A tale of two plateaus....

[puredingo]

Not too long ago my well worn Salomon shoes had finally given up on me. So for my birthday my ever thoughtful and long suffering partner had surprised me with the same shoe but in boot form, so I immediately went about scheduling a walk that will put these new beauties to the test, meaning all terrains and some stretches of significance distance....this would be Salomon#2 initiation to hopefully it’s predecessors tireless standard. Big boots to fill.

It was about mid morning when I turned into the Greta Rd and parked up for the first part of this walk. It’s an easy amble along the Ettrema tops and evident that this place must have went up like the proverbial tinder box. Absolutely scorched! Roughly 10 klms along the track I came to the Jones Creek fork, you definitely need to pay attention here either count Kilometres or understand the topography because the track itself is nothing more than faint tyre ruts and the head of these has a clump of scrub disguising the start. I follow this track which essentially sidles the creek on its Eastern flank for a few more kilometres before seeing that the sides of the creek were on their way to becoming real cliff so found a entry place and dropped on in to the creek.

Making good time down this spectacular creek with its crystal clear waters with great flow I could see Thompson walls off in the distance. These walls shadowed my intended camp site for the night of Jones Cr and Ettrema Cr junction...But these walls weren’t all that far away and I was still really high up? Something had to give, and it did. Waterfall.

And what a waterfall! An awesome sight to behold, spilling water down a great height at a thunderous rate it was breathtaking and quite nerve testing to stand at the edge of and marvel. But I had to keep moving and get around this beautiful brute that barred my progress, the eastern walls were out of the question with pure vertical stone faces, and even the west, although furnished with some vegetation under the sandstone tops looked hit and miss...and if you missed, well, the consequences are unquestionably final. One thing for it! I surmised back up the creek a way then up a side crick to gain access the Western plateau.

Here I followed the plateau out to its head then dropped off the western rim before tracking back around under its nose to the North and following a steep and eastward bending ridge down to the confluence of both creeks. Note that midway down this ridge you hit a rocky outcrop, this part was spared from the fires and it seems for a moment you will be halted. Drop off to the east and it goes...trust me. Down at the destination camp spot it was still early enough to keep going but the new boots had done there stuff for the day and light was even beginning to throw long shadows at only 1 pm so I called it early and settled in for a calm and serene night.

Next morning up and at it and cruising at a leisurely rate made my way to the foot of transportation spur. Here I watered myself heavily and made sure I had enough of that oh-so drinkable water on board for the steep haul up and across the top to the Tolwong Rd. Up I went and steep it was, glancing back occasionally to lose myself in the always glorious and sometimes somewhat intimidating views of the Ettrema valleys. After some hunting around I found the pass that allowed me my passage up and onto Pardon Pt. Up on top it was an easy go across country and before long I had hit the Tolwong Rd. From here it was time to put the new boots through the arduous paces of the dreaded road bash Ouch!! Humped it along until Bullfrog creek was reached at the site of the “jumps”, found water, made camp and Bang...man down!

Next morning was much of the same, fire trail to the Tolwong Rd and Braidwood Rd intersection and then along the blacktop to the car...and peeled the new boots off my VERY weary feet. All in all a good little reintroduction after a long spell and perfect to back out amongst it.

[michael_p]

Thanks Mr Dingo. Sounds like a good trip.

[kanangra]

Say that again it sounds great. A real adventure.

K

[clarence]

In the days of the silver mine, there were ladders in the cliff on the E side, with a flying fox as well. Up until the 70s/80s, there was still a track that could be followed to the base of the falls from the cliffs under the flying fox.

In the 70s a chap named Doyle from Wollongong (who had the mine lease) had a caravan in the scrub on the south of Jones Creek on the plateau. He would drive his 2wd car out there along the track.

When we descended Jones Creek, we abseiled the W side of Tinga Falls using a few intermediate ledges. It is about 60m all up.

A spectacular wild waterfall indeed.

John Murray has heaps of photos and stories from multiple trips into the area- including a crossing of the gorge (Yalwal to Tallong) soon after Paddy Pallin in 1957.

Clarence

[kanangra]

Didn't happen to take any photos did you?

K

[KateRock]

I did a hike from Gretas road to the top of Jones creek overlooking Ettrema Gorge. This was after the fires and to my surprise the wooden ladders down the cliff were still in place. They look so hectic cant believe this is how they used to get down. For anyone interested I made a video of the area (i'm trying to capture the fire impacts) the ladders are at about the 11:35minute mark. https://youtu.be/JoNNj4nfFVc

[Huntsman247]

Those ladders look like a good way to test out a plb... Are they still solid?

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

I did a hike from Gretas road to the top of Jones creek overlooking Ettrema Gorge. This was after the fires and to my surprise the wooden ladders down the cliff were still in place. They look so hectic cant believe this is how they used to get down. For anyone interested I made a video of the area (i'm trying to capture the fire impacts) the ladders are at about the 11:35minute mark. https://youtu.be/JoNNj4nfFVc

I've previously wondered about mtb'ing that trail as a day trip. Is it ridable all the way to the top of Jones ck or would I need to stash the bike and walk some (and if so how far roughly?)?

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[puredingo]

From the Greta CP to the Jones Ck you could ride no problem. I wouldn’t bother to ride the track out to the ladders though, mostly over grown and now with those annoying 6 inch stumps sticking out the ground left from the fires. Too many steps if you tried to stick to the ledges above the creek and the track above the feeder creeks has collapsed....you would be pushing a lot.

Stashing a bike could also be a hassle, pretty sparse for scrub...maybe down in the creek itself

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

From the Greta CP to the Jones Ck you could ride no problem. I wouldn’t bother to ride the track out to the ladders though, mostly over grown and now with those annoying 6 inch stumps sticking out the ground left from the fires. Too many steps if you tried to stick to the ledges above the creek and the track above the feeder creeks has collapsed....you would be pushing a lot.

Stashing a bike could also be a hassle, pretty sparse for scrub...maybe down in the creek itself

Perfect thanks

[KateRock]

Those ladders look like a good way to test out a plb... Are they still solid?

Heck no i wasn't going anywhere near them. But I wouldn't have gone near them before the fires - i guess for what they are they are solid but just looking at them gave me vertigo

[tom_brennan]

Does anyone know if it's Tinga Falls or Tingha Falls?

Clarence says Tinga above, but Tingha in this thread (https://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=30315).

My own website (!) says Tinga, but I have no idea where I got this from! Presumably a book (or possibly web reference) back in 2005.

The Peter Prineas book Wild Places says Tingha.

And those are the only references I can find for what is a fairly significant waterfall!!

Just thought I'd see if the collective wisdom of the crowd had any further pointers.

[puredingo]

I always trusted in Prineas and went with the added “H”...but I did notice Clarence had it without and he hasn’t led me astray before, so, yeah...dunno?

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Lol for some reason I thought it was Tingga with 2 'g's. No doubt incorrectly. It's a magic place either way.

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[Allchin09]

I've had a quick look through old parish maps and plans - no name listed on any. I then had a look at mining plans and found some from the 60s which covered the spot. Again, the waterfall is marked by no name given. My guess is the name is a more recent than that.

Interestingly, there is a foot track marked running from a cave on Jones Creek below the falls to near another cave to the SE on the plateau above. Not sure what the purpose was. Is there access through the cliffs here? Or were they exploring the base of the cliff.

https://search.geoscience.nsw.gov.au/ap ... canned.pdf

Extract of plan showing mining lease on Jones Creek and foot track

[tom_brennan]

Interestingly, there is a foot track marked running from a cave on Jones Creek below the falls to near another cave to the SE on the plateau above. Not sure what the purpose was. Is there access through the cliffs here? Or were they exploring the base of the cliff.

Yep, there were ladders through the cliffs, not far from the track in the plan.

See KateRock's video, and Clarence's comment.

[puredingo]

I read a report on the area from about the 1950s written by a person I would describe as an expert on all things Ettrema and in this report it is simply referred to as “the falls”...so a relatively new name I image and the spelling is anybody’s guess?