Artists Cascades

Conondale National Park

This walk is part of the Conondale Great Walk and follows Booloomba Creek. You walk through subtropical rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest. There is abundant birdlife along the path as well as goannas and skinks. The cascades is a great place to have a swim after the long walk to get there. You can also take a couple of side tracks along the way to the Strangler Cairn and the gold mine.

Waterfalls
Bird Watching
Picnic Facilities
BBQ
Toilets
4WD Required
No Dogs Permitted
Camping Permitted
Rainforest
Eucalypt Forest
243m
Maximum Elevation
87m
Total Climb

Getting there:

From Kenilworth travel south on the Maleny Kenilworth Road for 7km before turning right onto Booloumba Creek Road. Travel a further 5km along this road to the entrance of the park. From here on, the road is unsealed and you will need a High Clearance 4WD as there a number of creek crossings. After 1km you will reach the Day Use Area on the right, where you can park.

All the walks start from here, although they can be accessed from the three camping areas.

Maps:

Conondale National Park Map

Route/Trail notes:

A detailed description of the walk!

Permits/Costs:

None. There are various camping options within the park, that require you to buy a permit. See:

Conondale NP Camping

Other References/Comments:

Conondale National Park

Comments

We did the Artists Cascades walk today, starting from car park 2 which involved three creek crossings. The walks map suggests (or it did to me) that the Cascades, Gold Mine and Strangler Cairn are three separate walks. In fact there is one walk to the Cascades with short side detours to the Mine and the Cairn (both worth doing). Some parts of the track is a narrow path cut into the side of a steep hill. The track up to the Cairn is graded 3 on the 1 - 5 scale used by Qld Parks, increasing to 4 for the last 2km or so to the Cascades which is steeper and in parts narrower - there is a warning sign that only experienced walkers should do that last bit. I reckon it's fine, just take care where you put your feet. There are several waterways to be crossed which were dry on our walk but would need care in wet weather.

Jim Craigen on 3 May, 2023

Started from Booloumba creek camp site 1 and returned via the road through campsite 3. Easy walk with a couple short steep parts. Slippery in spots so make sure of your steps. Creek running but not high although you do need high clearance 4wd to get into NP. I got through the first crossing in my Jimny but the second crossing was quite deep so parked and walked in which added about 30mins to the walk.

Nic1385 on 21 Jun, 2020

A really nice walk through lots of varied scenery and lots of interesting things to look at along the way. The walk took longer than we expected, make sure you allow enough time before sundown or take a torch. Definitely need a 4wd to access.

cc on 26 Apr, 2020

Did strangler cairn and gold mine on the way back. Almost 12 km from Booloumba camp 3. The falls are beautiful and we had them to ourselves the whole day.

Thomas M on 19 Feb, 2020

Very nice walk.

Olga on 22 Sep, 2019

One of the best walk around Brisbane. Hands down.

aVers.com.au on 28 Apr, 2019

Camping with Ben & Evie

Pat on 9 Mar, 2019

We started our walk from camp site 1 which added 1.1km onto the walk but the walk is a lot longer than what we read on here, my Fitbit clocked that it was 8.4km to the Artists Cascades. The path was very narrow in places with a deep drop off that could be very dangerous in wet weather. I wouldn't say we are the fittest of people so it took us about 5hrs return, the path was steep in placed which was a bit slippery with leaf litter. There is a sign that advises only experienced walker to do a section of the path closer to the cascades. We saw lots of wild life: goannas, wallabies and lots of birds. Over all it was a great walk!

Marisa on 27 Jul, 2017

I love this walk, beautiful area and perfect swimming holes

Pumpkin Peta on Feb, 2017

Nice easy walk with beautiful spots on the creek.

Sue C on Aug, 2016

Awesome walk. Saw 3 seperate species of snake over the return trip. Loved it.

Tonks on 15 May, 2016

Awesome walk, took right on 4 hours return and we did the gold mine and the giant Easter egg thing. Had a great swim at the falls.

Left the walk till around 1300 and that was silly got out of the walk at dark. Must leave more time next time as the swim was awesome.

Stuart on 26 Mar, 2016

Simple and enjoyable

Ted n Jo on 17 Jan, 2016

This is a great day walk to do. Four middle aged walkers did it in six hours return, having time for breaks and cuppa on the rocks at the cascades. Worth doing.
Mim & Pop

Mim & Pop on 7 Jun, 2015

The Cascades was worth the walk. The water was cool and refreshing after a hot walk to get there. On our way back we saw nature at its harshest when we came upon a Python halfway devouring a large possum. Plenty of birds and a couple of snakes.

Bretto64 on 8 Feb, 2015

We saw so many birds on this walk. We couldn't identify them all, but we did see a flock of black cockatoos, three whip birds, some yellow robins and we think we saw a wompoo fruit dove, though it flew away very quickly. The cascades are lovely.

Ian and Sue on 20 Oct, 2014

Part of a great long day hike commenced at Charlie Moreground car park, hiked over Mt Allan and did the walks / sights on the Bolumba side to then hike back over Mt Allan to Charlie Moreground car park ( no 4WD , could not access it any other way ) :-)

J on 31 May, 2014

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