Ingham - Wallaman Falls

Today our little convoy, the Curry's and the Oakey's, were heading to Ingham and to the Wallaman Falls. I remember going there when I was little and was really excited about taking my kids to the same spot.


On the drive there the kids started playing a game - "Today, I went fishing and caught........." each person would repeat the previous items and add their own onto the end. I was really surprised how many the kids could remember - this is the list we all came up with.


Chris started with:
"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot"

Then me:
"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot, and a flathead"


Then Lexie:
"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot, a flathead and a stick"


Then Logan:
"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot, a flathead, a stick and a bream"


Then Jack:
"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot, a flathead, a stick, a bream and a barra"


and on ...and on.....in the end the last one was:


"Today, I went fishing and caught...an old boot, a flathead, a stick, a bream, a barra, a croc, a toadfish, a shark, a sea snake, a big foot, a seagull, a hat, a sea spider, a stingray, a car, a cold, a redclaw, sunglasses, a sea horse and a bottle of coke!


We arrived at the Frances Creek Rest Area and unhooked the vans and then we were off again to the falls. It was a quick drive through town and then a long and curvy drive up the mountain and through the rainforest to come to the top of the waterfall.


The Wallaman Falls is the largest single drop waterfall in Australia at 268m. We walked, or should I say the kids all ran to the first lookout and were all shouting and excited about the waterfall - the two girls were especially excited about the rainbow at the bottom of the waterfall. After checking out the waterfall from the top we decided we had better see it from the bottom too - so off we headed down the walking track - unprepared for what was to come.

We had only just started heading down the track when Lexie fell over and scraped both her knees, it was then a mad scramble to find some bandaids - because we all know that baindaids can magically fix things - and they did!!


It was a long walk down the track and you would think the kids would whinge and whine about how far it is - but no it wasn't the kids - it was Belinda - she is not a big fan of exercise and kept insisting that she could see the waterfall just fine from the top. But we wouldn't let her stay there and made her walk all the way to the bottom . At the bottom lookout you could feel the spray from the water landing. But of course this wasn't good enough for the men - they had to get closer!


Chris and Anthony had spotted what looked like a rough track heading down to the bottom of the waterfall and decided to head down to have a closer look - we couldn't manage to talk Belinda into going any further so she stayed with the two girls, Isabella and Lexie, while the rest of us went off in search of the bottom of the waterfall. What we didn't realise was what a rough track it would be and that there would be more climbing than walking - but in the end we made it out onto the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall - and boy was it worth it. It had a real magical feel about it and was mesmerizing to just sit there and listen to the waterfall and watch the water flow past.

After climbing back up to the bottom lookout - it was time to head back up the mountain - this was the hard part. I was wrecked after climbing up from the rocks and now I had a huge walk up the mountain back to the car - still no whinging kids - just me! It was a struggle but we all got back to the top eventually.

For more photos from the Wallaman Falls - click here http://picasaweb.google.com/travellingoakeys/WallamanFallsIngham?feat=directlink