A pretty set of freshwater swimming holes can be found just a short walk away from Swans Crossing Campground, close to both Taree and Port Macquarie. There are a couple of relatively well known spots which might get a little busy during peak periods, but our personal favourite was a larger pool that nobody seemed to go to!
The water is a dark blue/grey and there’s a picturesque gorge wall, However, it’s only when you swim out into the pool that you can see round the corner and it’s this view that made it really special. The forest canopy soars high in the sky and the dense foliage has real jungly vibes.
Blue gums contrast with the greens and the result is a view to remember. The fact you can’t see it from the walking track, or until you’ve swum a little way out into the pool makes it feel like you’ve been let into a secret.
Here’s the full low down on all the pools.
The Swans Crossing Swimming Holes
Pool number one: The Cascades
Walk length: 700m each way
Elevation gain: 20m
Difficulty: Easy
The Cascades is the pool we came for originally, but it actually ended up being my least favourite. However, since this is the most well known spot I am going to start with it.
The walk to reach the cascades begins just before (or after depending on which direction you have come from) the small bridge, which you can see on Google maps here.
It’s signposted, but relatively discreet if you weren’t keeping an eye out for it.
You’ll head up a couple of stairs before the path flattens and remains so all the way to the cascades. The forest here is just gorgeous and provides lots of shade on a hot day.
You’re always fairly close to the river and it’s a really peaceful walk. You’ll arrive at a bench seat after 600m and 75m later you will see some steps leading down to the water’s edge.
You’ll reach the rock shelf beside the cascades after 35m, or 710m from the car park.
The cascades are very pretty and would be even more so after some recent rainfall. It’s a serene spot to sit and relax beside the water.
I did swim here but honestly it’s not the best. Other people seemed to love it, so this is just my opinion, but it had quite a few things I wasn’t a big fan of.
Firstly, it’s quite shallow and there are plenty of rocks inside the water making swimming a challenge.
It also has a muddy leaf litter strewn bottom and as it’s not deep enough to swim much so your feet constantly kick up the mud and make the water dirty.
Maybe I’m just fussy as the family that came after us were wooping with joy a lot of the time : )
Pool two: the jungle pool
Pool two is just above the cascades, but nobody seems to go here. It’s literally 50m back along the trail, but there’s no path down to it and I think people breeze past as it’s just before their destination.
I guess maybe it also looks like just another stretch of river, but the rock wall and view sets it apart. It also doesn’t suffer from debris and leaf litter like the earlier part of the river does (or at least did on our visit).
Though there is no path to the water’s edge, you can easily climb a few steps down the river bank and enter via the stable rocks.
When you step down into the water there are a couple of muddy rocks to get over but then it’s a long deep pool which you can actually swim in, unlike the cascades.
It no doubt has the same muddy bottom, but as you can’t touch the bottom that doesn’t really matter!
I loved the gorge wall, but it was that towering forest view that really blew me away. I didn’t dare take a picture incase I dropped my phone, but essentially it’s a big jungly forest interspersed with blue gums.
It’s the kind of view I love and reminded me of places like Barrington Tops, but it was right here hiding in the Kerewong State Forest.
Pool three: the campground gorge pool
Walk length: one minute (20m)
The campground pool is pretty fantastic and I couldn’t believe no one was there on a 30C Saturday in December!
I imagine in the school holidays it gets busy, but otherwise it’s just a few steps away from the southern side of the campground.
Continue driving until the road curves right, at this point the trail is on your left and there are manicured steps leading down to the water’s edge.
Unlike the first two pools, you don’t need to make your way over any muddy rocks to enter the water, so it’s an all round winner if it isn’t too busy.
The pool has sections deep enough to swim and a particularly nice gorge wall.
The Gorge Walk
The Gorge Walk departs from the campground, a little to the right of the steps down to the water (you don’t go down the steps and the walk is signposted).
The trail is easy to follow apart from one bit very early on when you need to keep left, following the more obvious track slightly uphill leads to another part of the campsite.
The walk follows the water for around 1km before it gets quite overgrown and this is where we turned around. The track up to this point is pretty good and looks to have been upgraded after a weather event damaged it.
The forest is beautiful and there are various points you can access the water. Oftentimes there are many boulders in the potential pools, so none we found were great for swimming, but you could definitely have a secluded plunge.
One of the easiest points to get down to the river is at the 500m mark, beside a bench seat. There’s a worn trail leading to the water and it’s a pretty spot.
The trail is often quite high above the river, but you’ll see many points where you could access the water fairly easily.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the area, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
The Swans Crossing Campground
The Swans Crossing Campground has a huge grassy lawn at its centre, as well as toilets, picnic areas and BBQs. It’s inside the state forest and therefore free of charge.
It was very quiet on our visit, but I did notice there were some additional camping areas to the left and right of the main site, so if it was busy you could have a look there too. However, the nicest area is the main campground and that’s obviously closer to the facilities too.
Make sure you keep your food well secured because there are goannas everywhere!
Getting to the Swans Crossing Campground
Whichever route you choose to access the campground it will involve driving for some time on an unsealed road, but at time of writing and during dry weather, it’s fine for any car.
The campground is located in the Kerewong State Forest, you can see it on Google maps here. We accessed it from the west via the Kerwong Road which involved driving for 13km on an unsealed, but very well maintained road. I think the route from the east via the Upsalls Creek Road has less driving on an unsealed road required.
It’s around an hour’s drive from both Port Macquarie and Taree.
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