Waterfalls in NSW and the ACT

Waterfall Seasons - The Waterfall Guide

This seasonal guide to waterfalls in New South Wales and the ACT recommends the best time of year and the best time of day to visit each waterfall using hydrologic knowledge to get the most out of your visit. This website only includes waterfalls that I have personally visited and photographed. Click on each waterfall title or picture below to find your next day trip, holiday destination, bushwalk, photo shoot or picnic location, or alternatively search by map.

Katoomba Falls, Blue Mountains

Spectacular by day via an exhilerating set of steps that cling to the wall of the escarpment, or the less strenuous option from the cable car overhead that dangles on a cable across the valley, these tall tiered waterfalls are also lit up at night…

National Falls, Royal National Park

Does this waterfall live up to the expectation of being named like a waterfall of national significance, with the nearby town of Waterfall also named in its honour? Perhaps, but only if you time your visit right, as I found out the hard way…

Toonoum Falls, Royal National Park

This low-key cascade hidden in the scrub beside a roadside parking bay offers little for waterfall viewers unless it has recently been raining, when it can be seen and heard next to the road. Only a few steps down off the road along a trickly little track…

Wattamolla Falls, Royal National Park

Water flows over a 10 metre high sandstone cliff down into an ocean lagoon, all only a few steps away from the car park and picnic area, and supervised by a colony of large but (from my experience only) non-confrontational water dragons…

Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains

These two-tier falls have one of the best viewing perches in the Blue Mountains, jutting out into nothingness as the falls spill over the edge of the escarpment below. Access to the base via the Wentworth Falls Track is only accessible when the creek is not in flood…

Gibraltar Falls near Canberra, ACT

Gibraltar Falls is the only readily accessible waterfall in the ACT, located in the hills south-west of Canberra. The falls boast a fifty metre drop over the edge of a granite cliff, with a viewing platform in front of the top of the falls…

Crystal Shower Falls, Dorrigo

A waterfall that lives up to its name with a curtain of showering crystals that sparkle in the sunlight as you slip in behind this waterfall, via a boardwalk that runs under the rock overhang. It is located a few kilometres along a walking track in the Dorrigo National Park…

Dangar Falls, Dorrigo

A reliable waterfall that flows over a basalt cliff into a large circular sink, with a huge viewing platform right next to the car park that is quite a shock to the senses after being stuck in the car. It also has a picnic area and playground, plus a track with access to the water's edge…

Killen Falls, Tintenbar

A short distance below Emigrant Creek Dam, Killen Falls has a viewing platform for peering down onto the falls as they plunge into the pool below, or a slightly steeper walk over uneven ground to the base of the falls, including access behind the falls…

Newell Falls, Dorrigo

A visual spectacular for those in the front passenger seat, this roadside waterfall is actually best viewed driving by in your car along Waterfall Way. Find out which direction to drive past for the best views, including access to the roadside stop…

Tosha Falls, Alstonville

In an unlikely place for a waterfall, tucked in behind the town's recycled water treatment plant, these falls are in a small pocket of riparian forest. Find out how to navigate your way around the treatment plant lagoons and which wind direction is the best for visiting here…

Tristania Falls, Dorrigo

Along the same walk as Crystal Shower Falls in the Dorrigo National Park, this basalt block waterfall cascades down a hill of little black cubes before passing under your feet, underneath the steel bridge that spans across the creek…

Whian Whian Falls, Whian Whian

Flow over the falls is somewhat dependent on whether Rocky Creek Dam is spilling, 8 km upstream. The aptly named Rocky Creek provides large rock bars to sit on, right next to the falls, in a small but steep vegetated gully…

Mumbulla Creek Falls, near Bega

Mumbulla Creek Falls is a smooth rock wall around 5-10 metres high situated within the Biamanga National Park. Much of the time there is only a trickle over the falls, but the very deep pool at the base of the falls is permanent…

Nethercote Falls, near Pambula

Nethercote Falls has a large, deep pool nestled in a rock gorge with a sizeable waterfall at one end. You can sit on the rocks high up on the side of the gorge, by clambering up the back of the wall, for a bird's eye view of this waterfall…

If you are planning a visit to New South Wales or the ACT from interstate or overseas, be mindful of the variable climate. Reliable rainfall occurs in winter/spring (typically Jun-Nov) in the south, when waterfalls in this region are usually flowing. In the north of the state rainfall is less predictable and most rainfall typically occurs in summer/autumn. During drought, many waterfalls in New South Wales and the ACT dry up completely.

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