I had been raining in the Blue Mountains, and I thought a waterfall photography walk may be nice. So I caught a train up the mountains. I was initially planning on walking near Blackheath, but on the way up, it looks like there was a fair bit of local rain and Wentworth Falls may offer more shelter (e.g. National Pass is largely under overhangs). So I detrained at Wentworth Falls.
I made my way along the Charles Darwin Walk to Wentworth Falls.
Along the way, it did start to rain and that was a nuisance for photography. It was even too wet to photograph under and umbrella, so I sought shelter under an overhang at the top of National Pass.
After ten minutes or so, the rain did ease, so I made my way back to Weeping Rock Falls for a photograph or two.
Weeping Rock Falls
Then I descended down to the base of the upper waterfall that make up Wentworth Falls. The flow was not huge, but there was a lot of spray and this making my lens wet and frustrating my photography.
I continued on, a short distance along National Pass and then down Slack Stairs to the base of the lower falls. More photos and more annoying spray.
Then I took the side track down to Hippocrene Falls. These falls were nice and spectacular with a fair amount of water going over them, but again the spray made photography challenging.
Hippocrene Falls
I also wanted to photograph Pactolus Falls which are in the lower part of Den Fenella Creek. The track passes very close to these falls just before it descends to the base of Hippocrene Falls and I could see a good torrent of water. But views were very restricted by trees. So I thought it may be better to photograph the Pactolus Falls from the bottom. But the track from Hippocrene Falls did not go close to Den Fenella Creek until a fair way downstream and it would have been a very wet walk to go up the creek to the base of the falls.
I continued on to Vera Falls. They were also quite impressive, but again there was a lot of spray in the air.
Vera Falls
By this time, a lot of leeches were out and interested in some of my blood, so stopping for photographs was made even more challenging.
I walked up the track to the Valley of the Waters, taking a few more photos along the way.
Flat Rock Falls
Sylvia Falls
Empress Falls
At the top, at the Conservation Hut, I was quite wet, so I walked back to the village via roads.
More photos from the day are online on my website here.
This looks like a great walk Dave! We are hosting an international student for a week from Japan and am thinking this would be the ideal walk to take for a day rather than the Three Sisters Katoomba tourist scene. What do you think?
Watch the rain – there has been a lot recently. National Pass is probably the best walk to do.