Exploring Ellenborough Falls

in #nature7 years ago

Ellenborough Falls is one of the largest single drop falls in the southern hemisphere at a whopping 200 metres. I visited these falls 2 years ago after a lot of rainfall and it was just as impressive now as it was back then.

Pictured below is @harrynewman at the bottom just to give you a bit of perspective.

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Getting to the falls is easy. Part of the way requires you to drive along some windy narrow unsealed roads. The terrain will allow for all cars and bikes to access but you will lose phone and internet service as you get closer to the the falls. There are a few signs along the way to guide you but i do suggest you take note of the turns as you may not be able to use your GPS on the way out.

As you pull into the car park and step out of the car you can immediately hear the falls just off into the distance and the aroma of coffee and pies mixed with the dampness of the soil will fill your nostrils. To the left there is a quaint kiosk with a beautiful lady who sells a small range of food made and prepared there to eat from hot pies, pasties to homemade cakes, jams and treats. I was in heaven! We stopped for a pie while this dear little bird danced and fluttered around our table.

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The tummy shot! This was as close as I could get to the edge with my jelly legs.

Harry and I decided to explore the top of the fall and jump over the railings it's not for the faint hearted! I’m not as brave as Harry so I shimmied close to the edge on my belly to get a picture while he calmly sat on the edge and had a good look around. Now it's strongly recommended that you stay on the wooden deck as the water current can be very strong especially after a lot of rain fall and the rocks are incredibly slippery as I found out later on while exploring the bottom of the fall.

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As you begin to descend down the 641 stairs and cross the board walks you will hear the roaring of the water getting louder as it cascades down the cliff face. The soft echos of the bird's songs follow and the foliage becomes denser, closing out the sun light above. This made it tricky to photograph as each step was either into a patch of light or into the shade of the greenery above so getting the settings right was hard.

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At the very bottom of the fall the force of the water bouncing off the rocks sprays into your face and covers all that surrounds in a mist making the rocks super slippery. I ALMOST FELL FLAT ON MY ASS but I used my ninja skills to escape injury! By now the sound of the falls is incredibly loud its just magic. As you gaze up at the peak of the falls you can't help but feel small in comparison, more so than when looking at a skyscraper because you know that this was formed over thousands of years instead of a handful.

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Fitting the the entire fall into one shot proved difficult even for my wide angle 18mm lens.

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It was well into the afternoon at this stage and as the sun sank lower in the sky we yearned for a warm shower and to curl up in bed, it was a Sunday after all. So we took a few final pictures and made our way back up the stairs, which was considerably more effort than coming down. Once at the top we had a final look out over the valley, content with another wonderful weekend adventure.

Hope you enjoyed following along in our journey!

Peace!

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Thanks for the journey 😊

The pleasure is all mine! I hope you join me on many more to come 😊

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