Crystal Creek (also known as Saltwater Creek) is a creek in the
City of Townsville,
Queensland, Australia. It runs for 17.5 km, beginning just below
Paluma, flowing through the township of
Mutarnee and emptying into the
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...
. It forms part of the
Paluma Range National Park and is known for its division into two tourist destinations, namely Little Crystal Creek and Big Crystal Creek.
Little Crystal Creek is situated approximately two thirds of the way along Mt Spec Road, heading towards the village of Paluma. This location consists of a number of small swimming holes and waterfalls, as well as the
Little Crystal Creek Bridge, an historical arch bridge of which construction began in 1932. Facilities here include a wheelchair accessible picnic area, barbecues and toilets.
Big Crystal Creek is located a few kilometres downstream from Little Crystal Creek, at the end of Spiegelhauer Road. Facilities at Big Crystal Creek also include a wheelchair accessible picnic area, barbecues, toilets, as well as a designated camping ground. The most popular of the swimming holes at Big Crystal Creek is Paradise Waterhole, which is substantially larger than that of the Little Crystal Creek waterholes, and can be accessed by a short walk from the picnic area along a bush track. Further down the road from the picnic area, the Big Crystal Creek Rockslides can be found, which is another swimming destination known for its natural waterslide formed by mossy rocks.
Heritage listings
Crystal Creek has a number of
heritage-listed
This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...
sites, including:
* Mt Spec Road:
Mount Spec Road and Little Crystal Creek Bridge
See also
*
List of rivers of Queensland
This is a list of rivers of Australia. Rivers are ordered alphabetically, by state. The same river may be found in more than one state as many rivers cross state borders.
Longest rivers nationally
Longest river by state or territory
Althoug ...
References
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Waterfalls of Far North Queensland
Rivers of Far North Queensland