I love walking alone, but I also love being able to share beautiful places with others. And today I was super excited to share one of my favourite walks with my son, Alex. I have rarely had the opportunity to walk with him alone, so it was a lovely treat to venture out together, just the two of us.
We started from the Wentworth Falls Picnic Area and decided to head across to the Conservation Hut first ‘to get the boring bit out of the way’, but even before we’d reached the clifftops at Lyrebird lookout he was waxing lyrical about it being the best walk he’d ever done! And this is from a six year old boy who has done a lot of bushwalks, so I think he was enjoying some special time with mummy just as much as I was.
We headed down into the Valley of the Waters and he was very excited to see the exit from Empress Canyon. I will have to bring him back in the summertime to see how busy it gets in the afternoons with everyone abseiling down the falls.
This track was originally built between 1906 and 1908 by a team of track builders who became known as the Irish Brigade. It is an engineering marvel, with the main part of the track following a claystone ledge approximately halfway up the side of a 180m cliff face.
The most spectacular section is the Grand Stairway which zig-zags up the cliff face beside Wentworth Falls. It is amazing to think of the work that went into creating such an impressive tourist track in such formidable terrain. The trustees who managed the reserve at the time were certainly very visionary to even conceive of the idea.
Substantial restoration works were completed in 2008, one century after the original opening of the track. Alex and I enjoyed looking at the old photos dotted along the way of people enjoying the walk more than a 100 years ago. For those interested in the history of this particular walk, more information is available on this website dedicated to the National Pass.
After a cool morning walking mostly in the shade, we warmed up on the climb back up to the top, with the stairway bathed in beautiful sunshine. And after enjoying the view of the top of the falls from Fletchers Lookout we headed back to the car. I think the double thumbs up at the end of the walk says it all.
