Leura Cascades Walk - 16 January 2013

All images © David Noble. No image can be used for any pruposewithout permission.

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This is a photo essay of a short daywalk I did around the cliffs of Leura and Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. The weather forecast had been for morning fog at Katoomba and I thought this may make for good photographic conditions. So I caught an early train to Leura, arriving there shortly before 7:30am. There was no morning mist - and the photographic light was quite poor. But I still had an interesting time wandering around the lookouts and dells of the area, pottering around with my camera.

My route was via Lyrebird Dell to Gordon Falls and then along the clifftop walk (Prince Henry Walk) to Leura Cascades, with sidetrips to all the lookouts. One short section of the track was closed off - probably due to bushfire damage, but this was quickly walked around via a well signposted detour. Once at Leura Cascades I followed the track down the creek, pausing at various places for photos. It was a bit of a race - the sun was lighting up much of the cascades, ruining any chance of a photo. I was not sure whether to stay in one place and try and capture a bit of a waterfall or to move downstream where the sun may not have arrived. The last time I was in the area - there used to be some old council ladders that you could use to climb down the waterfalls. This provided quick access to the Lindeman Pass Track. These ladders have now been taken out. My route down the falls was now by a longer but quite attractive track. This descends down a steep staircase to the bottom of the top waterfall - Bridal Veil Falls. Next I continued on the track down to Leura Forest. This is an impressive stand of trees on a terrace below the lower cliffline. From there I continued on to Dardenelles Pass and up the Giant Staircase to the Three Sisters. My route back was via the Prince Henry Walk to Leura Cascades and then via a signposted track to Leura Station. A nice outing.