The day was going to be another warm one so we were dressed and in the car by 8.30am. There are many great walks in Litchfield and we cannot, obviously, do them all so today we have chosen to do Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole. Our map says that it is a 30km drive from the van park to the carpark at Florence Falls and it took us around 30 minutes to get there. We arrived at the right time because there were not many vehicles in the carpark. We decided to walk to the lookout first to photograph Florence Falls in the early morning light.
Florence Falls are very picturesque. First you see the smaller top fall and from there the water cascades into two falls and plunges into a pool that is a popular place to dip your toes. From the lookout you can walk down 123 stairs to reach the rock pool. I misread the map and thought you than had to return via the steps to continue the walk (I should have listened to my husband) so I suggested that we head to Buleys Rockhole instead.
This is a gentle walk that follows Florence Creek. All the way along the main path there are other paths that branch off to some very inviting swimming holes. The water is crystal clear and seldom deep. We continued the 1.6km walk towards Buleys and walked through some changing scenery. The day was certainly warming up and when we reached Buleys Rockhole there were a lot of people already swimming in the refreshing water. Surprisingly the water is not cold, just a very pleasant temperature to sit and enjoy.
We had to return the same way we came. I prefer loop walks but you don’t always have that choice, particularly along creeks. Once we were back at Florence Falls we looked again at the map and I realised that Philip was right and it is a loop down to the bottom of the falls and then back to the carpark. We walked down the 123 steps and I was very pleased that we weren’t doing it clockwise and have to walk up those steps. By this time a busload of young tourists had arrived and they galloped past us and down those stairs. They weren’t going to miss out on a swim! So, by the time we arrived all thoughts of swimming in the rockpool below the falls had disappeared. There were so many people here that you would have had to fight your way in to the pool. We made a decision to continue on the loop and see if we could find somewhere quiet to swim.
This section of the walk was absolutely beautiful. We used to go for many walks at Mount Lewis when we lived at Julatten and Mount Lewis forms part of the Daintree National Park. We thought Mt Lewis was the loveliest place. This place was like Mount Lewis on steroids! As the path meandered along Florence Creek you would round a corner and here was yet another photograph. The path itself consisted of paving stones in a pretty pink colour and had been hand laid. Ferns adorned the pathway on both sides interspersed with tree ferns.
It was such a lovely cool walk but we were looking for somewhere to swim and we found the perfect place just before we reached the carpark. National Parks had built a small rock levy (one of many that we had seen along the creek) to hold back the flowing water and form a rockpool that was perfect to sit and relax. We had been walking for almost two hours so our feet said thank you very much!
Tomorrow we will go for a drive as there are another three waterfalls to see within Litchfield. Some are close to the road and others are longer walks. We will also drive into Batchelor but as it is a public holiday tomorrow I am not hopeful of anything being open.
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