This partial circuit in Budderoo National Park takes you to the top of the impressive Gerringong Falls, with views of the falls just a side trip off the main track. The falls are apparently 150-180m high. There’s heath vegetation and a section of tall forest along the way. I’d say you’re unlikely to meet many (or possibly any) other walkers; we didn’t at least.
About 16.5km of mostly flat walking, although one section of the track was badly overgrown and slow going. Track notes at the end.
Gerringong Falls Circuit: The Scenery
I’m afraid some of my photos from this walk are pretty bad, generally glary and washed out looking, but you can still get the idea.
Track Notes
We used track notes in Take a Walk in Southern NSW & the ACT. This route follows a ‘P’ shape, starting at the bottom of the ‘P’ on the Budderoo Track/Budderoo Plateau Road, a turn off Jamberoo Mountain Road. Park at the locked gate, and walk along this fire trail until you reach a disused car park, turning right here onto Gerringong Falls Walking Track. The track becomes quite overgrown and indistinct, so you have to accept a face full of twigs and slow progress for a while. Once you reach Gerringong Creek you can roughly follow the creek downstream to the falls along an impact track on the opposite bank.
There are views from the falls, and then after you cross back over the creek you meet the Hersey (Fire) Trail, and can take a side trip to the right for views back towards the falls. Return to the fire trail and continue until you meet the Budderoo Track again, then turn left to return to the start. You could do the whole walk on fire trails if you continue along the Budderoo Track and take a right onto the Hersey Trail, continue on to the falls, and then return the same way.
This Google Maps link to the falls shows all of these tracks. And AllTrails has the Budderoo/Hersey fire trails portion of the walk, with the overgrown trail to make the loop also marked on the map (but not described in the notes).
Nearby Walks
If you’re interested in walks in the NSW Southern Highlands then have a browse through others that I’ve done in the area. There are a few lesser known gems to be done.
Ahearns Lookout is an alternative walk to the Starlights Trail, in Nattai National Park south-west of Sydney. There are excellent views from the precipitous cliff edge over the Nattai River Valley. Along the way there are rocky outcrops and clearings, plus occasional broken views through the trees. Well worth the only moderate effort. (more…)
Two walks in one here, on my first visit to the recently established Guula Ngulla National Park. The name means Koala Country, and there is a population in the park, but also emus, which is the closest to Sydney I’ve seen them. There are good views over the Wollondilly River from the short ascent to Baldy Billy Peak. After returning to the main track, you descend steeply into a valley to emerge at a pleasant stretch of the Wollondilly River.
I’d seen Belmore Falls on Instagram, and was surprised I hadn’t visited them before, because they are a very attractive two tier waterfall. The walk to see them is very short (1.8km return), and in fact we visited with my 81 year old mother-in-law in tow, and did an even shorter walk than that described on the NPWS site (just a couple of hundred metres from the car park probably). They are well worth the visit if you are in the area (Robertson in the NSW Southern Highlands), and were particular good when we visited, as there had been heavy rainfall in the preceding few days. (more…)
The high quality walk to Bonnum Pic in Nattai National Park is relatively unknown, and I hadn’t heard of it until just a week before I did it. The valley and cliff views are excellent, and once you get to the cliff line the walking experience is very enjoyable, walking over rocky outcrops and eventually navigating a rocky ridge.
The Box Vale Circuit is a lesser travelled walk in the Southern Highlands near Mittagong. It follows an old mining railway cutting at first, with valley views on a short side trip. It then descends very steeply into wilderness, follows a river, then climbs back out, passing the attractive Forty Foot Falls on the way. You may well meet other walkers, but probably not in the middle half of the walk, which skirts a section of the Nattai River and feels a bit more remote. (more…)
