I had ridden up to Springbrook before. But had never done a walk in Springbrook valley. I had done the Cougal Cascades walk and Mount Cougal on the other side of the range. I knew this was going to be a shorter walk which I was alright with.
The drive up from the Gold Coast onto the Great Dividing Range took about 45 minutes. It was a cold and windy day when I left the GC. Getting out of the car at Springbrook was much colder. The range was catching the wind more and there were some shower squalls about.
I was a bit unsure which carpark to start the walk from. I parked up at The Settlement Day Use carpark. This one is not the main carpark though. I went and got my bearings at the start of the walk. I decided to move to the main carpark which is about 3 mins drive away. Little did I know that it is pretty much right next door. So either car park is fine.
I started the walk from here. The signage was telling me the walk was 4km/2hours. I thought I could get this done in an hour. So I set off. They recommend that you walk in a clockwise direction. You start by walking along the top of the western side of the gorge. You then descend down towards the base of the waterfall. After about 15 ins of descending you reach the base of the falls.
The falls drop over 100m over a sheer rock face and finish in a nice large pool. I imagine in summer time you can swim at the base of the falls. The rock formations are amazing here. You have a vertical face with some overhanging sections of rock. There are some cool sedimentary deposits near the base as well.
Once you have finished at the bottom. You cross over the creek via a suspension/swing footbridge. You then ascend up for approximately 20mins. Before meandering along the eastern flank of the gorge. Here you come across the eastern lookout which has a close view of the falls.
From there you make your way back to the carpark. All said and done, I was back at the starting point in an hour.
