Fitzroy Falls — A Deep Dive
In the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, the Yarrunga Creek reaches the edge of a sandstone plateau and drops some 80 metres in a clean plunge into a forested valley that opens toward the distant sea. Fitzroy Falls is one of the most visited and most accessible waterfalls in the region, a short stroll from a busy visitor centre yet framed by deep wilderness. It is a place where an easy boardwalk delivers a grand view over the Morton National Park escarpment. Fitzroy Falls is plotted on the map.
A clean plunge into the valley
Fitzroy Falls drops about 80 metres in a single plunge over the lip of the plateau, with a lower section continuing below. The water falls from Yarrunga Creek into the broad Yarrunga Valley, a deep, forested basin within Morton National Park. Because the catchment is a modest creek on the highland plateau, the falls vary with rainfall — full and dramatic after wet weather, reduced to a slender fall in dry spells. The setting, with the valley falling away to forested ridgelines, makes even the lower flows scenic.
Geology of the sandstone escarpment
The falls drop over the Hawkesbury sandstone that underlies much of the Sydney basin and the Southern Highlands. These hard, layered sandstones, deposited by ancient rivers around 200 to 230 million years ago, form resistant cliffs wherever streams reach their edge. At Fitzroy Falls, Yarrunga Creek crosses the plateau and then pours off the sandstone rim into the valley below, where softer rocks have been eroded to form the broad basin. The same sandstone geology gives the Blue Mountains and much of the New South Wales coast their dramatic cliff-lined escarpments.
Morton National Park
Fitzroy Falls sits at the northern edge of Morton National Park, a vast protected area of sandstone plateaus, deep gorges and eucalypt forest stretching south through the Highlands. The park shelters a rich wildlife community, including lyrebirds, wombats, gliders and a wealth of birds, and the forests around the falls are alive with the sounds of the bush. The escarpment views from the clifftop walks take in the wilderness of the valley, much of it inaccessible and little changed.
Walks and lookouts
What makes Fitzroy Falls special is the ease of access combined with the grandeur of the view. From the visitor centre, a short, mostly accessible path leads to the main lookout directly opposite the falls, giving a head-on view of the plunge. Longer clifftop walks — the West Rim and East Rim tracks — follow the escarpment to a series of further lookouts over the Yarrunga Valley, passing through heath and forest. These walks range from a few minutes to a couple of hours and suit families and casual walkers as well as keener hikers.
Visiting Fitzroy Falls
The falls lie near the village of Fitzroy Falls in the Southern Highlands, within easy reach of the towns of Bowral and Moss Vale and around two hours' drive south of Sydney. A national park visitor centre at the site offers information, a café and parking; an entry fee applies. The accessibility of the main lookout makes Fitzroy Falls one of the easiest grand waterfall views to reach in New South Wales, popular as a day trip and a stop on the way to the south coast.
When to go
The falls are at their fullest after rain, so the wetter months and the period following heavy downpours give the most dramatic flow. The Southern Highlands have a cool, temperate climate, and spring and autumn offer the most comfortable walking weather. Mist can fill the valley on cool mornings, adding atmosphere to the view. In dry spells the falls thin considerably, so checking recent conditions is worthwhile if the cascade itself, rather than the walks and views, is the main draw.
A Highlands day out
Fitzroy Falls pairs well with the gardens, cafés and cool-climate scenery of the Southern Highlands, and with the wider wilderness of Morton National Park to the south. Its combination of an effortless lookout, longer escarpment walks and a grand valley view makes it a model of accessible natural beauty — a place where visitors of all abilities can stand above a deep wild valley and watch a creek leap off the edge of the plateau.
Explore on the map
Fitzroy Falls and the other great cascades of the New South Wales escarpments are pinned on our interactive map — filter to plan a Southern Highlands day trip from Sydney, compare the plateau falls of eastern Australia, or trace the sandstone country from the Blue Mountains to the south coast.