Recently, a conversation between Mick and one of his bowling mates included his mate asking Mick if he has visited the waterfall near Orange? No, what waterfall? Orange is just up the road, but we didn’t know of it. That was definitely something to put on the agenda for future reference.
On Monday we had to pop up to Orange and had the afternoon free. It was the perfect time to find this waterfall. It turns out that it is on the Ophir Road, which we have travelled many times.
There was a car park just beside the road and a 400 metre walk to the waterfall through pretty open woodland.
We were blessed with a lovely sunny afternoon and a pleasant temperature. Perfect for a nice and easy stroll.
There were just a few little wildflowers along the way.
We knew we must be getting close when we started to see rocky outcrops.
The waterfall is located on Spring Hill Creek and was well worth the visit. It isn’t just one drop, rather a cascade.
So very pretty.
After our visit we decided to continue on home via Ophir. You end up on gravel road and fairly steep and windy in places.
There is a peaceful camping and picnic area where you cross the creek.
Ophir is where the Australian gold rush started in 1851, when Henry Hargreaves discovered some gold, while noticing that the landscape was quite similar to that of the Californian goldfields he had been. (Apparently, others had already found some, but had kept it quiet.)
There isn’t much evidence of the settlement now, but is a popular camping spot.
We continued on our way home on quiet roads. We only met two cars for the whole way.
The Macquarie River is looking lovely at Milkers Flat, as we neared Bathurst.
The afternoon’s detour hadn’t been planned, but was so much nicer than just driving back down the highway.
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