I spent a very pleasant day in the Southern Highlands with Bob and Doug. The main aim was to visit Yerrinbool Falls on the Bargo River, and after that we had plenty of time left to visit some nearby interesting places.
Yerrinbool Falls
Yerrinbool is a small town on the Southern Highlands. None of us had been there before. But we soon found the start of the route to the falls at the end of Formosa Avenue. At first it follows a fire road and then a track marked with tape.
After going along the top of a cliff, the track then descends quite steeply.
And then we reached the Bargo River.
We had to walk downstream, over open slabs to the falls.
Drosera sp.
Bob reaches the top of the falls –
Here are Yerrinbool Falls –
And looking downstream –
We then made our way back upstream.
Back at the car, we then headed to Picton to see a historic railway tunnel.
Picton Tunnel
This historic railway tunnel is easy to find and reach. It was the first railway tunnel in NSW. It was built in 1867 and was used until a deviation was constructed in 1919 with less tight curves and an easier gradient. The tunnel is 180 m long.
View from a lookout above the tunnel –
Burragorang Lookout
From Picton, we drove to Burragorang Lookout, where we admired the views and had lunch.
Mt Annan Botanic Gardens
The visit to Mt Annan was a diversion on our way home. One thing I wanted to see was the Colo River Tea Tree (Leptospermum spectable). This is a type of Tea Tree with stunning scarlet flowers. I first found it on a bushwalking trip to the Colo River in the early 1980’s. I carried out samples of fruit, flowers, leaves and buds which I got a friend to leave at the NSW Herbarium.
