Govett’s Leap

The final Blue Mountains waterfall I’ll feature on Waterfall Wednesday is Govett’s Leap Falls. It’s a 180m single-drop that falls over Taylor Wall into the Grose Valley on the far side of the main plateau from the other waterfalls in the area.

It’s a pretty enough waterfall, though it often has little water and in times of drought dries up completely. However, waterfall or no, the viewpoint is worth a visit. The superb Blue Mountains Heritage Centre is on the road to Govett’s Leap, and after you’ve visited the centre you can spend hours at the viewpoint watching the glorious vista change before your eyes, depending on the angle of the sun, the quality of the light and the season of the year.

The first time I visited the viewpoint, on a bright afternoon, the fall was barely flowing. I did not venture down the trail to the base of the falls, believing I would return another day. A mistake.

I returned to the viewpoint a year or so later on an overcast day to discover the trail closed and the area swarming with police. That afternoon I learned about the rather sad history of Govett’s Leap. A person had jumped to their death earlier in the day and police were searching for the body, rappelling/abseiling down the side of the cliff. Talking with them, I found an interesting mix of compassion and anger. Some bemoaned the person-hours involved in this work, while others found it in themselves to empathise.

And yes, I took a couple of photos, because the water was flowing and the light was so bewitchingly different. But I’ve never been to the base of the falls.