Australia: Waterfalls and Lighthouses - A Day Trip South of Sydney

Trip Date:

Back in January a group of friends and I took a day-trip south of Sydney to Wollongong, Morton National Park, and Kiama. I think we all just needed a day to get out of the city and wanted to see some cool sites along the way. Well, it was successful, I'd say. We left early in the day and drove the hour it took to get to Wollongong where we stopped along the coast to check out the lighthouse and the sea rocks before grabbing an early lunch at Le Vendi along the harbour which boasts Wollongong's best fish 'n' chips, which were good, but I'm beginning to think that a chippy is going to have to really step it up in order to get that title in my books. The rock platforms beneath the lighthouse were pretty impressive! Deep salt weathering pits, widened by wave action, were filled with water and all sorts of seaweeds, crabs, and little fish. Some were big enough to fit a few people into, like a wee jacuzzi! The waves were big too, and I soon learned I should have brought an extra pair of socks... Wollongong is a University town but also has quite a lot of industrial activity along the coast. Not sure if it's a place I'd prefer to live.

The double-cascades of Belmore Falls. Only a
trickle now, it's easy to imagine them in full force!

After lunch, we drove the Illawarra Highway west through Macquarie Pass National Park - which is one of the coolest windiest roads I've ever been on, rivaling those I took through Mangamuka Gorge on New Zealand's North Island - to the small town of Robertson for a photo-op with the Big Potato, and finally to our first waterfall destination: Belmore Falls. Belmore falls, and all the other nearby waterfalls, cascades from the highlands to the deep valleys below over spectacular sandstone cliffs of the Hawkesbury Sandstone. We stopped at a view point looking down to the Kangaroo River Valley before heading over to the waterfall where we hopped a few large pools of water to get as close as we could to the waterfall's edge, which was only possible because the waterfall was nothing more than a little trickle at this time of the year. As anyone would, we tried our luck throwing some small boulders into the pool at the base of the waterfall to see how big of a splash or sound we could get. Lucky for us, the splash was big, but the sound - a big CRACKING noise - was loud and echoed off the walls. Awesome!

Continuing on we stopped at Fitzroy Falls for a little nature walk and waterfall viewing and also at Carrington Falls in Budderoo National Park. Carrington Falls spilled down into a tall, vertical chute and my friend Paul and I thought it would be a hoot to throw a few rocks down into the chute, which was difficult because the closest viewing platform was still so far away that we only managed to get little rocks into the falls, but they still made a satisfying sound!

The bright blue ocean swells entering
Kiama's famous Blowhole

Back in the cars, we drove to Kiama and it's famous Blowhole! A blowhole starts out its life as a sea-cave, eroded into the rocks by wave action. Eventually, this cave tunnels its way into the rocks and the roof of the cave collapses so that now, when large ocean waves and swells are forced into the sea-tunnel, they speed up and slam into the back of the cave, erupting the water upwards. The Blowhole was really active when we were there and the water erupted a good 10 metres up into the air! We ventured down to the edge of the sea cliffs, and then I alone crept my way down to the rock platform near the mouth of the blowhole where I watched the huge ocean swells flow in and out of the Blowhole entrance. It was hypnotic and the bright turquoise blue water was just mesmerising! As the sun set, we headed up the street to a pork-roast dinner at the RSL (a kind of club for members of Australia's armed services and their families).

It was just a day trip, but we sure covered a lot of ground and I always think it's nice to get off the merry-go-round that can be city life!