On Sunday of last weekend I went up the mountains with John, Chuin Nee, Jasper and Digi Dave to do a walk to Terrace Falls and a bit of photo-pfaffing.
I don’t think I had been to these waterfalls before – and it turned out to be a very beautiful area. A little earlier I had purchased copies of some small “Pocket Pal” guidebooks to some Blue Mountains walks written by Keith Painter and published by Mountain Mist Books (available online from that website). One of these was on Terrace Falls. As well as details for the walk it had a lot of botanical and historical information of great interest.
We wet off from the barrier on Terrace Falls Road at Hazelbrook and followed a fire trail through the bush. We soon arrived at the start of the track – which follows along the creek to the falls.
The first waterfall is Victor Falls – which is in an attractive amphitheatre. Downstream were more waterfalls – smaller cascades, again all beautiful. Then we arrived at Terrace Falls – which lived up to its name – a waterfalls down a nice set of terraces. Sunny conditions made it difficult to get photographs – lighting far too harsh and contrasty. Eventually – some clouds softened the lighting a bit.
Then, after lunch we wandered further downstream to other small cascades to arrive at Bedford Creek.
First, we went downstream to Bedford Pool and back upstream to Willawong Pool – both were nice.
We returned back to the car, the same way we had come. It had been a nice excursion to the Blue Mountains. More photos are on my website here.
These photos are amazing. Any special type of camera used? Thanks.
Hello Gail – Nothing really special – a digital SLR and various lenses – and a tripod – and also a neutral density filter (to cut back the light a bit to give longer exposures)
Dave
Hi Dave,
Along with Dante’s Glen/Empire Pass this is my favourite walk in the mid-mtns.
I’ve done Terrace Falls the same way as you did in the past, but recently found a more interesting circuit. When you reach Bedford Pool head left up the gully that follows an un-named creek. There’s a few cascades & waterfalls along this creek that are quite nice & worth photographing – only straight after decent rain though as this creek doesn’t seem to get a lot of waterflow. You reach a lone pagoda at the head of the gully just after Pyramid Falls then follow a fire-trail back towards the Terrace Falls reserve. You end up joining the main fire-trail just above Victor Falls. It makes the walk into a nice loop.
Thanks for that tip. I was out that way today – but only went down to Terrace Falls. The creeks were running very nicely!
You’re welcome Dave – I owe you a few!
I’ve got some great info on canyons & walks from your website & blog. 🙂
These are wonderful photos. I must admit when I do go to the blue mountains area, there’s always one specific place I want to go and somewhat just hang there. Perhaps, next time, I’ll take advantage of it and actually walk around a bit more.
When you took photos of terrace falls. Did you find it hard with the dynamic tonal range? I did and hence, I could not grab a full image of terrace falls… and when I searched for similar images online there’s many of them who captured it’s beauty… but not me 🙁
Thanks for your kind comments!
Best time to go is during dull lighting – overcast conditions or even rain/mist. Even better is when the water is high. Also – it can be worth using a polaroid filter to reduce reflections from the rocks.
Dave