Millstream Falls, Millstream Falls National Park
PARK INFORMATION
NPRSR 13 7468
SIZE
372 ha
VISITOR INFORMATION
Ravenshoe (07) 4097 7700 | www.ravenshoevisitorcentre.com.au
LOCATION AND ACCESS
1718 km north-west of Brisbane; 147 km south-west of Cairns; 3 km southwest of Ravenshoe via Mt Garnet Rd
CAMPING
No camping
Part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, the centrepiece of Millstream Falls National Park in the Atherton Tableland is Big Millstream Falls, reputedly the widest single-drop waterfall in Australia. For over 3 million years, up until 20 000 years ago, this area was subjected to numerous volcanic eruptions, with extensive lava flows. The picturesque falls, on a tributary of the Herbert River, actually plummet over the edge of a columnar basalt lava flow. At Little Millstream Falls, around 2 kilometres to the south, the water threads its way around rocky outcrops to drop in separate water flows into the large deep pool below, a refuge for platypus.
The park lies in a rain shadow area, which prevents the growth of rainforest species, and the vegetation is dominated by attractive eucalypt woodlands of stringybark, bloodwood and ironbark, and bottlebrush rim the river. Forest birds and parrots are numerous, along with the olive-backed oriole, black-breasted buzzard and various honeyeater species, such as white-throated, white-naped, whitecheeked and fuscous honeyeaters.
This park is for day-use only, providing a scenic spot for picnicking, and exploring the falls and rock pools along the Millstream River. Swimming is possible but do not dive into rock pools and always test the water depth. The park was the site of an army camp during World War II and old campsites are a legacy of this period. From the carpark, Big Millstream Falls Lookout Track (680 metres return, 15 minutes, medium difficulty) is a pleasant walk through eucalypt forest to an excellent view of the wide falls. The walk to Little Millstream Falls where platypus live in the pool (700 metres return, medium difficulty) takes about 25 minutes.