AUSTRALIA: A list of things you may like to do

WARNING: Deaths in the waterfalls downstream are common. Exercise extreme caution.

Babinda Boulders is a warm and crystal clear pool in the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area. As well as being one of the best swimming holes I’ve ever visited, the surrounding rainforest is some of the oldest species of plant on earth.

There are also some great boulders that you can jump off of and into the swimming hole.

Dating to the earliest days of life outside the ocean, these plants don’t flower, or even have the vascular leaves of later species.

Aboriginal Legend

The local Aboriginals have a legend as to the origins of the dangerous part of the creek downstream from the swimming hole:

A beautiful girl named Oolana, from the Yidinji people, married a respected elder from her tribe named Waroonoo. Shortly after their union another tribe moved into the area and a handsome young man came into her life.

His name was Dyga and the pair soon fell in love. Realising the adulterous crime they were committing, the young lovers escaped their tribes and fled into the valleys. The elders captured them, but Oolana broke free from her captors and threw herself into the still waters of what is now known as Babinda Boulders, calling for Dyga to follow her.

As Dyga hit the waters, her anguished cries for her lost lover turned the still waters into a rushing torrent and the land shook with sorrow. Huge boulders were scattered around the creek and the crying Oolana disappeared among them.

According to the legend, her spirit still guards the boulders and that her calls for her lost lover can still be heard.