This was a very short walk I did to fill in some time on Christmas Eve. I was visiting at Hazelbrook, and this walk on the north side of the town was nearby. To get good photographs of the waterfalls you need to visit the area just after a period of heavy rain. This I did not have – there was barely a tricky of water going over the waterfalls.
Horseshoe Falls
I headed down the track that leaves Oaklands Road. As you proceed, you discover there are a multitude of tracks on different levels. I followed a lower one that was signposted to go to Horseshoe Falls. On the way, I passed a small waterfall – perhaps only 2 m high. I think this one is unnamed.
The upper unnamed waterfall
The signpost before Horseshoe Falls indicates that that name is still in use. At one time, there was a proposal to rename the falls to Lyrebird Falls,a previous name for the falls, to avoid confusion with the Horseshoe Falls at Blackheath. I think the renaming proposal was passed by the council, but it looks like the Horseshoe name use has been retained. The general area is called Lyrebird Glen.
Horseshoe Falls
Soon, I arrived at Horseshoe Falls, and after taking a few photos, I continued up a branch track to the nearby Glow Worm Nook Falls. Being on a small side creek, these had even less flow. Near the falls is the overhang where you are supposed to see glow worms if you visit at night.
Glow Worm Nook Falls
I then headed back to Horseshoe Falls and continued down to Oaklands Falls. There is supposed to be two other waterfalls between Horseshoe Falls and Oaklands Falls, namely Fairy Falls and Lena Falls but these are not marked.
Oaklands Falls
Oaklands Falls are quite similar to Horseshoe Falls, both in height, lack of flow and their situation in amphitheatres. They both would be impressive in high water.
Further down the valley, and a short way up a side creek is Burgess Falls. I didn’t visit them this trip, but instead returned the way I had come.
On the way back, I did venture off track to look at another amphitheatre – with a waterfall at the top. But at that place I couldn’t easily climb down. Upstream was another small waterfall – a little over 1 m high. Perhaps the more substantial lower waterfall is Lena Falls?
Large Tongue Orchid
As well as the waterfalls, there are some nice orchids to be found in the Glen.
Great blog, thanks for refreshing my memories of horseshoe falls and glow worm nook
As a family who weekended at Hazo from the ‘30’s up until just recently we have good memories of playing all day “down the gully”
Haven’t wanted to go back in case the beauty has dissipated but by your photos all looks pretty okay