Located in the Barron Gorge National Park in the far north of Queensland, the Surprise Creeks Falls is a segmented waterfall on Surprise Creek, near to the Barron Gorge hydroelectric station. It is in Mareeba Shire, near Cairns and is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics area, unique for both its vegetation and wildlife. It is a short, two-mile, out and backtrack from the car park, through monsoonal forests and is a flat, easy hike on sandy terrain across a couple of walkways to a large rock outcrop next to a large plunge pool.To see the waterfalls, which plunge 797 ft into the gorge, you have to climb up the outcrop or swim around it. The falls are usually at their best at the beginning of the dry season. This area is designated as safe for swimming by the National Park, although you should always be vigilant and crocodile aware; estuarine crocodiles live in waterways of the lower section of the Barron Gorge National Park and are potentially dangerous. You are responsible for your own safety. The sandy vehicle track to the waterfalls requires high clearance and there are some dry yet steep river crossings so is only suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles. To get here, drive two miles along Barron Falls Road from Kuranda and follow the signs to the car park. From here follow the track to Surprise Creek Falls, which is the most southern waterfall on the 4WD track to Daly River Road. This area is the traditional land of the Djabugay Aboriginal people, who are known as Bama, - ‘rainforest people’. A family-friendly track, not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs,, this is graded as Medium. For information on how we grade trails, please click here. It will take just over an hour to complete, although caution is advised on trail times as this depends on multiple variables. For more info, click here.
