Somersby Waterfall Pics & Video

Somersby Falls Photos and Video (on YouTube)

We recently went to the Somersby Waterfall. While the kids were busy exploring, I took many photos and a couple of videos. Here are some pictures of the afternoon.

I uploaded one video to YouTube - click for link.

Wonderful, peaceful place. Also great place to play.

Girrakool and Piles Creek Loop Trek

Phil Houghton Bridge over Piles Creek

One of the many smaller bridges on the Piles Creek Loop Trek

Other-worldly in appearance - steps to the Phil Houghton Bridge

Some of the rock-face where shallow caves were along the trail

Zoe and Clara at different points of the "mostly flat" trek - per the trail description chart

It was an amazing bushland trek! Through sun drenched bush scrub. Up and down well built bush steps and hand hewn rock steps. Across a dozen small wooden bridges that spanned the gap over small gores and waterways. We viewed waterfalls from their base and their top. We scrambled over rocks, walked pasted caves, marveled at the size of bull ants we encountered, and admired blooms. The highlight of the trek for the children was the Phil Houghton Swing Bridge over Piles Creek.

Rock face

Concrete stepping stones on the trail

Lookout with railing

Hand carved steps on the rocks

Sign post

The Piles Creek trek we took overlaps some of the Great North Walk, a trek that connects Sydney to Newcastle.

The narrative description on the track notes for the Piles Creek circuit was accurate. I had the feeling of experiencing parts of Riven, however the chart indicating the terrain was predominately flat was exaggerated, to put it nicely.

I was very proud of my children, especially Neo and Zoe, who enthusiastically walked the entire 4.1 km with very little complaint. Neo took a piggy back ride only near the end of the trail. We chose the perfect day for this trek into bushland - sunny, windy, about 70 F. Overall, it was an invigorating, inspirational trek.

Waterfall on the Piles Creek Trail

The children on some nice steps

Another waterfall

Somersby Falls

Dave and Neo at the foot of the Upper Falls

Zoe at the foot of the upper falls....

There are upper falls and lower falls.

Last weekend we went to Somersby Falls.

We love Aussie signs.....

The top of the upper falls are even with the parking lot. You can climb down a steep, narrow path to the bottom of the upper falls.

The path to the lower falls is steep and narrow with scary wooden stairs, but the destination was worth it.

Lower Falls

We enjoy going to these falls. The kids found tadpoles.

More lower falls....

There's also another, smaller, lesser known waterfall near Pearl Beach which I discuss on this older post.

Mt. Ettalong Look Out and Waterfall near Pearl Beach

Overlooking Lion Island and Pearl Beach - at a typical lookout - no railing!

Dave took 2 days off of work to spend some time with the family during their Easter break. Unfortunately, Dave was sick with a cold over his 4 day weekend - as was most of the family. It also rained and/or was overcast the entire time. So we laid low and recuperated.

On Monday, 20 April, Dave was back to work. A 5 day week after 2, 3 day weeks. It was a difficult week. He was scheduled to have training that week, but it wasn't scheduled properly, so was canceled. (Amazing, the paperwork was completed, the training approved, but no trainer allocated!)


Pearl Beach from Mt. Ettalong Lookout

We took Monday to do some preparations for the week - groceries, etc. On Tuesday, 21 April, we planned to go to the Taronga zoo - but it was overcast and more rain expected.



Lion Island (notice the storm clouds brewing)
Lion Island can be viewed from Blackwall Mountain Reserve Lookout



Ettalong as viewed from Mt. Ettalong Lookout

Instead, we went to the Mt. Ettalong Look Out. The views were amazing.


This Lookout actually has a railing!

At this place, there was a sign with notations, in miles, not kilometers, of the distance to other locations.

On the walk back to the car, it began to sprinkle. That was fine because we were warm from the walk. But with 50 meters to go, the clouds opened up....and we ran for it!


Sign on the road to Pearl Beach - what it doesn't show is the grade - it's a steep decline. There's another sign further down the road that indicates "changing road conditions" - an exhilarating drive!

We were wet but in good spirits. So we drove to Pearl Beach, ate lunch in the car and prepared to go explore the waterfall near Pearl Beach.



Small waterfall near Pearl Beach
Somersby Falls is another waterfall in the area

This was really a bush walk! The path was over grown and fairly steep. I warned the kids to stay on the path and use a stick to make noise in front of them - to warn snakes to get out of the way.


We found tadpoles here too - they are different then the ones at Somersby Falls - larger - but not more developed


Tristan at the lower part of the Pearl Beach water fall. He was the only one to go down here because it's fairly difficult to access.



I noticed the rain clouds coming our direction again, so we high tailed it to the car - but not before the showers caught us, again!

Beautiful wildflowers blooming, even in fall