Dr. Tas Walker
[Originally published as Mapleton Falls Lookout, Queensland, Australia]
Standing on the lookout at Mapleton Falls, it feels like you are suspended in mid-air. Alongside is Pencil Creek with its white foam bubbling over the sharp edge of the vertical basalt cliff, and plunging 120 metres to the valley floor.
The steep walls enclose a secluded rainforest, dotted with palm trees. Beyond the amphitheatre the rainforest gives way to a wide, green valley, through which Obi Obi Creek winds its way. The landscapes we enjoy were carved by the retreating waters of Noah’s Flood, not by the tiny creeks that flow in them now. Relatively little erosion has happened since the Flood.
From the lookout you get a good view of the steep walls. There is very little debris at the base of the cliff, indicating that not much erosion has occurred since the valley was formed. When the floodwaters carved the landscape, leaving the tall Mapleton-Maleny Plateau as an erosional remnant, they took the debris out of the area. If erosion had been going on for millions of years we would not expect to find steep escarpments like these.
