Princess Hills - Herbert River Falls
6th September 2025
I have been feeling pretty burnt out of late. I asked my wife if I could have 3 days in the bush on my own and she knows when it is time for me to be alone. She asked me if I could go to the Cairns Festival fireworks with her before I headed off ……so that we did.
I must say the fireworks were not as spectacular as in the past. Perhaps budget cut backs?
A couple of days later and I had cleared work so that I could make my way to Herbert River Falls. There is no camping allowed at the falls so I needed to book a site at the nearby Princess Hills camp grounds and hike to the falls from there.
From Cairns to around the back of Tinaroo, Atherton, Herberton and then the Irvinebank area to camp.
There were no campsites available on my first night away so I decided to spend the day roaming around the Irvinebank area and camp in there somewhere.
Day 1 - Time spent with the Swans and Bats
I spent most of the first day of the trip at Montalbion Town Dam. I had noticed on previous trips that there were was quite a lot of bird life there and on this day when I arrived a couple of Black Swans were feeding.
I sat there for about 3 to 4 hours having lunch and drinking Milo. After the first couple of hours the Swans were very relaxed and started feeding right in front of me.
As sunset approached the Swans were so relaxed around me that they had come very close. it was time for me to head off and find a campsite for the night as it would be dark soon.
I headed towards Emuford and found a camp site in a dry creek bed well away from the road as it was getting dark. I set up camp, got a fire going and had tea.
It has become my habit to sit at the fire before bed with my camera and take photos of it. The simplest things give me pleasure.
I was asleep in my tent before 8pm. Well that is not quite true…..you see the spot I selected to camp was also home to a large colony of bats and they are very noisy during the night. After putting in my motorbike riding earplugs I was soon properly asleep.
Day 2 - Heading to Princess Hills
I slept well but it was quite cold in the morning so I did not head out of the tent until about 7:30 despite having been awake since just before sunrise with the birds.
Once the sun had started to warm up the day I packed up camp and prepared to ride about 150klms over to Princess Hills via Lappa Road.
This is an early morning pre sunrise photo of my campsite at Princess Hills on the following day. A beautifully clean site with not a spot of litter and right on the water.
The short ride from my camp to the trail head to Herbert River Falls.
As soon as I arrived at Princess Hills I unloaded the bike and set up camp in order to start the hike to Herbert River Falls. It was a short motorbike ride from the camp site to the trail head where I parked my bike and set off on foot to Herbert River Falls
This is a photo of the Gorge that the falls flow into. The spot circled on the left is where the top of the falls are and the one on the right is where I took the next photo from.
I did the walk in wearing motocross boots and it took me about 40 to 50 minutes. I am guessing you could do it in much less with proper hiking boots.
On the way in I stuck mainly to the river but a better way to hike to and from the Falls is to as much as possible walk along the ridge line above the river. I did this on the way back.
The falls are quite spectacular. I could see no short way to the bottom of the falls that did not involve dying so I was content to be very careful on the edge of the gorge admiring the view.
Being with my camera really gets me thinking about life and what I concentrate on. Fixated on the falls and how to get to the base I was missing the lovely colour of the wild flower that was living right on the edge of the cliff 5 feet in front of me.
By the time I had hiked back to the trail head the sun was setting. Tomorrow I would explore some of the river near Princess Hills.
Day 3 - Time spent on Herbert River
Day 3 started very foggy.
I awoke the next day very late to prepare for sunrise photos. It was not so cold but it was very foggy and my riding clothes that I had hung on my bike to dry/air overnight were wet from dew. If I put them on wet I would freeze.
Still heading to the trail head and the sun was already up :(
My brain was not functioning properly and it was 10-20 minutes later that finally I realised I could wear my rain gear down to the river and leave the wet clothes at camp to dry ready for the ride home later in the day.
I hopped on the bike to head down to the trail head and the river but I was way too late. Fog is a photographer’s friend as it allows you to isolate subjects and adds mood to photos. The sun had already risen and it would not be long before the fog would dissipate.
When I arrived at the river a short time later the last of the fog was indeed almost all gone. Oh well……live and learn.
Less than twenty minutes later and the sun was lighting up the river. Thank fully there was some clouds in the sky that would for periods diffuse the light for photos.
On this visit the river was low enough to expose rock forms in the middle which I was able to make my way out onto. I felt very much like I do when I rock hop in the middle of Barron Gorge. I stumbled across this very large fallen tree stuck in the middle of the river. If the Herbert River is anything like Barron and Behana Rivers, next wet season will probably wash that tree further down stream.
As I sat on the tree in my bright safety wet weather pants, working up a sweat under the hot sun, I was drawn to the beautiful surface of the tree.
The patterns were stunning and on my next visit, if the tree is still there, I will spend some more time with it and also explore further along the river up to the falls.
This spot is well worth the effort to visit. Definitely 4WD only, don’t even think about it in a normal car. There are a couple of creek crossings into the campsite and large sections of the track in are red ice when wet. For that very reason they call that final 12 klm stretch in the “Greasy Track”. It is closed during the wet season and after heavy rain.
The total cost of this trip for me was as follows:
$7.50 camp site fee (first night wild camped)
$28 fuel
$12 6 rice pack meals ( I bulk buy them when they are half price :)
$1.50 instant noodles
$7.80 6 mixed tins of chicken/tuna
$5 extra for things like milo, tea, oats, toothpaste etc
$61.60 total
About $20 a day for one of the best trips I have had :)