Little Crystal Creek and Paluma Dam
Departing from Mission Beach to Townsville, we decided to take a detour and drive into the woods. We left Bruce Highway (A1) at Mutarnee following Barrett Road to Mount Spec Road. Mount Spec Road is a very narrow, windy little road with fairly steep ascents. It’s all tarmac and no problem for anyone who has ever driven in Alpine areas.
When you drive up this road towards Paluma, do yourself a favor and plan for a stop at Little Crystal Creek. Underneath an impressive little stone bridge, the creek has formed some pools. Ideal for refreshing with a swim on a hot day. Unfortunately, we had a tighter schedule so we just dipped a toe and then moved on to Paluma.
Paluma Village is a snug little town, but not too much to see there. I guess the dwellers enjoy their relative remoteness and tranquility. So we carried on and enjoyed the view from Star Valley Lookout. A few hundred meters further west, we reached Paluma Dam Road junction. In case you are planning to follow Paluma Dam Road using Google Maps – be warned: the actual track of the road is quite different from the one plotted on Google Maps (at least at the time of traveling this road in 2017).
It’s a gravel road winding through impressive rain forests, crossing a couple of creeks and providing small parking bays every now and then. In some sections there is coarse gravel, which requires slower driving. Other than on Google Maps, where the road ends ‘in the middle of nowhere’, we arrived safely at the Paluma Reservoir, which provides 50 mega-liters of water per day to Townsville. To avoid sucking in sediment of iron and manganese, a floating pontoon intake is used to extract up to 359 liters water per second of the dam’s total 11,800 million liters capacity. The dam is 20m high and 91m wide at its base.
When we arrived at the dam, we were very impressed by the excellent infrastructure provided at such a – what Europeans would consider – remote location. Camping area, toilets, BBQs, boat ramp, neatly mowed lawn at the beach of the lake. A perfect hideaway. So we strolled on top of the dam and had a few bites at the BBQ area.
The sun started to go down and it was time to head to Townsville, where we stayed for two nights. The next day we used to replenish our stocks and just hang loose in this great town.