Cascades, cataracts, showers, chutes and falls, the Barrington Coast has them all, tumbling off mountains on their way to the sea. Some stay a mountain stream their whole life, others grow into rivers that carve the valleys you’ll later drive through. Wherever you start, a good waterfall day out here usually ends the same way, wet shoes and a very good mood.

Ellenborough Falls deserves the spotlight on its own

At 200 metres, this is the tallest single drop waterfall in New South Wales, with four ways to see it depending on how much effort you’re up for, from the car park view right through to 641 steps down to the base. It’s such a proper destination in its own right that we’ve given it a dedicated guide, worth the read before you go.

Easy swimming holes

Ladies Well, in Chichester State Forest, is a family favourite come summer, granite boulders and cascades framing the cool waters of the Allyn River, with warm rocks nearby to dry off on afterwards.

Waitui Falls, tucked away near Kerewong on the border of Coorabakh National Park, isn’t a big waterfall but makes for a delightful picnic and swim, so easy to miss the roadside marker that it feels like you’ve found somewhere nobody else has.

Potoroo Falls, out in Tapin Tops National Park, is a genuine hidden gem, crystal clear water surrounded by dense rainforest, with a pretty day use area beside Little Run Creek. Just note the road in follows old logging tracks, so allow a bit more time to find it.

Deep in the Tops

These four reward the drive itself as much as the destination, all found within Barrington Tops National Park.

Gloucester Falls, at the end of a scenic drive through the Gloucester Tops precinct, is a short easy walk to an observation point above the falls, and it’s here the Gloucester River is properly born.

Antarctic Beech cascades, nearby, are ancient Gondwana forest with towering beech trees and mossy cascades falling into a fern lined gully that feels like something out of a storybook.

Polblue Falls is a lesser known spot with an observation point over Polblue Creek, and

Jerusalem Creek Falls, at the park’s most southerly entry point, is one of the more photographed spots in the Tops for good reason.

For the adventurous

Rocky Crossing, reached via a challenging track along the Williams River, is a favourite with Instagrammers for its natural rock swimming pools framed by ferns and forest, the kind of place that makes you believe dinosaurs once wandered through.

Gummi Falls is properly remote, high in Barrington Tops where the Manning River itself is born, accessible only by 4WD in the warmer months and by foot or bike the rest of the year. The waterfall itself is modest, but the sense of being somewhere genuinely wild more than makes up for it.

A word before you wade in

I’ll admit it, the first time I saw a rock pool up here I had my shoes off before I’d even taken my hat off. Fair warning though, nature out here is wild, unpredictable and always changing, these are natural waterholes, not lifeguarded pools, so swim at your own risk. Rocks get slippery, currents shift after rain, and water levels can rise or fall without much warning at all. Have a proper look before you wade in, keep an eye on the kids, and stick to the pools and viewing platforms rather than the top of any waterfall, the rocks up there are far more dangerous than they look and there’s no view worth that risk. Conditions can differ from one visit to the next, so always use your own judgement on the day rather than relying on what you read here. If a spot looks off, there’s always another one just down the road.