Crows Nest Falls National Park - Queensland Darling Downs

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Crows Nest Falls National Park Queensland Darling Downs

Known as the Valley of the Diamonds, Crow's Nest Falls National Park is located only 6 kms out of the town itself and is just off the New England Highway heading north from Toowoomba. It was declared a recreation reserve in 1905 and converted to a national park in 1967. The total area of the park including the Crow's Nest Falls is 492 ha.

At the time of our visit, winter, you could only describe the landscape as very dry. Normally rainfall is around the 40 mm mark, but this month of August had only seen 2 mm. Surprisingly, the hardy native trees and shrubs weren't showing too much stress from lack of water but hurrah the horrible lantana had shrivelled up leaves. Little ferns were hiding under rocks and in tiny crevices which would retain the remnants of moisture to keep them going. Wildflowers were few, but the wattles were doing their best to make a sunny golden show.

The road into the park and falls is bitumen all the way. The entrance to the area is well marked, with a small day picnic area on your immediate right as you enter the park. Camping is off to the left on a dirt loop road. Camping spots aren't numbered, but are clearly visible with a fireplace to each site. There are several sites suitable for vans and campers. Shade is adequate and most sites are grassed. The amenities are nearby including a "donkey" boiler for hot water. These gadgets seem to be unique to Queensland and we met some "southerners" really scratching their heads at just how these things work! Easy once explained! You fill a tank with water, stoke up a fire, wait a wee while, put a bucket at one end and turn on the tap again. Out comes glorious hot water. National Parks have done a fantastic job on these amenities with floor tiles would you believe? The hot water from the "donkey" is raised up using an ingenious pulley system which we forgot to photograph, and you simply pull on a rope to start the water flowing. Some wood is provided, but the quality wasn't too hot or too plentiful, being off cuts of pine. As it is illegal to take wood from the park, it is recommended that you bring some extra supplies if planning to camp for a few days and needing a shower. Water for the showers comes from the creek but tank water is available but a better idea is to bring your own drinking water - Crows Nest is only 6 kms back.

Under the verandah of each section of the amenities block, is an information board with details of the park itself, finding various animals (e.g. where to go to find platypus) and the walks and other facilities in the area. The toilets are self-composting with absolutely no smell and the shower is served by cold water plus the hot water coming from the donkey. The whole area is home to dozens of brush turkeys and their antics can fascinate one for hours. Their other popular spot of course is hovering around the picnic tables!

A short distance away is a quite large parking area adjacent to another day use picnic area with tables, chairs and BBQ's. The walking tracks are well marked and interestingly enough, the dirt ranges from a red ochre to a grey beige. The Cascades is only 500 metres in along the track but due to the lack of winter rain, there wasn't much water cascading anywhere. So onto the Kauyoo Pool a further 100 metres in and you get a rough sandy beach with a very deep rock lined pool. There are very curious markings in the rocks surrounding the edge of the pool - like tide marks. Whether this relates to flood levels, summer and winter water heights or geological formations, was a little hard to tell as we couldn't get across to touch the actual surface.

Crow's Nest Falls is about a kilometre further in, once again along a well trodden track. There is a high lookout, well fenced, since the drop of the falls is 120 metres to the bottom of the gorge below. Lack of winter rain meant lack of waterfall, but you could easily imagine how spectacular it would have been in the rainy season. There was a very large rock edged waterhole into which the falls obviously splashed at the right time of year.

A further 1.2 kms is Koonin Lookout. We might mention that there are some sections of steps along these tracks, before the path plateaus out for a little while. Make sure you take your water bottle. Even in the winter you can get quite thirsty - there wasn't much of a breeze and at times you had to climb fairly quickly up the stone steps, some of which were a bit tall for short legged people like Chrissy. Unless you absolutely adore walking up steps the direction you go is important. If you take all the paths to your right and THEN head towards Koonin Lookout most of the return journey will be downhill!

The Lookout is a top a large boulder formation. One particular rock we called "Iguana Rock" from the top side it was interesting but from the bottom side you could see a lizard's face and sort of jowls! Rock formations on the sides of the gorge were a little hairy - in places, they looked so finely balanced, elsewhere it was as if someone had used a huge carving knife and cut slices into the rock face. Once again, it was easy to feel insignificant - the size of us at the top of the lookout and the grandeur of the valley to the sides and deep below.

The total walk is about 4.5 kilometres and the walk back is easier than the walk in - down hill and flat, rather than climbing and steps. It is obvious why there are signs up warning visitors not to dive into any of the waterholes - and to take particular care near cliff edges and on slippery rocks. The lookout over the Valley of the Diamonds was impressive, but it was not so easy to see why it was called "Valley of the Diamonds". At certain angles, the sun hit the rock walls and there were some sparkles in the rock face - maybe the early settlers thought they had found their fortune in these rocks. Whatever the story, this is a worthwhile walk, taking between 1 hr to 1-1/2 hours, depending on the number of stops for photos. We passed about twenty people along our way, so it certainly wasn't an isolated area.

In summary - a good morning or afternoon outing when you're in the Crow's Nest area or you can do as we did and camp the night. Take your lunch and make the most of the good facilities provided, but be sure you take water for your walk. The first part of the walk is wheelchair friendly. Mobiles only work right up on top of the lookouts.

National Parks have an excellent brochure on the park. You can get more info on page 128 of Martin Bowerman's book Camping in Southern and Central Queensland ($10.95) at most Queensland camping stores). Absolutely recommended for camping and cost was $3.85 per person in August 2001.

Bob and Chrissy Eustace

Click on the compass for a map of the local area