Innot Hot Springs

At Innot, water heated deep underground rises into the bed of Nettle Creek at temperatures that can exceed seventy degrees at the source, hot enough to scald. Because it emerges through sand beside a cool creek, bathers dig shallow hollows in the gravel and mix hot and cold water to whatever temperature they want, then sit in them, an entirely informal arrangement with no facilities. The water is high in minerals and the site has been used since the nineteenth century, with a small settlement growing around it. A caravan park nearby pipes the same water into a set of graded pools for those who prefer plumbing to digging.

History

John Atherton came upon the springs in the early 1870s while looking for grazing land, but they were ignored until 1885, when Charles Overend Garbutt of Woodleigh Station found them again and learned from local Aboriginal people of their healing reputation. A Russian-born man, Antonie Antonevic, leased ten acres round them on 1 April 1886, a two-storey house with bathing sheds stood here by July 1888, and since the water was too hot to bathe in, it was piped into tubs at six each morning and left to cool until late morning; Charles Spranklin, who took up the lease in the late 1890s, is regarded as the main developer of the springs (Wikipedia, Innot Hot Springs).

Highlights

• The creek springs - hot water rising through the sand beside cool water.
• The dug pools - hollows scraped in the gravel to mix temperatures.
• The caravan park pools - piped mineral pools at graded temperatures.
• The Tablelands setting - dry savannah country on the road west.

When to go

April to September, when the weather is dry and hot bathing is pleasant; the wet season raises the creek and can wash out the pools. Winter is the busiest time with travellers heading north.

Things to know

Water at the source is hot enough to cause burns and the temperature varies unpredictably across the creek bed; testing before sitting matters. There are no facilities, changing rooms or supervision at the creek. The site is roadside and unglamorous.

Nearby

Ravenshoe, Queensland's highest town, lies east; Undara is west along the highway.