Blue Gum Creek
Explore Bluegum Creek near Paluma, a 1978 rainforest day walk with scenic ridges, waterfalls, swimming holes, and even an old tin mine. This easy hike offers cool forest shade, refreshing pools, and stunning cascades—perfect for a summer bushwalk in North Queensland’s wet tropics.
BLUE GUM Ck (tributary of & junction with main Ck)
DATE :- 15 OCTOBER 1978. (Sunday - day walk).
MAP :- PALUMA (1:50,000? Not really very helpful.)
PARTY :- Leo Hyland, Lyn Murray, Lily Marcellos, Allan Watson, Dave Blair, Barneh Nisbet, John (that english bloke), Roy Williams, Pene Greet
How to get There:-
Dorothy R
We met at Pene's House around 8.30. Some having stayed there the night and some travelling up from Townsville for the walk. Directly across the road from Pene's a track leads into the rainforest to the beginnings of a creek (dry gully!). This is followed for 500 yds wide. We followed the creek a short way and because the banks get steep to walk on we left the creek + walked parallel to it near the top of the ridges. The walk is all through rainforest, the first part before the main ck is quite open. However there is a group of really beautiful red paperbark trees along the first gully. Once on the ridges there is little undergrowth. Walking along the ridges you go over 3 gully's (quite obvious) + at the third walk down it until you meet the main Ck (this is a fair way). At the junction, in the middle of it there is a tall palm tree.
We walked a little further and then managed to get a billy boiling for morning tea (10-15). Following the creek further the rainforest opens into schlerophyll forrest and on the right hand side of the creek (travelling downward stream) is the remains of an old tin mine with trenches + an old shaft etc. Just below where we crossed the ck to the mine is the first of a series of waterfalls. Walk around the waterfall + then climb down. Another ck joins about 500 yds downstream (is this the main Blue Gum Ck?) + we walked up to the first waterfall (it fell in a rock cleft really pretty) about 100 yds up this ck. For a 1/2 mile or so downstream from the junction there is a series of quite spectacular waterfalls + large deep swimming holes. We had lunch back at the junction + all had a most enjoyable swim (would be a good summer walk as rainforest is cool + always would be plenty of water in the swimming holes). We left back upstream by 3.15. After recrossing the 3 ridges we followed the last one up along the top (not returning to the main ck) + reached the road by about 5.17. By this time the rainforest is getting quite dark + I would not like to be in there much later than this. We had a cup of tea at the house before leaving for Tville.
This would be classed as an easy walk I think.
P Grant
