Emerald Creek Falls; a beautiful waterfall near Mareeba
If you’re looking for Mareeba attractions, Emerald Creek Falls will come up on every list you look at, and for good reason. Whilst staying at Ringers Rest RV Park, we headed out to check it out, and to see if it was really worthy of its recommendations. This was a lot better up close than I thought, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Where is Emerald Creek Falls?
This fairly well known attraction is just 22 minutes from Mareeba town centre, and was an even shorter drive from our stay at Ringers Rest RV Park, which is a ripper place to base yourself.
Do you need a 4WD?
Most of the drive to Emerald Creek Falls is bitumen, with the last section gravel and somewhat corrugated. You can easily get a 2WD vehicle in (and many did), but expect a bit of rough road to get there. We saw a lot of whizz bang vans making it in with no issues, and as long as you take it easy you’ll be just fine.
What’s the walk like?
The hike starts off in a small car park, and very soon begins to climb. You can go to the creek (first up), the bottom of the falls, or the lookout that is nearly at the top. Doing all 3 (we started at the top) was surprisingly easy, with short distances and nothing overly too difficult.
A lot of the walk is in full sun, and it gets warm, so leave earlier than later and take plenty of drinking water.
The views from the top lookout are pretty amazing, and then you get a totally different perspective when you head down to the bottom section of the falls, and see the water makings its way down a giant section of rock over a huge number of different pathways.
See our vlog
Can you swim?
There are sections that you can swim in, but also many places where you’d want to be very careful. Our young kids enjoyed splashing in tiny rock pools at the bottom of the falls, and then had a proper swim in the creek at the bottom. You could climb around and get to some decent pools in between, but you need to be very careful that you don’t slip and hurt yourself, as the potential here is huge.
Can you take dogs to Emerald Creek Falls?
Yes, but they must be on a leash. This is only because of it being a state forest and not a national park, or you’d have to leave them at home.
Is it worth going?
Every waterfall in Queensland has been different so far, and Emerald Creek Falls are no exception to this. It’s fairly easy to do the whole lot, and the views are pretty amazing. We’d certainly recommend doing this; it’s a great, free attraction near Mareeba.
If you wanted an easy walk, just head to the bottom of the falls and the creek, and you’d have a very easy outing and still get a heap of great views. We really rated Emerald Creek Falls, and would absolutely go back.
