Cassowary Falls

According to a small handful of one-star reviews, Cassowary Falls used to be open to the public. Anyone could just drive in and spend time in the (allegedly) croc-free swimming hole. I don't know when it stopped being crown land and I don't know exactly when it stopped being accessible to the public, but I am, mostly, glad it's locked away behind a guided tour. I didn't see a single piece of rubbish near the falls and pool. I only needed to share the pool with a small handful of people. And, most importantly, I know that this place is being preserved and revegetated for the future, as tourism brings in more dollars than cattle. The downside is that not everyone has the fortune of being able to afford to visit.

I won't go in to a lot of detail about the non-swim, non-waterfall bit of the tour, other than that our guide was absolutely fantastic. Lots of knowledge of the rainforest and the surrounding area and its history, about the fruit trees that are scattered around the property, and drove the Can-Am (like a 6-seater off-road quad-bike thing) perfectly in the narrow space between exhilarating and terrifying.

The waterfalls and surrounding rainforest is just beautiful. It was the dry season when we were here, and as you can see from the photos, there was still plenty of flow in the falls. The pool at the bottom of the falls is surprisingly full of large-ish fish, and even more surprisingly, full of dinner-plate sized turtles. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible wild-life photographer, so no turtles for you.

This is definitely one of the most beautiful swimming spots I've been to. If you're in the area and can get on a tour, absolutely do it. Try to get in under the falls to experience one of those grounding and earth-connecting things: massage by falling water. Float around and bask in the glory of it all. The only problem with this place is that you have to leave at some point.

Try the grapefruit.