The bug had bit! It was not long after getting home from my family trip to Tassie in 2016 that I swiftly started researching all waterfalls within close proximity to where I was living in Canberra.
Gibraltar Falls
Of course you can imagine as a local Canberran, Gibraltar Falls in Namadgi National Park were one of the first I went to outside of Tassie!
Gibraltar Falls is a gorgeous waterfall which is the icing on the cake after a beautiful drive through Namadgi National Park. The top of the waterfall is an infinity pool with incredible views, though access to the top is prohibited as too many people have slipped and died here.
Ginninderra Falls
Ginninderra Falls in the ACT is a hidden gem to Canberran locals. Access is via private property so be sure to ask for permission before going. To my knowledge this reserve, waterfall and gorge used to be open to the public until people had slipped and gotten badly hurt at the top of the waterfall and due to insurance issues it closed and never re-opened. There has been talks for years about the ACT Government re-opening this beautiful gem, so hopefully they do!
Cascade Falls
Another sweet gem of the ACT. Cascade falls is a wonderful small waterfall stream along The Cascades Trail within the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. It is a short 2.6km trail that goes through a beautiful shady forest to find this beautiful stream slowly excavating a hole into the granite boulder it falls upon.
Belmore Falls
Ahhh the mighty mighty Belmore Falls in Robertson NSW. Of course this one of my first extremely impressionable waterfalls, and still to this day stands as one of my favorites. The mighty first tier of a double tiered drop blunders 100m down the cliffs. You used to be able to walk down to its base but this is now strictly prohibited as too many people have unfortunately slipped and been injured.
With the base of Belmore Falls being out of the picture don’t fret, the adventure’s don’t end there! Not far from the top of Belmore Falls is this beautiful little hidden fall which most drive past after their visit to the main event.
Paddys River Falls
Paddys River Falls is a beautiful overhanging cliff waterfall in Tumbarumba NSW. Getting to the base is a short walk and very easy along a formed path. All lookouts and the base of the falls are all a short walk from the carpark. Such a lesser known gem being located in rural NSW, it easily gets overlooked.
Carrington Falls
Oh my Carrington Falls! One of the Southern Highlands many magnificent waterfalls.
I’m not gonna lie… there is a bit of a story about my first time visiting the base of this magnificent waterfall. For one, it was the first time I met one of my really good friends who is a Southern Highlands local. For two, what drove me to eagerly discover the base was in competition of a boy I fancied. He had tried to find a way to its base twice and failed, and being the competitive spirit I am I thought it would be funny if I sneakily beat him there. Well I did!! And fell even more in love with waterfalls.
Of course, any visit to Carrington Falls also warrants a visit to the beautiful Nellie Glen Falls not too far away.
Gerringong Falls
Oh Gerringong Falls… The waterfall of so much controversy. It is a shame the track to the base of the falls is blocked now as it is really such a sight to behold. Those that have seen it are very lucky, hopefully one day it will be opened to the world again
The pool at the base of the falls is spectacular and a wonder. Its perfectly carved in a rectangular shape with rock ledges. Hard to imagine this was the work of nature. I believe there are quite a few different theories of what shaped this pool… which I can’t recall so you’ll just have to research yourself.
Further down this creek there is another pretty impressive and tall waterfall, precedented by a smaller pretty cascade which almost has views of the larger fall behind.
You do however need approved access as the easiest way to get to the base of this other waterfall is across private property. The owners are very forthcoming and happy to approve access, we brought them a bottle of wine as a thank you and they even handed us walkie talkies so we could contact them in case we had any trouble, honestly so sweet! If only all land owners were this sweet.
Macquarie Pass Waterfalls
If there isn’t a more bang for buck, short drive, short walked trail through beautiful dramatic ‘jurrasic park’ like fields past a quick collection of beautiful majestic waterfalls, then this must be it!
There is a well known upper and lower section of Macquarie Pass Rivulet, and lesser known upper upper, upper left, upper right, lower across the road sections, but let’s save those for another time!
For this blog post it is the upper section of Macquarie Pass that was influential on me when I was first discovering my love for waterfalls. Ironically, the first time I asked a local if there were any waterfalls down Clover Hill Trail in Macquarie Pass they told me that was a myth and there was none… and I almost believed him! Lucky for him now he is still a good friend of mine all these years later.
The first waterfall in the upper (but not all the way upper) section is Clover Falls. The biggest waterfall in the known upper and lower sections. Macquarie Pass is also a well known and travelled canyoning route, so Clover Falls is the first waterfall in this canyon.
This secret cave pool above is after a small waterfall below Clover Falls. It is only accessed via doing the Macquarie Pass Canyon and not accessed via walking to my knowledge… but I don’t know everything!
The next waterfall along Clover Hill Trail is Mulangong Falls. A beautiful waterfall where the water splits around either side of a balancing boulder… cool huh?! And here it is on another trip with even more flow!
I believe this next fall is still part of Mulangong Falls… but the lower section?
The final waterfall on the upper section is Rainbow Falls, another very cool cavern like waterfall which is the first you approach as you walk in from Clover Hill Trial.
Rachmartee 
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