About Dinner Falls
Dinner Falls seemed to Julie and I to be a series of three main waterfalls on the Upper Barron River, each with their own distinctive character and shape.
Some of these shapes were pretty unusual, and perhaps that was what stood out about this waterfall collective.
The falls also shared the same trailhead as that of the Hypipamee Crater, which seemed to be the main geological feature of Mt Hypipamee National Park.
This crater was basically a deep hole filled in with stagnant green water and surrounded by very tall vertical cliffs (possibly 138m tall).
This eerie-looking geologic attraction was definitely not the place to drop anything from the overlook.
Hiking to Dinner Falls and the Hypipamee Crater
When it came to doing the Dinner Falls track, we had options on how to visit all of the waterfalls.
On the one hand, we could have completed a loop along a well-constructed circuit track.
On the other hand, we also could have visited all of the waterfalls making up Dinner Falls as an out-and-back return hike, which was what Julie and I ultimately chose to do.
Signs at the trailhead said it was 500m from the car park to probably the first of the three waterfalls.
In the interest of time and effort, we descended directly to the third waterfall, then we took our time deliberately checking out each of the waterfalls as we made our way back up.
The bottommost of the waterfall series was a long cascade that was difficult to photograph due to its overall length and height.
Even though an overlook allowed us to take in the view of this waterfall, we couldn’t find an angle or position that allowed us to fit the whole waterfall in one frame.
Continuing further up the track, we then encountered the second of the Dinner Falls, which was a trio of segmented drops as pictured as the top of this page.
The plunge pool before the falls was fringed by reddish rocks, which added to the color of the greenish clear water making up the pool.
Finally, the uppermost section of the Dinner Falls had a triangular shape as seen from the official viewing area.
As a result, we thought this one had the most unusual shape of the three.
When we made it back up to the trail junction near the car park, we then took the 300m path to the Hypipamee Crater.
This provided us with a welcome break from the waterfall saturation as a result of touring the Atherton Tablelands for the past few days.
Overall, Julie and I spent about an hour away from the car to take in the waterfalls as well as the crater.
Possible Cassowary Sighting
When we returned to the car park, we couldn’t help but notice the many cassowary signs warning of how aggressive they can be.
We weren’t sure whether we should be disappointed or glad at not having seen one of these rare birds (even despite one sign saying that there was a recent sighting here).
Although it would’ve been quite cool to see the big, endangered, flightless bird with a head that reminded me of a bracchiosaurus, perhaps it was better that we didn’t.
Authorities
Dinner Falls resides in the Mount Hypipamee National Park. It is administered by the State of Queensland Department of Environment and Science. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
Dinner Falls is set in the Mt Hypipamee National Park northwest of Millaa Millaa, southwest of Malanda, and north of Ravenshoe.
From the town of Millaa Millaa, we took the Millaa Millaa-Malanda Rd (Hwy 25) for about 3.2km to the East Evelyn Rd.
Turning left onto the East Evelyn Rd (still on Hwy 25), we then followed it for 14.6km to its junction with the Kennedy Hwy (Hwy 1).
Turning right onto the Kennedy Hwy, we then drove north for about 13km to the turnoff for Mt Hypipamee National Park on our left.
From Ravenshoe, it was 28km north along the Kennedy Hwy until we reached the Mt Hypipamee National Park turnoff on our left.
Even though we didn’t go this way, from the Hwy 1/Hwy 52 junction in the town of Atherton, it would be about 24.5km south from along the Kennedy Hwy (Hwy 1) to the turnoff for the Mt Hypipamee entrance on the right.
Contextually, Malanda is 82km (an hour drive) west of Innisfail and 76km (about 90 minutes drive) south of Cairns. For further context, Innisfail was 88km (over an hour drive) south of Cairns and 260km (3 hours drive) north of Townsville.
Right to left sweep of the lowermost section
Fixated on the segmented middle section
The unusual triangular-shaped upper section
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