Read these bushwalking safety tips before you set off on a walking adventure. For information on staying safe in and around water, visit Water Safety NSW.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This is a very popular walk mostly due to the fact that there has a really impressive swimming hole.
If you choose to go the long way via the Princess Marina trail, start off on Lawrence Hargrave Drive. The trail is really well hidden from the road and I actually headed up the service trail first before realising I needed to turn around. The actual trail is a few metres east from there.
You could easily think you are not in the right spot as the trail is so thin and overgrown. It doesnt get a whole lot better as you continue through the skinny walkway. Long shirts and pants are recommended on the track as the shrubs are quite scratchy.
Along the way, you quickly get the sense of what this trail would have been like in all its glory. I suddenly feel like Im in a Norman Lindsay flashback, with gorgeous stonework chairs, stairs and walls with love-heart motives.
The original walk was owned and created by Henry Halloran, who intended to develop a hotel and put in an amazing effort creating the stone features on the walk. Halloran gained permission from the Duchess of Kent, Princess Marina, to name the walk in her honor in 1937. The walk was part of the Pleasure Walk which was very popular with hikers in the 1930-40s.
Botanically, the trail has a lot to offer including Gymea lilies, cabbage tree palms and some gorgeous flowering shrubs in the spring. The gums throughout the Otford Valley are equally impressive, ensuring grand views from the various stonework lookout points Halloran was very busy!
Along the trail, you then come across a track to the right that takes you into the valley at the base of the falls. The falls are 48-metres high so this trail takes you 48m straight down its steep, slippery and involves a little bit of abseiling down a ledge. This is not for the fainthearted but oh its so much fun!
The whole way down there are tree obstacles and rough footing - its really good! There is always a good crowd that come down for the swim and manage to make it in thongs and beachwear, so anything goes.
Once you make it back up the same path, you can join the civilized path around to the top of the falls. Its at this stage you realise there is a car park here, so you could take the easy way out and park here but wheres the fun in that?
Overall the Princess Marina walk takes about 1.5 hours. On the way back you can take the service trail back to your car for a change of scenery and an echidna if you are lucky.
For anyone reading this who frequents the area it was possibly one of the worst walks for litter Ive been on in the Illawarra. If you go with mates, please be sensible and take out your own rubbish and some more, its such a shame to see such a special walk being spoilt. Do it for Henry Halloran.
Visit Bushwalk the Gongs Facebook page and Instagram account.
Related stories