Fairy Bower Falls and the Village of Bundanoon

On the weekend I headed off to a waterfall I had read about on a travel blog: Fairy Bower Falls. It was about two hours drive from Canberra past fields with cattle and sheep. I passed a few quaint little villages too as the road narrowed and the trees formed an archway over my head.

Soon I reached the village of Bundanoon where apparently one of my friends’ dads hails from. I passed a cute little church on Church Street and people going about their business. I entered a national park and stopped to pay my $8 park use fee at a machine. I collected my ticket and drove through the park gates and along a dirt road.

I had my gps on telling me where to go but there were signs so it was pretty self explanatory. I parked and looked at a map of the park and pinpointed where the waterfall was. I drove there and parked my car. As it was now lunch time, I had lunch in the car but could have had lunch at a picnic area back where the map was at the entrance of the park.

After a cheese sandwich and mandarine, I headed past a sign about the falls being a steep descent and descended down to them. I wandered down a path which soon turned into a number of stone steps. These wound down on to a steel platform which I crossed and passed sandstone jutting out of the cliff.

Then I heard water: a sure sign I had almost reached my destination. Then I was there! It was in a kind of gully shaded by the trees and adorned with tree ferns. Water trickled down the cliff and cascaded down at the base of the falls adjacent to which was a little sandstone cave.

I sat on a rock at the base of the falls and drank in my surroundings: soaking up the coolness and tranquility of the forest and listening to the tinkling waterfall. I also read my book awhile before exploring the little cave and feeling the waterfall with my hand.

Then I climbed back up to the top of the falls which was a very steep climb! After reaching the top, I drove back into the village and explored a cafe’/nursery with giant lilac waterlilies out the back and a sunbathed verandah overlooking the main street before enjoying a lime milkshake at a cafe’ and people watching before heading back to Canberra.

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