About Browns Falls
Browns Falls was a short 10-15m waterfall that was remarkable to us in that it plunged over basalt columns.
We could argue that these columns were as pronounced as some of the more famous examples of these types of waterfalls in Iceland (e.g. Svartifoss).
As you can see from the photo above, some of the columns protruded enough to produce an overhang.
So technically we could have gone behind the falls with care.
However, the broken off basalt blocks at its base looked very wet and slippery due to spray from the falls so we reconsidered that thought.
Julie and I simply admired this pleasant little waterfall, which required a bit of a non-trivial hike then stream scramble to reach.
The Hike and Scramble to Browns Falls
Our adventure for this waterfall began at the Browns Picnic Area, where we left our rental car at a car park (see directions below).
Once we crossed the road, we encountered a sign suggesting that we had a mere 20-minute 600m walk ahead of us.
However, as we followed the track, it descended right into the shadowy depths of the drainage surrounding the creek that we ultimately had to follow to reach the Browns Falls.
As we went further upstream along the creek, the track started to disappear and we pretty much followed the stream.
The creek itself had a low enough flow that we never had to risk ruining our Gore-tex boots whenever we had to cross or walk within the stream.
Naturally, if the stream had higher flow, then each crossing or stream walking sections would cause us to proceed more slowly.
Nevertheless along the way, we encountered some small cascades, which added to the quiet and idyllic setting.
It made us realize that we were in a place that seemed relatively untouched (save for some bordering private agricultural lands just outside the drainage).
While our stream scramble seemed to have persisted longer than we thought, Julie and I started to wonder if we had gone the correct way.
After all, the sign at the trailhead suggested that this hike shouldn’t have taken as long as we had been going on for.
Fortunately, we persisted until we ultimately faced the attractive Browns Falls as the shady confines of the stream scramble gave way to a little bit of an opening at the head of this mini ravine.
Overall, Julie and I spent about 75 minutes away from the car, but we could have attributed some of that time to those head-scratching moments that caused us to go back-and-forth wondering if we had missed the falls.
So perhaps the signage could be correct had we not doubted ourselves and just kept going.
When we returned to the car park, we met up with a small group of people at the car park looking for platypus.
We didn’t see any during our hike, but apparently, they were convinced that they could be spotted here.
If that was true, that would be remarkable because I was well aware that these organisms were very shy as well as an endangered native species of Australia.
Authorities
Browns Falls resides in the Southern Downs Regional. It is administered by the Southern Downs Regional Council. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
We’ll pick up the driving directions from the Spring Creek Rd (also called the Falls Drive) just 2km south of the town of Killarney on the Warwick-Killarney Rd.
Killarney was the nearest town to Browns Falls.
For detailed directions on getting to this junction, see the Queen Mary Falls page.
Once we headed east (left turn if heading south on Killarney Rd), we continued on Spring Creek Rd for about 2.4km to the Browns Picnic Area, where we parked the car.
It took us nearly 3 hours in each direction to get from Byron Bay to the Browns Picnic Area.
For geographical context, Killarney was 204km (3 hours drive) west from Byron Bay, 182km (2.5 hours drive) southwest of Brisbane, and 34km (30 minutes drive) east of Warwick.
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Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
Browns Falls October 14, 2013 4:04 am - We made the trip out to Killarney to do all four waterfalls. Browns Falls was one of the highlights - the walk can be tough in parts as there isn't much of a trail and also takes longer than the 20mins it says it does but my 2 year old and 4 year old daughters… ...Read More
Memorable visit to Queensland (Killarney) September 29, 2009 3:53 pm - I've been in Queensland last December 2008-March 2009. I visited my sisters in Killarney and my brother in law is a Dagg... I was fascinated to see all the pictures specially the fall in Killarney... these are the places I've been visited and took a lot of photos and memorable memories with my family. The… ...Read More