Burragorang Falls, Kanangra-Boyd NP

Sometimes, when adventuring, i stop and grit my teeth and wonder if i am going to make it back. That is when i know what it is to be alive.

Thurat Walls Fall

Thurat Walls

Some of the first peoples of my country believed the world to be flat, that the sun (a woman) dived into a great hole at night and traveled underground to arise in the morning. In a place like this, that story cannot be disproved :)

The combined drop of the multitude of the major segmented falls of the Oberon Plateau is about 370m (1200').  However, some of the water here falls 420m (1400'), higher than all but two of the NY skyscapers. After heavy rain, every gully hosts a fall. The top of the Oberon plateau is about 3,400' with high point 4,000'+ the bottom of the valley is 2,000'-1,400.

Kanangra-Boyd

Nowhere Warm: The First People of the Oberon Plateau, the Gundungurra, knew things we do not. They knew the ancient name of the rivers and the falls, they knew how to survive in impossible conditions, and they knew a medicant that, rubbed onto the body, protects it from extreme cold.

"Having previously made a large fire, they all went to sleep on the lee side of it without any article of covering. Nature appeared to compensate in some degree for this want with a covering of hair, which was particularly observable in the very old ones.. They appeared to suffer little or no inconvenience from change of weather, for they continued fast asleep during a violent shower of rain that lasted three hours, the thermometer standing at 39 (4 degrees centigrade)." - W Wentworth, 1824

There is no easy way to take pictures of the Thurat Walls falls, let alone apply any skill in composition. This image has been cut and stitched from multiple images taken in rain through a forest of wattle on the edge of the cliffs.

Kanangra-Boyd

Kanangra Falls Thurat Walls, Johnson Point

Kanangra Falls

Some say this place is one of the most impressive Australia has to offer. It defies imagination and kicks away the supports we build to hide the world from us.
The top two plunges of this remote 380m (1250') segmented fall in the southern Blue Mountains taken from a vantage point along the climb down to the nearby Kalang Falls. Only birds get to see the entire fall.
Image: A single shot in light rain and mist from an adjoining ridge (which obscures the lower fall). The shot has been slightly dehazed and toned for structure and depth.
The path of the falls maintains a healthy ecosystem for ferns and moss. There are a number of segmented falls in precipitous succession:
1: 150m
2: 25m
3: 50m
4: 12m
5:75m
6: 45m
7: 10m
8: 10m
9: 10m

Demeter Falls

Demeter Falls

Intermittent fall, this autumn starting her plunge to the underworld.
"Touch the spinning thread of destiny,
Rejoice the portion racing past your fingertips,
Relish your life in fair wonder with others,
Until the great destroyer takes us back whence we came."

Dradon, Kanangra-Boyd

Kanangra-Boyd

Unnamed Falls

All small escarpment falls wake after rain. A while back, i set myself the whimsical notion of visiting some of the 15,000 falls of SE Australia. Of these about 300 are named and perhaps 1,500 are shown on topographic maps (topographic maps are a poor way of finding falls). Surprisingly, i find most falls on public land and while many are surrounded by private property, the creek/river and falls were retained in public ownership by the original surveyors. Lots, like this one, remain unnamed in our present era.

small escarpment fall

This is a still from a video taken in mist and rain. It is perhaps typical of many of those other unnamed falls - but i can assure you that while the image is misty, the sound of the fall was loud.

Other Falls

Separate articles on the accessible falls in Kanangra-Boyd are Kalang Falls and the Dance Floor Cave Veil.

small escarpment fall

Location

The falls noted in this article are inaccessible (save by experienced abseillers) and are intermittent.



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