I hope you are all ready for another waterfallapalooza, because that’s all I did at this stop. Continuing my journey north through Queensland, I based myself next in Innisfail on the coast. The highway that heads directly west from there is sandwiched by a few national parks, lush rainforest, and a whole bunch of amazing waterfalls. I started with Tchupala Falls in Wooroonooran National Park. I can’t say either of those names without stuttering.

The hike made it’s way through the jungle and around lots of crazy trees until I finally came to a little window in the jungle overlooking this perfect ten gusher. As I’ve mentioned before, this region has been hit with a lot of destruction this past year with all the rain and flooding. All that water does amazing things to these waterfalls though.

I tried to get to another nearby waterfall, Wallicher Falls, which you can combine with Tchupala, but the trail was closed due to rock falls. I tried a second route from the picnic area down the road a bit, but as you can see below, the bridge across the river was kaput. I guess I won’t be seeing Wallicher Falls this time.

Next up was a longer hike out to Nandroya Falls. First, I had to negotiate the slippery rocks around Silver Falls. This one got a modest seven on the gusher scale.

Nandroya Falls turned out to be pretty spectacular. Another ten gusher. All of these hikes are really slippery affairs, but so far they are totally worth it. I had to wait for the elderly naked hippies to get out of the water before taking these pics though.

A little side trail along the river took me down to this beautiful lower cascade. It gets a ten on the gusher scale by extension.

Mungalli Falls appeared to be on some kind of resort or private park, but it was obviously closed. The buildings were all locked up, but the trail was right there, so I helped myself. I gave this one a nine on the gusher scale. It was really impressive, but I felt like it was holding back a little.

These next three were definitely the easiest to get to. They were all right on the side of a loop road that circles around near Millaa Millaa. Ellinjaa Falls was a solid nine on the gusher scale.

Zillie Falls was a little more difficult. The trail was all really hard packed and slick mud, which was fine until the decent down. I went as far as I could, but the final drop was straight down on that hard mud. I had visions of me sliding down and then not being able to climb back up, so I called it good. The view of this ten gusher from where I ended up was still pretty amazing though.

Finally, I think this is the most popular one judging by the size of the parking lot, the luxury viewing platform, and the nice bathrooms. It’s not hard to see why though. Millaa Millaa Falls should be on a postcard. Another nine on the gusher scale. There were also a lot of these birds begging for food in the parking lot. Always a sign that they must get free meals here. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything or I wouldn’t have been able to resist helping out this polite chap with the broken leg.

Way way west is teeny tiny Millstream National Park. This area is mostly known for being a military training ground during WWII, but there’s also some impressive waterfall action going on as well. It was difficult to get a full view of Big Millstream Falls with all the trees, but it earned a ten on the gusher scale.

Little Millstream Falls down the road also scored a ten. It should get bonus points for creativity, though, with water falling in three or four different directions like that.

The longest hike I did was out to McKenzie Falls in the Tumoulin Forest Reserve. I drove the dirt road out as far as I could and then my gut told me to stop driving at this fork in the road and start walking. So I ditched the car, and it’s a good thing because there’s no way that Yaris would’ve gone any further on that road. It got pretty rough and there was a lot of muddy sections too. Score one for the stomach! It was a nice walk though.

There was no signage of any kind on this one, not even on the roads in. The only indication of where the trail turned off the road was this pink ribbon tied to a tree. From there it was just a quick walk down to the falls.

In addition to being the longest hike, this was also the best and biggest waterfall I saw on this stop. It was also super remote and there was no one, not at the falls, not on the road, nowhere. I had this huge swath of jungle and this giant waterfall all to myself. Awesome! I started at the top tier and made my way down the rocks past the second tier, and then to the third at the bottom.

From the top of the bottom tier I was able to get a really good panorama of the whole thing. What an incredible spot! I was pretty ecstatic about this one. I spent a long time taking it all in before giving it a ten on the gusher scale and then making my way back to my lonely car.

I carefully turned the car around on that narrow road and finally made my way back to the main highway again. On the way back to Innisfail, I took another detour around a long side route to see two more waterfalls before calling it a day. Pepina Falls was just a short hop down some steps of doom to a rock ledge to view this ten gusher.

And Souita Falls was a slightly longer hike through the jungle and around some more crazy trees. The viewpoint looked a bit old and I wasn’t sure how solid it was, but it held up. It was also a bit overgrown, but the falls were another ten on the gusher scale.

Well, I warned you that waterfalls was ALL I did at this stop and I wasn’t kidding. I drove back to sleepy Innisfail for dinner and a good night’s sleep, and tomorrow I’ll continue heading north. The next post will have some more variety, I promise. Stay tuned…