Hiking Fitzroy Falls. Lunch Without Kangaroos.

Australia Travelog #15
Kangaroo Valley NSW - Wed, 27 Dec 2023, 2pm

After renting a car this morning at SYD airport we starting heading south, not west. That's because while the Blue Mountains west of Sydney are our destination for the next several days we decided to squeeze in a few hikes to the south today before heading out there this evening. Our first stop was Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park. It was a (mostly) easy drive 128 km south from the airport.

Morton was our first national park in Australia but not exactly unfamiliar territory. I mean, we've visited national parks in other countries already, including most of the national parks in the US. You park, you tap a credit card to pay at the kiosk, you optionally visit the information center/gift shop, you walk to the trails. ...Wait, pay at the kiosk? Haha, that's not a thing with US national parks. Some states have it. But the US park service is still basically collecting fees like it's 1983, not 2023.



The first viewing platform for Fitzroy Falls is a short stroll away on a paved path and boardwalk. It's a nice view if a bit of an oblique angle for viewing the falls from above. Better perspectives for seeing the 81 meter (266 feet) tall waterfall are a bit further around the rim of the canyon.



The canyon, by the way, is part of the Southern Highlands geography of NSW, Australia. The canyon was created by Yarrunga Creek, which tumbles over Fitzroy Falls, and its other tributaries.



As we hiked our way around the rim trail we caught this straight-on view of Fitzroy Falls. Here you can see all of the main tier as well as part of the smaller, lower tier.

Further around the rim trail was a spot marked Twin Falls View. You know we had to check that out!



If the falls here are twins they're definitely fraternal twins, not identical. One of the falls is narrower than the other and barely visible. I hate to say it, but even between these twins I immediately picked a favorite child. It's the one in the photo above.

You might be wondering about the location Kangaroo Valley in the byline atop this journal. It's a town about 10 miles south of Fitzroy, down in the valley. We drove down here after finishing our hike. For one, we were hungry, and the nearest cluster of restaurants are here. Two, we were really hoping to see kangaroos! Alas it started to rain as we were leaving the park. That made driving down the narrow, winding canyon road extra fun. 😳 It also meant the 'roos were hiding in their dens or caves or wherever it is that they hole up to wait out the weather. We bought a few takeaway meat pies and ate them in the car while it rained.

Hiking Belmore Falls

Australia Travelog #16
Robertson NSW - Wed, 27 Dec 2023, 3:30pm

After hiking Fitzroy Falls and eating lunch in Kangaroo-less Valley we drove on to our next destination for the day, Belmore Falls. It's close to Fitzroy Falls. That's part of how we picked it; we looked for a cluster of places to visit, to keep driving back and forth today to a manageable level. (Don't worry, it'll still be ~400km by the time we're done.) The other part of how we picked it is that, well, it's huge. More on that in a moment.

One odd thing is that despite being such a large waterfalls, Belmore Falls is really remote. Unlike Fitzroy Falls it's not part of a designated park, let alone a national park. It's out on a dirt road at the end of a country lane. There's even a water crossing to get to it.

Watch on YouTube

Link: View video on YouTube

In the video I refer to our rental car as a "fake SUV". That's because this Renault Koleos looks like an SUV but doesn't have any of the features you expect of an SUV, particularly AWD or 4WD. I determined that when I shifted to the side of the dirt road when another vehicle and I passed, and we almost got stuck in a not-very-deep ditch.

Once we got there— for small values of "there" as little marked the location— we parked, hopped out of the car, and walked along a path on the edge of the cliff.



Like Fitzroy Falls (previous blog) Belmore Falls plunges off the edge of a plateau into a canyon. Also like Fitzroy Falls, Belmore Falls drops in two or three tiers.



Depending on how you count it, Belmore Falls drops 77 ~ 130 meters (253 ~ 427 feet). That's what references state, anyway. I presume that range indicates the height of the highest, uppermost falls versus the overall drop of all the tiers.

On the way out from the falls we stopped by the water crossing on the road. On the way in we'd seen a few trucks parked alongside the road there. The crossing is actually really close to the top of the falls; we figured there was a path there to reach a lookout point. Indeed there was. It was a very short path but it was flooded, probably from recent rains— like the rain today.



The trail led, predictably, to a perch just above and to the side of the falls. The view here is both limited and boggling. Limited, because you can only see part of the falls and can't appreciate how tall they are overall. But also boggling, because you're looking pretty much straight down a drop of more than 250 feet.

In beauty I walk.

Carrington Falls Three-fer!

Australia Travelog #17
Robertson NSW - Wed, 27 Dec 2023, 4:45pm

Yes, it's a three-fer today! After visiting Fitzroy Falls and Belmore Falls already today we're fitting in a visit to a third waterfall, Carrington Falls. And that's in addition to starting in the city and driving hundreds of kilometers before the day will be through.

Belmore Falls is in Budderoo National Park in NSW. It's just a few miles from Belmore Falls, which we visited earlier this afternoon (see previous blog). Like Belmore it's somewhat remote, with access via a narrow road to a small parking lot. At least with it being a national park the road is paved. 😂 Though even Fitzroy Falls with its bigger parking lot and parking payment kiosks was bush league by US standards. The parking lot was small, and the entry fee was only $4 AU— about $2.75 US. In the US even minor national parks charge $10-15, and the bigger ones (plus some of the small ones, too) are now at $30. And Budderoo here is free.



It was a short walk from said tiny parking lot down to the edge of the canyon. Right away we enjoyed a marvelous, full-on view of the 90 meter (295') drop.

From this vista the trail continued around the canyon rim to the right.



At bit further along we enjoyed a view of the falls and the narrow Kangaroo River Canyon in the same view.

The trail continued yet further. Above the falls it disappeared into the water. On the opposite bank we could see the trail rise up the other side. Maybe during a time of lower flow it might be worth wading across the water, but not today.



That said, the river was only about half full. There were exposed rocks along the near side. I walked over these to the edge of the falls. Yes, past the "DANGER" sign. I do what I want! 😂



Well, this is "it" for our hiking day. The three waterfalls we've visited are both a lot and a little. ...A lot, because obviously, wow, three waterfalls. And three big ones. But also only a little because there are so many other waterfalls between Sydney and here we could have visited but skipped over. There just wasn't enough time in the day to visit more and still be able to get to our destination for the evening before nightfall.