If you happen to be in Canberra, and you are somewhat bored with the city, as we were, why not take a day trip out to a couple of lovely spots where people don’t usually go – ideal for us!

Drive about 50 KM from Canberra, and you will reach the Namadgi National Park. Turn into Corin Road and you are on your way to Gibraltar falls and the Corin dam.

This fairly wide road has practically no traffic and runs uphill all the way with lots of twists and turns, an absolute delight to drive on, especially if you like using your gearbox. You will be driving through a forest, which adds to the beauty of the drive.

Presently you will reach Gibraltar falls, a cascade waterfall on Gibraltar Creek at the edge of the Gibraltar Creek pine forest. It is quite secluded with a small parking lot (which tells you that not many visitors are expected) but there is a toilet, a camping site and even a picnic shelter with a gas barbeque. 

 A short walk along a gravel trail takes you to the falls.  It is by no means a huge waterfall, but it is very pretty, scenic and quiet.  The creek drops all of 50 meters at this point, and that makes it quite a beautiful sight. Below the falls, Gibraltar creek enters a granite-walled gorge that extends for 800 meters through to Woods reserve. There are several walking/hiking trails leading from the falls into the woods, which could delight the avid hiker.

 

Eventually we left the falls and continued on the drive to Corin dam, another quiet but very pretty spot.

It is an earth and rockfill embankment dam on the Cotter river which runs further to Canberra. There are hills all around, and the water in the Corin reservoir has a beautiful color which reflects the surrounding heights. The water is said to be very high quality because the dam collects rainfall from the hills around. The water is tapped from one of six different levels depending on the quality of water at different depths and sent to Canberra and the surrounding areas. When the reservoir gets full the excess water runs downstream to Bendora dam from which it is sent to a water treatment plant.

It is a very remote and peaceful place. You can walk, climb to a little viewing spot up on the adjacent hill, or just stand and gaze at nature. There are some great views from the lookout point of Mount Bimberi, the ACT’s highest, balding peak.

A lovely drive back, downhill this time (low gears and little braking if you are a driving nut) and you are back to the main road to Canberra. You could go via Tharwa and stop at a nice lookout after the Point Hut turnoff to get good views over Mt. Tennant on one side.
A fun day out, great scenery, no crowds and lots of peace and quiet – what more can one want? 

 

Canberra in Australia
Namadgi National Park, Australia

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