Hands down one of the most amazing places I’ve ever visited. Not only are the views absolutely breathtaking (picture Jurassic Park epicness minus the dinosaurs!) but there is a freaking HUGE waterfall with an INFINITY POOL AT THE TOP! If you are road tripping through tropical north Queensland, I highly recommend spending at least half a day visiting Windin Falls.
Windin Falls isn’t the easiest place to find as it is not sign posted (until you get to the end of a dirt track), and there is also an hour’s hike to get there, but both of these facts amount to this little piece of heaven remaining relatively empty and untouched.
I stayed the night before in Yungaburra, at the On the Wallaby lodge, and headed to Windin Falls around 10am.
Step 1: Drive to Lamins Hill Lookout
Put Lamins Hill Lookout into your GPS as this is the closest point on maps that you can easily navigate to.
Step 2: Drive past Lamins Hill Lookout
Continue along Old Cairns Track past the lookout for a few minutes until the road forks. You want to take the LEFT turn so that you continue along Old Cairns Track.
Step 3: Drive for around 4km until you see a sign for Windin Falls
The track is not the best paved and has lots of loose rocks so make sure you drive slowly. You basically follow the path until just before the end. Here you will see a sign saying “Windin Falls” as well as space to park.
Step 4: Park and then walk about 5 minutes until you get to a large metal gate.
I would advise parking in the area near the Windin Falls sign and then walking to the end of the road as logging trucks sometimes frequent these roads, and you hopefully don’t want to block their paths! You’ll walk for about 5 minutes until you see two gates, one to the left for logging (private property) and a big metal one to the right. You want to climb over the metal gate to the right.
Step 5: Hike for around 40 minutes until you get to a little falls sign and an orange ribbon on a tree.
The hike is a moderate level, it undulates but it mostly sheltered. I would imagine that when it’s been raining a lot it will be a bit more difficult to do.
Step 6: Turn right and walk for another 15 minutes until you approach Windin falls.
When you get to the sign and ribbon you can choose to carry straight on or turn right for a slightly shorter path. If you turn right this walk takes around 15 minutes and the lookout and falls will appear on your right hand side.
The hike is around 4.5km each way, so you will need around two hours to walk there and back. Enjoy!
If you plan on going I would advise:
- Screenshot this blog as there is ZERO signal there (a tiny bit around Lamins Hill Lookout but nothing after that).
- Taking water with you.
- Putting on suncream.
- Bringing insect repellant (there are quite a few horse flies).
- Checking the weather (if it has rained a lot the track will be very muddy)
- And of course don’t forget your swimwear!
There are plenty of waterfalls and swimming holes in North Queensland, so if you can’t make it here, don’t worry!
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10 Comments
Anna
October 9, 2018 at 8:50 pmThanks for the info! Is it a difficult hike?
vanessa
October 24, 2018 at 11:42 amThis is very useful! Thanks for the informative blog! We reached the falls sound and safe!
The Ginger Wanderlust
October 31, 2018 at 9:16 amSo happy to hear!
jojo
October 30, 2018 at 12:40 pmhi, thank you so much for your amazing post. we’re hoping to go but are worried it’s going to be dangerous. is it easy to get into the infinity pool or are the rocks very steep and slippery? if we go straight and take the other path is this easier and do you end up in the same sort of place?
thanks so much
jojo
The Ginger Wanderlust
October 31, 2018 at 9:16 amI went during dry season and the rocks were dry and not slippery, I’m afraid I don’t know for the rest of the year but you can definitely walk there and then see for yourself if you want to swim
I only took the path to the right so I could recommend that one.
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November 3, 2018 at 8:45 am[…] yet it’s only actually an hour hike each way. The infinity pool is located at the top of Windin Falls in the Atherton Tablelands (Wooroonooran National Park) and looks out over a luscious green valley. […]
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December 6, 2018 at 11:18 am[…] then recommend spending the rest of your day at Windin Falls, the most beautiful waterfall I have ever visited with an incredible view! It’s around a 2 […]
Jaimie surinx
February 9, 2019 at 12:14 amI went there last week. So in the wet season. It’s definitely an adventure to get there right now. The ‘path’ you have to follow is flooded a bit, there’s a little stream of water almost all the way. It’s very slippery and very muddy. We didn’t get stuck but slipped quite a few times, it’s not dangerous or anything but you will get dirty and your feet will get wet.
Then when you get to the falls, don’t expect to swim in it. Because it’s been raining for almost 3 weeks now there’s A LOT of water! The river is raging and the infinity pool is not accessible, you would be thrown over the edge if you would attempt to swim in it, that’s how strong the current is right now.
Despite o
3f all of that it was totally worth going, the view was amazing!
But I guess, better go in the dry season.
The Ginger Wanderlust
February 9, 2019 at 1:39 amThanks for sharing your experience, definitely worth checking what the weather was like before going then!
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June 8, 2019 at 6:33 pm[…] How to get to Windin Falls […]