In a national park full of glorious wild swimming spots, Kangaroo Pool stands out. A gorgeous waterfall cascades into a crystal clear swimming hole and the surrounding rock walls give it NT vibes. It really is a little patch of paradise.
It’s one of those places that almost looks too perfect to be real. The walk to get there is not on a marked path, but it’s surprisingly easy. You will likely get a few scratches as it’s a little overgrown, but it’s a small price to pay for the chance to spend time here.
Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Kangaroo Pool.
Keep them wild
Always remember that these places are only paradise if we look after them. I know the vast majority of people reading this would never dream of littering or disrespecting a place, but I am writing this as a reminder nonetheless.
Please take all rubbish with you and keep the pool pristine. We should always leave every wild place exactly how we want to find it and I highly doubt anyone wants to rock up to an incredible wild swimming spot and find litter.
There are no facilities at the pool or along the track. You’ll find toilets at the train station where this walk begins and ends.
The walk along Kangaroo Creek to Kangaroo Pool
The stats
Distance: 5km return
Elevation gain: 130m
Difficulty: Easy, but overgrown
As mentioned above, the track along Kangaroo Creek is not maintained and is overgrown in places. Unless you get lucky you’re likely to pick up a few scratches. Otherwise, the trail is pretty easy, with very little uphill walking required.
The path does get waterlogged after heavy rain and the creek can also lose it’s brilliant colour, so it’s worth saving it for a dry day (and avoiding visiting too soon after rain as the water can remain discoloured for some time).
You’ll notice that water is different colours throughout the photos in this guide and that’s because they are taken over four separate visits.
Starting the trail at Waterfall Station
The walk begins at the car park at Waterfall Train Station, which has a free car park if you’re not planning on taking the train. You’ll see a set of stairs leading downhill on the left side of the car park, and a signpost for the Uloola Track - which is another fab walk to a waterfall and swimming hole.
You’ll head down the staircase and along a flat narrow bush track. After 100m you’ll see a trail leading into the bush on your left (you’ll already have passed one left hand turn before this). The coordinates for the turn you need to make are: -34.1353612, 150.9966305.
Head down this path, which is where the track becomes unmaintained. Despite this, it’s easy to follow and the descent is very gradual.
After 150m on this track you’ll come to a junction and you want to head right.
Through the bush
The track continues gently downhill for another 350m, before it steepens and becomes rocky. Some sections of the trail are eroded and have formed little gullies, but nothing that’s difficult to walk on.
This slightly rougher patch doesn’t last long though and you’ll soon come to a small creek crossing.
Even after a lot of rain, it’s easy to cross as there’s a big boulder you can use. Most of the time the water level is very low and you can walk straight through it without getting wet boots.
From here the path flattens, becoming rather overgrown about 350m later. This first overgrown section only lasts a minute, but there’s a second longer (100m) overgrown patch just beyond it.
Roughly 580m after crossing the creek (and 1.3km into the walk) you’ll arrive at a large rock platform.
After rain there are several waterfalls here, but ideally you don’t want them to be too powerful or it will mean the pools are in flood - talking from experience here!
It is tempting to descend at this point and rejoin the creek, but don’t. The first time we visited we began climbing down the rocks beside the rock platform and whilst you can get there this way, it’s much harder and involves negotiating a large pile of debris.
Keep on the rock platform, crossing over the very shallow water and looking for the trail directly opposite.
Once you have crossed over the rock platform, take an almost immediate right up the worn path which joins another obvious trail.
Onto the first swimming hole
Surprise! There’s actually more than one swimming hole along this track! The first one is also beautiful, although not as spectacular as Kangaroo Pool. It’s just 100m on from the rock platform.
At the 1.4km mark you’ll see a trail leading downhill to the left - the co-ordinates for this turn are -34.1264307, 151.0035837. This is the route down to pool one, which is just 30m away. The path down is rocky, but grippy when dry.
This pool is gorgeous with a lovely set of cascades running into it. You need to climb down a few rocks to reach the tiny little piece of sand which is your easiest access into the water.
It’s very easy to get in and out of the pool and the water is clear and refreshing. Much of the pool is shallow, but it’s good for lazing around in, though make sure you save the most time for Kangaroo Pool which is on another level.
Onto Kangaroo Pool
After visiting the first pool you head back the way you came, up onto the main path. From here the track continues in much the same vein as the first part of the walk.
It’s partially overgrown at points and has the odd rocky section, but is predominantly a good trail. The path is always clear underfoot, the scratchiness is more at the arm and head level.
There are flat sections and you’ll also do some more descending. As with the first part of the walk the bush is quite dense, so it’s a nice shady trail.
At just over 2.1km into the walk you will reach the creek. From here there is a little bit of rock hopping, but it’s all large rocks or slabs, so nothing fiddly.
When dry it’s not slippery either. After 200m you will see the top of the waterfall that flows into Kangaroo Pool.
You can turn off the trail (it takes just a few seconds) and look down into the pool. It’s a stunning sight, but still won’t prepare you for what it’s like when you get there.
The track down to the pool is less obvious, but continues through the bush on the right side of the pool. It looks like you’re heading away from the pool and might feel incorrect, but it’s definitely the easiest way down.
After 100m, there will be a tree in the middle of the trail and at this point you’ll see a path on the left, which heads steeply downhill.
The co-ordinates for the turn to the pool are -34.1206087, 151.0107527. You’re now 50m from the falls.
This is the only part of the walk that was slippery for us as it has some loose soil.
Luckily there are a few trees to grab if you need a helping hand. You’ll then walk down a short rock slab and within 30 seconds you’ll be at the pool.
Swimming at Kangaroo Pool
The lovely thing about Kangaroo Pool (one of many!) is that it’s a great spot to relax even if you don’t want to swim. There is a large flat rock you can sit back and relax on, which you won’t find at the first pool.
It’s right at the water’s edge, which was perfect for us as we could still chat despite me being the only one swimming. It’s the little things!
The pool itself is nothing short of jaw-dropping. The water is clear and emerald green - the shade of green will depend on water levels, but it’s always beautiful (unless in flood).
The waterfall is actually pretty big and adds a soothing soundtrack to your dip. The way that the cliff walls and dense bush surround the pool give it an amphitheatre-like feel and it really is unbelievably special.
It’s really easy to get into the water as it’s shallow right by the rocks before deepening almost immediately. There were virtually no submerged rocks at all inside the pool, so swimming was really leisurely, it’s easily one of my favourites spots in Sydney.
We did notice that the pool goes into shadow in the afternoon, which is perfect for swimming, but the water loses some of its vivid colour, so if you want to see it as its most green come earlier in the day.
Heading back
The walk back does have a few uphill sections, but it’s never very steep and has plenty of flat track too. It’s all easy to follow apart from the bit along the creek just past the top of the pool and waterfall. It’s easy to lose the correct trail here, but you’ll quickly realise and right yourself.
Otherwise it’s a straightforward walk back to the car park which took us about 40 minutes.
Getting to the trailhead
The walk begins at the car park for Waterfall train station. On the train it takes about an hour from Central Station - just hop on the blue line (Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra line) in the southerly direction.
If you have a car, you can park at the train station for free, from Sydney CBD the journey will take around 50 minutes.
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