Slightly over 1 hour away from Tweed Heads, sits a less known National Park, called the Nightcap National Park. I felt like being in another world there, even though it's only a short driving distance away from busy cities. There are several amazing waterfalls within the national park, Minyon Falls being one of them. Surrounded by hybrid forests, the misty fall plummets a hundred meters down the golden glazed canyon wall and continues deep down to the jungle. The other famous fall is the Protestors' Fall, which got its name from the protest which had this pristine forest protected as a national park in the 1970s. What a triumph!
If you feel like the driving distance is a bit long, I recommend you either base yourself in Tweed Heads or Byron Bay for the night. Byron Bay is a much closer option for you compared to Tweed Heads.
Killen Falls is not a part of the Nightcap National Park, however, it is only 45 minutes south from Minyon Falls. This amazing rock pool with shady areas is a great place for you to cool down from the summer heat. You can also swim in the rock pool once you reach the bottom of Minyon Falls, but there is no shade. I do recommend visiting Minyon Falls after there has been a period of rainfalls though, as it would be just a dry canyon wall otherwise.
I would recommend to get to Minyon Falls around 8 or 8.30 in the morning, as the small car park tends to get really busy during the day. If you search Minyon Falls Lookout on google maps, it should take you directly to the car park. Otherwise, search for Minyon Loop Road Whian Whian NSW. The last 2km of the road is gravel, but it is fine for conventional vehicles. Once you parked your car, you will be able to see an information notice board, head towards it and the track to the Minyon Falls Lookout platform starts right next to it.
The track to the lookout is a broad walk, and Minyon Falls Loop Track start on the right hand side (when you are facing the waterfall), and you will see a toilet to your right where the board walk ends. There is no other toilet facility beyond this point, so do be prepared. As usual, wear sun screen, mozzie spray, hat and bring at least 1.5L of water. The total track is abour 9km return if you walk down and come back the same way. You can also walk to Minyon Grass once you come back to the track from the base of the fall. It is 2km walk to Minyon Grass, however, to get back to where your car is parked, you will need to walk on the gravel road for about maybe 3-4km with cars driving pass you.
The entire track is sign marked, with the first half of the walk sign posted, however, once you go down to the gully, be sure to follow the neon markers along the worn track, especially through the palm tree groves. The track runs along the canyon ridges for the first half of it and then it turns sharp left and starts to head down towards the gully. There isn't much shade for the first half of the track, and it is hot being in an exposed forest, so be sure to bring a hat and wear sun protection. At the half way point, you will see a metal plaque and a road branching off, follow the road to your left to continue on Minyon Loop Track. It is an easy to moderate walk going down up to the final stretch of the track, where it gets a little harder as you rock hop and scramble to reach the base of the fall. Once again, follow the trail markers, there is a small creek crossing before the final rock hop starts, you will see an orange marker on the tree at the opposite side of the creek, rock hop towards that and this is the starting point of the final bit. This is where you will find the track splits, one to the left head towards the fall and the other one head towards Minyon Grass. Remember this on your way back, that you will need to walk left at the split if heading to Minyon Grass.
The ancient giant trees will greet you throughout your hike, and will be accompanied by lots of 'wow' and 'ohh' from you of course! Be sure to take in the full charisma of the tree in below photo, don't miss out! I just realised that I don't know what type of a tree this is, which is a shame really. Let me know if you do.
You won't regret doing the final scramble, as the full size of the fall jumps in front of your eyes. Do take care though, as the gap between the rocks are deep.
It had just rained the night before, so the fall was flowing. It gets thin and misty as it wasn't flowing heavily, which combined with the wind that day, was simply perfect. It was dancing with the wind as it free falls onto the rock bed and flows into the pool at its base, and you can clearly see a rainbow across the fall from the lookout at the top, as the sun rays hit the mist. You can head down to the pool at the base of the fall and enjoy the water.
Where one comes down, one must go back up! Luckily, the roads mostly just winds through until it comes back on top of the ridge. Once it does, it continues up and down following the ridge line, which makes the walking back up a lot easier. I lingered around the lookout, once I've walked back to the top of the fall, to take in the entire scenery for one last time, before heading to my car.
You can do both this and Killen Falls in one day, but would be better to stay overnight instead of driving the long distance back to Brisbane. Search Killen Falls NSW or Killen Falls Drive, Tintenbar NSW in google maps, and it will direct you there. Once you reach the end of Killen Falls Drive, you will see the carpark. Once you've parked your car, walk down and pass the information board, and onto a bit of a dirt road and facing away from where you walked down, you should be able to see the track starting to your right.
The first part of the track is quite flat and you will reach a lookout which sits directly on top of the fall, and if you look down, you will see people swiming around in the pool at the base of the fall. Turn back onto the track and continue to your left, the track starts to get steep, and once you reach the bottom and onto the rive beds, you will need to follow this creek bed to your left and up stream (mostly dry), and after a short walk/rock hop, the fall will be revealed to you. The area around the creek beds are shady and you can also go into the cave under the fall, and swim around with the waterfall running down on you.
Please be aware of the sensitivity of the environment that you are in, and leave no rubbish behind, as any introduction of foreign substances could have a devastating impact to the native environment, for example, fruit seeds etc.
There are so many places like these that are awaiting your exploration, have a great day outdoors wherever that may be!
