, toilets, car park, steep hiking trail.
Height of Falls: 269m
Width of Falls: 15m
World Height Ranking: 294th
Pool Depth Below Falls: 20m
Height Above Sea Level: 540m
Annual Visitors: 100,000
Where to Stay
Instead of turning off Wallaman Falls Road for the lookout, continue and you’ll arrive to the Wallaman Falls camping area – this can be booked through the National Park website here.
We haven’t completed it, but if you’re a VERY keen hiker, the longest of Queenslands Great Walks can be accessed from here – 110km! There are a couple of other multi-day hikes that begin at Wallaman Falls.
Ultimate Aussie Bucketlist Experience
Of course Wallaman Falls was on our radar – there was no way we were going to miss it. Although there isn’t much to do out that way, the experience is worth the windy trip up the mountain. To truly grasp the sheer size of Wallaman Falls, you have to see it for yourself.
We had booked our camping spot at the campground nearby a week or so earlier. So when we arrived up at the falls, we had a look from the viewing platform and soaked in its glory. It truly was magnificent!
Once we had set up and organised our camping spot, we went for a little walk down the hill towards the nearby creek. Here you’ll find some nice rocks to walk onto and enjoy the flowing creek that eventually flows downstream to feed Wallaman Falls. Further down the river is a bridge which you can walk or drive across to access the other side. The 4WD track was closed when we were there – but perhaps this was also the start to the multi-day hikes?
The next morning, we were up early and went to the lookout again. It was barely light, so we were the only ones there – so – we flew the drone up to get a good view of the entire valley and cliff faces. It was remarkable! At one point the mist rolled in really thick and heavy and I almost lost the drone (whoops), but it made for good footage haha.
It was then time for the 2km hike down to the base of the falls – talk about a leg burn. It took us just over 30 minutes to get down going at a steady normal pace. Reaching the base of the falls, there was a small area for viewing – upon that, the rocks were extremely slippery and there were warnings about not going further – so we heeded that advice. We had a fruit salad at the base and replenished our energy, when a small group came down – we had an introduction and enjoyed a good chat for a while.
The waterfall is just massive in terms of the drop. By the time the water reaches the bottom, it is more of a mist rather than a major torrent of water. I’m guessing it’s still pretty dangerous if you tried to swim at the base!
By this time, I was feeling energetic, so I decided to hustle back to the top and wait for my wife there. I was absolutely stuffed! It took me 24 minutes to get up basically power walking. My legs were shaky for the rest of the day haha.
Don’t miss Wallaman Falls! The whole experience and landscape is powerful.
