Overview
- Features: Water-worn rock shapes, swimming hole and sacred Aboriginal site
- Opening Times: 24 hours
- Best Time to Visit: Afternoons
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Transport Options: Car
- Cost: Free
- Address: Babinda, Queensland, Australia
- Type: Natural wonder
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Summary
If you’re considering a visit to the Babinda Boulders near Cairns read this article before your visit. Find out what makes the Boulders such an interesting and popular attraction and why you need to be careful while visiting it.
What’s So Interesting About the Babinda Boulders
The Babinda Boulders
On the Bruce Highway, 60km south of Cairns, Babinda is a small working-class town that leads 7km inland to a rainforest park called the Babinda Boulders, where a photogenic creek rushes between 4m-high granite rocks. The Babinda Boulders are water-worn rock shapes and a popular photographic subject. This is also a popular swimming hole and a sacred Aboriginal site.
The Legend
What makes a place more mysterious and intriguing are the legends attached to it. And Babinda Boulders has a legend of its own. Legend has it that a young Aboriginal woman threw herself into the then-still waters after being separated from her love; her anguish caused the creek to rise up, becoming the surging, swirling torrent it is today.
The Dangers
The waters that surround Babinda Boulders are croc-free, but here lurks an equal danger: highly treacherous waters. Almost 20 visitors have lost their lives at the Boulders. These deaths have been caused by subtle undertows dragging people over the falls. If you’re visiting the Boulders be very careful and stay well clear of the falls side of the waterhole.
Swimming
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Cool and relatively shallow, the pale blue waterhole of Babinda Boulders is an excellent place to swim, in spite of the dangers associated with swimming here. Swimming is permitted in calm, well-marked parts of the creek, but pay heed to signs where even thoughts of a toe-dip are prohibited.
Walking & Hiking Trails
Certain parts of the Babinda Boulders are off limits to visitors. However, these areas can be accessed via walking tracks which give you the close but safe access you need for the obligatory gasps and photographs.
You can also hike to the boulders, taking the 19-km (12-mile) Goldfield Track (Wooroonooran National Park) that starts in Goldsborough Valley, southwest of Cairns, and ends in Babinda Boulders car park.
Camping
Another reason why Babinda Boulders is so popular is for its free camping ground which has toilets, cold showers and free barbecues. Camping here is limited to a maximum of two nights.
Tell us what you think. What attracts you to Babinda Boulders? If you’ve visited the Boulders before, what did you like best about it?
We love to hear from you so please leave your comments below.
