| |
Wangi
Falls
History: Wangi Falls is the largest and most popular attraction
in the park, with a large grassed picnic area and toilets.
Access to the plunge pool is easy with steps provided. The
name Wangi is recentThe first recorded European naming was
by David Lindsay in 1883 while surveying the area, after
his youngest daughter Gwendoline. Max Sargent, a member
of the family that took up the pastoral lease over this
area in 1923, called it Kathleen Falls after his second
daughter who was born in 1954 in a nearby stock camp. In
1961 the Townsend family took over the lease, and an outstation
was built appox 4 km to the west of the falls and was named
Wangi, the local aboriginal name for the area. Visitors
to the outstation began to call the falls Wangi and the
name has stuck. Wangi is not the aboriginal name for the
falls, the name relates to the area around the Wangi station.
Wangi Falls is a registered sacred site that is used by
the local aboriginal women. Swimming is allowed here, but
restrictions apply during the wet season once the water
reaches a preset level. This is due to dangerous water currents
and the risk of estuarine crocodiles entering the plunge
pool with the increased water levels from the nearby wetlands.
The Park Rangers will open the pool to swimming once the
water level has dropped below the pre-set level, and a survey
has being conducted to ensure no estuarine crocodiles have
entered the pool during the closure. People spend 2 hours
to a whole day here, the plunge pool being a great place
to relax and read a book or just enjoy the scenery.
Wangi Falls viewing platform walk: 400mtrs
return 10 minutes:
Wangi Falls viewing platform is on the Wangi Falls walk.
After crossing the bridge over Wangi Creek, a walkway takes
you to a platform on the edge of the pool. At times throughout
the year flying foxes (fruit bats) use the trees in this
area for roosting. You can return back to the picnic area
or continue on the Wangi Falls walk.
Wangi Falls walk: 1.6 km. (A loop walk)
1 hour:
This walk starts in the picnic area at the plunge pool.Crossing
the Wangi Creek you come to a short side path to a viewing
platform for the Falls. Return back to the walkway and continue
on through the rainforest to the woodland. The walk then
follows the rainforest edge to the base of the escarpment.
The walk returns into the rainforest to a set of steps that
climb up the escarpment to a viewing platform in the canopy
of the rainforest (65 steps), seats are provided here so
you can look for the life on the forest floor and in the
canopy. Climbing the remainder of the steps (25) to the
secondary plateau, you get clear views over the woodlands
to the west and you will be able to make out the rooftops
of Wangi Station shining on the edge of cleared land to
the west directly above the water tanks in the Wangi Falls
campground.
The walk takes you on a loop over the creek and to the escarpment
above the car park. You cannot access or see the falls on
this walk. You must remain on the walk at all times. The
walk winds its way down the escarpment to the rainforest
at the plunge pool. Enjoy a swim in the plunge pool (if
not closed to swimming) or return to the car park.
|
Dry
Season at Wangi Falls
Stunning
Wet Season Falls
|
