We’ve been on a mission to visit all of the waterfalls in Royal National Park and after a good bout of recent rain we decided to check out the little known Engadine Falls. We’ll be honest that we weren’t expecting too much, but what we found was a gorgeous waterfall in a secluded setting. We had it to ourselves on a sunny Saturday afternoon when the national park was absolutely jam packed!
If you visit after high rainfall you’ll be in for a treat, at any other time Engadine Falls is just a trickle and not really worth the effort. The waterfall is not signposted and does require a scramble to access, but we’ll cover all of that in the post.
Here’s everything you need to know about finding Engadine Falls.
The walk to Engadine Falls
The stats
Distance: 2.1km each way
Elevation gained: 115m
Difficulty: Moderate
The walk to the creek that flows into Engadine Falls (which doesn’t offer a view) is easy, but to reach the base requires a scramble. It’s not overly difficult, but it is rocky and has some loose soil. It’s also a touch slippery in places after rain and you need the rain in order to make the trip worthwhile.
The path is shared with cyclists, but we only saw one bike and there is plenty of room to keep your distance. The walk took us 45 minutes to get to the falls, but we probably spent 15 minutes on the scramble to ensure we didn’t slip! Once we knew the route, the scramble took only 5 minutes on the way back - but it’s easier going uphill too as there’s less slip risk!
Starting the trail: finding the top of the falls
The walk begins at Engadine train station, but if you prefer to drive there is plenty of free parking right by the station.
Take the bridge over the train tracks and follow the sign for Royal National Park. The bridge crosses the platforms and drops you down at a dirt track, head left, you’ll soon see a sign for the Engadine Track.
The trail will head into the bush on a narrow sandy path.
There are quite a few side trails along this track but we’ll note each turning. The sandy trail you start on will reach the first T-junction about 100m into the bush track. At this junction, turn left (as everyone’s stride is different our measurements may be slightly different to yours, but it should be close enough that you make all the right turnings).
The next is 880m into the walk and you keep straight (there are some tempting side trails, but ignore them). This part of the trail is all pretty much flat and very leisurely. The bush provides good shade from the sun too.
Once you’ve been walking for 1.3km the path starts to get a little rocky and begins descending. Keep going straight to continue on the track to the waterfall at this point.
At 1.4km you need to keep left, the path continues heading gently downhill, and gets wider and smoother.
At roughly the 1.7km mark you will see an obvious side trail to the right. It’s just over a little rocky hump and looks less manicured. You can see it in the photo below.
This is the start of the bush track to the falls.
Scrambling to the base of the falls
The bush track will take you to the creek which leads to the top of the falls within just a minute. You cross the creek (the creek flows under the rock, so no wet feet) and follow the obvious path directly ahead of you.
The trail gets a bit more scrubby but is still fairly obvious. It heads left and soon takes you between the two rocks you can see in the photo.
Keep following and you’ll see a little flag tied to the tree, the coordinates are: -34.0628490, 151.0295496 and you can find the spot on Google Maps by clicking here.
This is where rather than heading along the flat path across the clifftops, you begin making your descent. The entire descent is just 100m long.
To get to the falls, keep heading down and towards the sound of the water (it may sound obvious, but it’s tempting to take a path that traverses alongside the cliff - this is a lot more muddy and slippery).
You’ll head down some large rocky ledges and down a little dirt path before you can turn left to an overhang, which is just by the top of the falls (5m from the turnoff).
You can see the water through the trees. There is a way down here, but it’s harder than the one to the right before you take the turn off to the overhang.
The easier path follows a dirt trail covered in leaf litter (there are lots of trees to hold onto for stability although it’s not overly steep), it’s 50m to the base of the falls from here.
You then have a couple of big rocks to scramble down and one large one to side step over and then you’ll see the bottom of the falls. There are just a few more rocks to walk across and then you can relax!
The final rocks to walk over to the base of the falls
Engadine Falls
The waterfall is surrounded by giant boulders and dense bush, which gives it a really secluded feel. The falls are gorgeous after rain and tumble over large rocks at the base.
There is no pool for swimming, but you could definitely have a waterfall shower!
It’s more the kind of place to just sit and relax though and there are plenty of boulders to rest on.
It’s a wonderful peaceful spot and must be one of the least visited waterfalls in the park.
Once you’re ready, the scramble back up to the main trail is much easier as you feel more stable. Just watch out when you’re back on the main track that you keep an eye on all the turnings you need to make as it’s easy to stray onto the wrong trail.
Getting to Engadine Falls
As the walk begins at Engadine train station it’s an easy one to do by public transport. You can take a direct train from Sydney central station which takes 45 minutes.
It’s takes a similar amount of time to drive from the CBD, due to traffic.
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