South of Boonah, right along the edge of Queensland and NSW border, lies a valley with seemingly untouched forest and waterfalls. Before I went on this road trip, I thought Queen Mary Fall was going to be the highlight of my trip, as most of the information that I can find is about it. However, the vast landscape has proven me wrong, as the pure green hills and lush hidden valley unfolded in front of my eyes.
I was surprised that there weren't many tourist around, only locals and families with their picnic baskets. I guess not many people travel inland during summer time. But this area is a bliss temperature wise for summer. It's about 2 hours drive from Brisbane towards Ipswich direction. Some sections of the road are a bit rough, so do drive carefully. The scenery is totally worthy of the long drive.
As you can probably derive from the name of the drive, the Falls Drive, there are many waterfalls other than the more well-known Queen Mary Fall. As I didn't know the area much before I went, I've only did a little bit of hiking on Queen Mary Falls Circuit and Browns Falls, but the drive itself is amazing enough!
After you leave Boonah, head towards the Falls Drive following Boonah Rathdowney Road, then turn right at Carney Creek Road. Two sections of the road are over-flown by the creek, do be careful while you are driving. The water is not deep, so conventional vehicles would make through it with no problem. After that, the road gets narrower and windier, where the traffic going downhill need to give way to the traffic going uphill. Before you head over the first mountain, the scenery looked just like what's commonly seen everywhere else, but once you've gone over it, it looks like a portal has opened and you've been transported to another world of "elves and genies".
Now, let's talk about a few highlights along the drive:
1. Carrs Lookout
You will drive through the country road down the valley before you follow the shady rainforest mountain road to this lookout. Next to the lookout is a Cafe, called the Spring Creek Mountain Cafe & Cottages, where you can enjoy some morning tea before heading to the Queen Mary Fall for bushwalking. Just like the plaque says, what an awesome task to bring us this gorgeous view! A very good spot for photo ops, too.
2. Queen Mary Fall (2km return circuit)
The trail goes to the bottom of the 40 meter tall waterfall. The cascade is especially strong after recent rainfalls. This fall was originally called the Upper Daggs Fall before it was changed. Queen Mary Fall sounds more fitting as you can probably all agree after you have visited the place.
Upon arrival, you will see a car park opposite the Cafe, there is a picnic area right next to the car park. You can start at either end of the trail entrance, one is to the left corner of the picnic area, there is no obvious sign, so you would need to pay attention to find it. This is a much easier starting point compared to starting at the right side of the picnic area, where it is clearly sign marked. Just remember, the clockwise walk is easier than the anti-clockwise walk.
If you start the circuit from the right side, then you will head to the Queen Mary Fall Lookout first, before the trail to the bottom of the fall begins, it is an easy walk down, however, you will need to climb dozens of stairs to climb back up to the top. You will get to the bottom of the waterfall faster through this way and you can see the walking trail down from the lookout.
If you start on the left side, then you will descend into the valley using the stairs, and then see the fall and walk the easy walk back up to the lookout where it provides you with a bird eyed view of the fall and the valley.
You can probably climb to very close to the waterfall as the trail is unfenced, however, to reduce the human disturbance to nature (more erosions) please follow the trail path. The foot path at the bottom of the fall would be an amazing spot if you have looking for some cool drone footage.
The Cafe that I mentioned, also runs the Caravan Park. Not a bad place to stay over night, before you continue onto NSW. Colorful parrots resides among the trees in the Cafe. It's a perfect place to replenish your energy before continue on.
3. Daggs Fall
If you continue on from Queen Mary Fall, you will arrive in the Daggs Fall after a short drive. You can only watch the fall from the lookout as there doesn't seem to be any access point to the fall. The water flows down the valley from Queen Mary Falls and continues its way passing Browns Falll.
4. Browns Fall (800m one way). This is off-track walking with rock hopping and creek crossings required all the way.
You are basically walking alongside a creek upstream to the waterfall and there is no clearly marked walking path. The road is shady and treacherous, so I wouldn't recommend doing this path after rainfall or very late in the afternoon. The trail ends at the very bottom of the waterfall and you can feel the dancing water bouncing off your face. This picture is taken from a distance, and you can scramble over the big rocks to be directly under the waterfall.
The trail starts at the Browns Fall sign at the bridge near the carpark/children's play ground. You will need to go under the bridge and continue on from there to start the trail off.
This completed the Falls Tourist Drive. You can then either drive back to Brisbane the same way you came, or head to Warwick and then follow the main road back to Brisbane.
There are plenty of waterfalls, National Park and walking trails near Boonah and Warwick, including the Lost World, which I hope I am able to explore very soon!
