Sunshine Coast Council

Get a taste of the Conondale Range Great Walk with this walk beside the clear Booloumba Creek to an abandoned gold mine.

SUITABILITY
Suitable for walkers with some experience, relatively easy, just getting here can be a challenge sometimes.

HIGHLIGHTS
The picture perfect Booloumba Creek is the big drawcard for this walk with some superb spots to sit and soak it all up such as Eric’s Rest, just before the turnoff to the old mine.

Cutting deep down between towering mountainous terrain the creek is pure emerald perfection. It’s impossible to ignore its timeless beauty.

The little detour to the barred up gold mine from the 1920s dives deeper into the dark rainforest It’s daunting to imagine working down there. Bats live in there today.

All up the return walk to the Booloumba Day Use Area is about 5 km. Back at your starting pont you can relax beside Booloumba Creek where there are lots of birds including Kingfishers, the red chested Mistletoe bird, Riflebirds and Brown Cuckoo Doves. It’s also hard not to miss the lace monitor lizards.

AFTERWARDS
There are numerous walks to be done in this area including Artists Cascades and the impressive 3.7m high Strangler Cairn sculpture by artist Andy Goldsworthy. This walk is part of the 56 km Conondale Range Great Walk.

Nearby, Imbil State Forest offers similar creek side walking and camping experiences and is accessible via Kenilworth and Conondale by two-wheel-drive vehicles.

A great short circuit option is the Cambroon Fig Tree Walk, a magnificent rainforest that grows at the junction of Little Yabba Creek and the Mary River. It’s accessible from Little Yabba Creek Park back out on the Maleny Kenilworth Road.

HOW TO GET THERE
To the starting point: Follow the M1 / Bruce Highway north, and take the Kenilworth exit. Follow the signs for Kenilworth, travelling along the Eumundi-Kenilworth Road for about 28km. Go through Kenilworth and continue toward Maleny. The turn-off to Booloumba Creek day-use and camping areas is on your right about 7.5 km, just after Little Yabba Creek Park. Follow this road for another 7 km and you will get to the Booloumba Creek day-use area.

NOTE: Queensland Parks advises: All park roads are gravel and at present suitable for high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles ONLY. Booloumba Creek Road includes three creek crossings. Many keen walkers park their cars on the side of the road before the first creek crossing and walk in. The walk starts from the Day Use Area.

To the end point: The end point is the same as the starting point.