If you’re looking for a quiet and pretty spot to visit on an upcoming weekend, why not consider Carrington Falls in the picturesque Kangaroo Valley?
Carrington Falls is located an easy two hour drive from Canberra. You head down the Hume Highway towards Sydney, and then take the Illawarra Highway exit to Wollongong.
After heading through the small towns of Moss Vale and Robertson, turn right near the Robertson Pie Shop onto Jamberoo Mountain Road then look for the sign to Carrington Falls on your right. If you’re keen to have a stop on the way, Moss Vale has a nice little park which is now blooming with tulips, or Robertson has some interesting looking shops in the old cheese factory building.
Carrington Falls is one of the best places I’ve found while living in Canberra and exploring the surrounding areas.
It’s easy to get to, there are many spots to sit down, relax and have a picnic, it has great views across the valley, and you get to have a swim in a beautiful location.
Recently, I spent a great Sunday here with my friend Rhys having a picnic in the sunshine by the water and then cooling off with a swim.
Getting to the waterfall is a short stroll from the carpark, but there are some bushwalks in the area. I spotted one sign that led you on a 4km track.
Being the daredevil that I am that likes to climb onto rock ledges, of course I couldn’t help but climb into the waterhole that forms at the edge of the falls and hang over the edge.
If you’re not the type to hang out near the edge of waterfalls, there’s plenty of other swimming areas at the falls as you enter from the footpath.
There’s also a great lookout spot only a couple of hundred metres from the carpark with a spectacular panoramic view of the falls as it plunges 50 metres to the waterhole below.
I think this is one of the hidden gems of the Kangaroo Valley. Each time I’ve gone here, there’s only a handful of people here and after posting pictures on Facebook of this road trip, I always get asked by a lot of people how to get there.
Also just down the road is another attraction I’d never heard of until I saw the sign, but I’m sure it must be on the tourist trail. The Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk is just a few kilometres down the road from Carrington Falls heading towards the coast.
The 1.5km return tree top walk through rainforest, and culminates at a spiral tower 45 metres high providing views across the rainforest canopy and out to the ocean. They also have zipline tours, which sound like a lot of fun and my friend and I will probably come back and do one day. The activity’s website says it’s the highest zipline tour in Australia, and involves flying up to 35 metres above the forest floor. The zipline tours run several times a day.
The treetop walk is $25 at the ticket office or can be bought online for $22.50 per person. The zipline tours are $75, or $67.50 online.
Illawary Fly Treetop Adventures is open daily from 9am to 5pm. More information can be found here: http://www.illawarrafly.com/
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