Legendary Ellenborough Falls

No . . . this waterfall is not in Hawaii. It is in Australia.

My wife and I were traveling through New South Wales in Australia a few years ago. We were taking a road trip from Sydney north to Brisbane along the coast, checking out as many beaches as we could. We stopped off at beaches such as Birubi Beach:

And Fingal Beach:

And Tallow Beach:

And Oxley Beach:

And Clarkes Beach:

We found some interesting things on these beaches. Mermaids!

And a crocodile!

All these beach visits were not without a few mishaps. Twice, we got the rental car stuck in the sand and had to call for a tow truck to get us out.

We also stopped off at Barry Park Loockout to see if we could spot some whales. As we walked out to the point, we saw this guy sitting on a large rock.

He looked just like the one we saw sitting on a wire in Coffs Harbor.

And this one in a tree:

I was excited to see these birds, but my wife – a native of Brisbane, Australia – said, “Aww, It’s just a bloody Kookaburra!” So we went out to the point and sat on some concrete pillars and waited to see some whales.

And we waited.

And eventually, we DID see some whales. They were a ways off shore, but sure enough, they were there.

We also stopped off at a beach to direct the waves as they came crashing ashore.

As we passed through Harrington and Manning Point, we heard about the World Famous Ellenborough Falls – a single drop of 200 meters- one of the tallest waterfalls in the southern hemisphere. We thought that it would be “just a short detour” inland and decided to go.

We traveled through some gorgeous country side and through quaint small towns like Taree, and Wingham, and Bobin, and the road got smaller, and narrower, and less maintained.

We passed some beautiful green farmland after a bit of bush, and ended in a lush rainforest. Somehow we found ourselves on what looked to me to be an unpaved, gravel forest logging road, going up the side of a mountain through a forest of tall trees like the Ponderosa Pines we have on the Mogollon Rim in Northern/Central Arizona, except these are all leafy trees – not the evergreen needle type. But they are tall and straight, and close together. It was an overcast day and it started to rain. The road became muddy and more than once we discussed turning around – the problem was there was no where to turn around. The mountainside on the left rose almost straight up and almost straight down on the right. The trees were all around us. We came around one turn and I thought for sure that Robin Hood and his merry men would jump out of the forest at any moment, or the Ent named Fangorn (Treebeard)! We came to another turn and we could see past the trees at the edge of the road, but the valley below was totally shrouded in clouds.

As we turned the corner, it appeared that everything in the world had disappeared in a cloud bank. We could not see more than ten feet in front of the car. I stopped the car and got out. The rain had lessened so that it was just a bare mist, but it totally surrounded us. I walked over to the edge of the road and tried to peer through the trees and clouds into the valley below . . . to no avail. Magical, and mystical, and spooky! All at the same time! Getting back into the car, we slowly drove through the clouds, feeling our way along the road, like a blind man with a cane, until we emerged out of the clouds and came to a stop at an intersection with a paved road. The road we were on stopped at this road, and we could turn left or we could turn right. A sign directly in front of us had an arrow pointing to the left and the words Ellenborough Falls.

After turning left, we passed a house/cabin/structure that was set back from the road about thirty feet, and I expected to see Granny sitting in a rocking chair on the porch with Jethro and Ellie Mae.

A bit farther and there, next to the road, was a full sized metal and glass phone booth. The road we were now on was well paved, and quite wide, as it turned around to the right passing another sign welcoming us to “The Legendary Ellenborough Falls”. Immediately to the right was another sign for the parking area in front of an open wooden structure with picnic tables underneath. A brick building with restrooms was off to the side. Off to the left was a small building that was a gift shop/visitor’s center. Sitting on one of the picnic tables were three men – modern day Sherwood Forest dwellers. Unlike the forest green of Robin Hood’s men, they were all wearing identical orange shirts, blue jeans but no pointy little hats, and this is the Bulga Forest – not Sherwood. Lunch break for a local road maintenance crew. A jolly bunch, none the less. M

Since I don’t speak the language, but my wife is quite fluent, she stayed and had a chat with them as I headed over to the edge to see the “Legendary Ellenborough Falls”. At the top of the falls there is a view point that will allow you to see the water as it comes out of the river and careens off the edge to plunge into the canyon somewhere below. You can see across the canyon, but not directly down, so you lose sight of the water after a few feet., until you head down the trail. Then the entire falls can be seen.

Off to the right is the beginning of a well marked, well used trail. An information kiosk tells about the falls, the flora, the fauna, the surroundings and the trails. It says that the trail to the bottom of the falls takes about 45 minutes – round trip. There is an alternative – instead of going to the bottom, you stay on the trail when you get to the turnoff for the bottom, and proceed to what they call The Knoll. This is a viewing area exactly opposite the falls on the opposite side of the canyon. A 15 minute walk. I proceed down the wooden steps and along the trail till I get to the turn off. It is closed. Blocked with orange caution tape, a plastic barricade, and signs indicating that it is under construction.

On to the Knoll. I pass a couple of odd looking mounds of dirt about four feet tall. I wonder why the construction crew has piled this dirt here – so far away from where they are working – until it dawns on me. These are ant hills.

They are hard as rocks – solid, as if made of concrete. The trail turns from following the mountainside and proceeds along a wooden sidewalk that extends out from and above the canyon wall to a large round deck – maybe 20 feet in diameter. All with the obligatory wooden hand rails at 36″ high all around.

The entire falls is visible from here, as well as the pool at the bottom. This deck is about a third of the way down from the top of the canyon, and from this vantage point, I cannot see the information kiosk, the restrooms, the visitor center/gift shop, or the picnic canopy. It has taken me 14 minutes to get here.

As I walk back along the trail, it once again feels like a magical place. I’m not sure if I am expecting to see Robin Hood or Galadriel. Is this Sherwood? or Lothlorien?

When I get back to the parking area, my wife tells me that after reading that the trail took 45 minutes, she decided not to attempt it, but to just wait for me to return.

Definitely more than “just a short detour”, but well worth the effort. As a reward, the next day we stopped off at Rainbow Beach for a bit of boogie boarding.