Can you swim at Springbrook National Park, and how to stay safe there

Can you swim at Springbrook National Park? Yes, but not where most people first want to. The pool under the Natural Bridge arch is off limits: that stretch of Cave Creek is legally restricted to keep people from serious injury or death, and the ban covers swimming in the creek, entering the cave water and even standing on the bank.⁸ Fines can follow, the tourism body warns.¹

The ban protects people and animals at once. The tourism body explains that the rule is there to protect the glow worms as well as visitor safety, and that swimming is also banned at Purling Brook Falls and Curtis Falls on Tamborine, to protect fragile ecosystems and creatures such as glow worms, microbats and platypus.^1,9 The cave pool may look calm, but it sits under a waterfall in a dark basalt chamber.

Purling Brook Falls is the other big no. Swimming is prohibited at the base of the falls, however tempting the plunge pool looks after the long walk down.² Treat the signs at both places as firm rules, not suggestions: they exist because people have been hurt, and because the creatures that make these places special have nowhere else to go.

The most common way to get hurt in Springbrook is not an animal; it is a slip. On the Twin Falls circuit the path squeezes through rock clefts and behind the falls, and the tourism body warns of drop-offs and slick stone near the water.²⁸ Wet basalt is like ice, so keep to the formed track even when a photo angle tempts you closer to the edge.

Expect stairs everywhere. The Natural Bridge circuit has long sets of steps, and the tourism body recommends walking it clockwise, which it says is easier.²⁷ The ground there can also be slippery.²⁹ The Purling Brook circuit to the base of the falls is a 4 km return that takes around two hours, much of it on steps.²²

Good shoes are the cheapest safety gear you can buy. Wear closed shoes with real grip, carry a light rain layer, and give yourself time so you never rush a wet descent. If a track is closed after rain, respect it: the state says park alerts carry the latest information on access, closures and conditions.²³

Are there leeches in Springbrook National Park? Yes, they are a normal part of a wet rainforest, and they are most active on damp tracks after rain. They wait on leaves and the forest floor and attach to shoes and ankles as you pass. Most walkers only notice them later, when they find a small, bloody patch on a sock.

The best defence is clothing and checking. Long trousers tucked into socks, closed shoes and a quick look at your ankles every so often keep most of them off. Insect repellent on shoes and socks helps on the open tracks, but leave it in the car at the Natural Bridge, where repellent is banned inside the cave.²⁹

If one does attach, do not panic or pull hard. It will drop off on its own once fed, and you can then wash the spot and cover it. A leech bite can bleed for a while because of the substance the leech uses to stop clotting, which looks dramatic but is not usually serious. Seek medical help if the site becomes red, hot or swollen over the next days.