Somersby Falls picnic area — Attraction in Somersby

Somersby falls picnic area is a great place to spend some two or three odd hours of quality time with friends and family. Around an hour journey from blacktown, the place offers an amazing breakout opportunity from the stressful core of the city life to into the laps of quite and peaceful natural beauty of the Brisbane water national park. The site is well maintained and not at all crowded. I visited the place on a Saturday afternoon and was surprised to see only me and few other folks around. The site has around 10 car parking spots and clean and well maintained toilets . Right next to the parking are the picnic areas with picnic benches placed in the shady spots.

The falls which are in two stages (middle and bottom falls) are fewer steps down from the picnic area. The middle falls is just amazing and views are breathtaking. Lots of photo opportunity here. I was able to hear few birds around but the ambience was filled with the noisy water fall which appeared as excited.

Further down are the bottom walls which for me appeared as a different world altogether. Fallen logs, rock formation and the green algae on the rocks simply time traveled me to the...

Try to beat the crowds by going there early and score free street parking, as the park's car park is on the small side and fees apply... The Picnic grounds are of good size and the public bathroom block was surprisingly clean. There is no kiosk or cafe there so would take plenty of water and some snacks too. There are stairs down to the main falls where many people stop their adventure as it suits all ages, but if you are up to it you can take a small trail down along the river to see more beautiful waterfalls but would insure you wear closed shoes for that part of the path.

Tips for photographers: The falls can get quite crowded later in the day, especially on warmer days which makes it near impossible to take nice "nature pictures' so if you can't plan your trip on a weekday try to get there super early and don't stop at the 1st or 2nd waterfall as the further down you follow the river the quieter it gets because it is harder to access the lower 3rd waterfall which is quite stunning, I wish i had taken my tripod and Canon as the pics would look amazing with slow...

Absolutely wonderful little gem, about 20 mins outside of Gosford CBD. The parking is a little limited when its busy, but the view is well worth it. Its the kind of place you'd miss if you weren't looking, as it's not signposted a whole lot. It's not ideal for those with ambulant issues, since everything besides the car park requires stairs, however the first viewing area can be reached easily if you're able to go down 5 or so wide stairs and walk about 50m. Given its a watercourse area, the waterfalls are very dependent on rain, so it's best to pick a time after the are has had a bit of a wet.

The second viewing area for the falls themselves is down quite a few stairs (listed as a grade 3 climb) and while most of them are well kept and plenty wide, there aren't railings in a lot of places, and some of the stairs can be wet, muddy and a little slippery, so make sure you've got...