A wet day was forecast for my weekly walk with Bob. After some discussion, we decided that a visit to Bulcamatta Falls would be suitable given the weather. This was a place neither of us had been to.
It ended up raining more or less continuously most of the day. We drove up to Kurrajong Heights and made our way along Burralow Road, past some communication towers towards to the National Park entrance. We then walked along the fire road. We soon arrived at a closed gate. The alerts page for Blue Mountains National Park showed that Burralow Swamp was open. Perhaps the gate had been closed because of the bad weather?
A little further along, we turned off on a track marked on the map. It was an old road, that went very steeply down to Burralow Swamp. It was a good shortcut, but the road was quite rough and overgrown.
At Burralow Swamp – we picked up the good fire road again, and soon arrived at the camping area. It looked a nice spot to camp. A big grassy flat, plenty of trees for shade, and with two toilets.
We found the track to Bulcamatta Falls. It starts by crossing the creek – which was unsurprisingly quite high. We had to wade across. Then it was a pleasant and easy 20 minute walk through forest to the Falls.
On the way, we passed a small rock lined pit. I thought it may have been a saw pit for logging. But later I found there are supposed to be convict ruins in this area. It was once apparently an early (and unsuccessful) rice farm.
We then passed a nice little grotto with a small waterfall and natural arch. A beautiful spot.
Not much further was the small gorge leading up to Bulcamatta Falls. The last bit was like a canyon, with the waterfall at its head. While I was taking photos, Bob scrambled up a log placed on the wall to allow access to a higher ledge. He visited some small cascades upstream of the falls.
We then returned the same way back to the campground. Because it was still early, we walked back via the long way – all along the fire road. It was in good condition – and should be suitable for 2WD vehicles.
Back at Bob’s car, it was far too wet to have lunch, so we headed to a picnic area on the Grose River – Nepean River junction. But when we arrived it had been washed out by floods – and a digger was operating trying to sort something out of the mud, so we headed to My Dad’s Bakery at North Richmond.