Paluma
Range National Park is in tropical north Queensland.
Just north of Townsville and its northern beaches, this national park
contains Australia's
southernmost
tropical rainforests.
The rainforests south from here, for
example the ones around Mackay, are subtropical.
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It is a beautiful national park, with thick rainforests, great
waterfalls and swimming holes, and plenty of wildlife, particularly
birds, including red tailed black cockatoos and the southern cassowary.
The park has two different sections - Jourama Falls and Mount Spec.
Jourama
Falls
Jourama Falls is the northernmost section - almost 100km north of Townsville.
The track that turns off the highway has two causeway creek crossings,
before you get to a picnic shelter and a camping ground. You can drive
a little further but the last bit is a walking track that goes to rock
pools and the falls themselves - they are beautiful.
The southernmost section - Mt Spec - has two different areas - Big
Crystal Creek and Rockslides accessed via Spiegelhauer Road;
and Little
Crystal Creek, Paluma Village, Hidden Valley, Birthday Creek Falls and
Lake Paluma accessed via Mt
Spec Road.
Spiegelhauer
Road
The
northernmost access road
takes you to Big Crystal
Creek.
Little
Crystal Creek The southernmost access road - that starts just north of
Rollingstone and the nothernmost Townsville
Northern Beaches,
first has a fairly steep and windy climb up to Mount Spec. Once up, the
road first crosses
Little Crystal Creek
- another
great swimming hole. There are picnic facilities near the old bridge
from the 1930s - the only one of its kind still in service in
Queensland.
Walks and Lookouts The road then continues towards McClellands
Lookout.
The lookout is a little walk from the road, and has toilets, picnic
tables and great views. Nearby are two, a little more demanding walking
tracks - Cloudy Creek
Walk
that goes through rainforest to small waterfalls, and Witts Lookout Track
that climbs to
rocky outcrops for more views from Witts lookout.
Paluma Village
The walks and
lookouts are very close to the small rainforest village, which is very
cool due to the altitude. The village has a history of tin mining and
forestry. Today it has an environmental education centre. There are
also two short rainforest walks that start in the village, one goes
past an old mine shaft and historical logging equipment. There is
motel, B&B and cottage accommodation available.
Hidden Valley
If you continue driving west after the village, you come to open forest
with huge eucalypt
trees, and a
road junction, where turning left takes you to Hidden Valley - an
area outside the
national park. As the altitudes drop the temperatures rise and moisture
disappears.
Turning right at that road junction takes you to Lake Paluma Road that
goes past Birthday Creek
Falls
before it gets to the lake. East of the lake is Mt Spec, covered by
some very deep, remote
rainforests.
Here's a map of the
national park. You can double-click
anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places
closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the
satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand
corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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