A relatively accessible canyon in a tributary system of Bungleboori Creek, the Ethereal Canyon loop is accurately and succinctly described by Michael Keats and Brian Fox as “a short but enchanting walk”. While offering some idyllic swimming holes and waterfalls, Ethereal Canyon doesn’t involve any (compulsory) swims, so it’s equally good for a hot day, or a cooler day. (A Guide to the Easy Canyons Around Sydney has more non-technical canyons.)
The Ethereal Canyon bushwalk starts from Eastern Boundary Road, a firetrail off Waratah Ridge Road in the Gardens of Stone Conservation Area (formerly Newnes State Forest). Our small group of five – Heidi, Helen, Susan, me and our leader Anton – head into the forest towards the creek from the firetrail.
It’s a short walk down the side of the fairly steep valley, negotiating a route around a low cliff-line and through some thick scrub. (You could also start a little further upstream where Eastern Boundary Road crosses the creek at a rough ford – but the creek here is described as “an unpleasant mix of strappy, prickly and skin tearing flora species” – making our approach preferable.)
We’re soon in the creek, which is surrounded by impressive ferns and some dense undergrowth – but the creek itself is mostly obstacle-free, and easy walking.
Most of the time it’s easier to stay in the water, but a few deeper pools are avoided by pushing through the ferns along the side of the creek. Or on a warmer day, a short swim would get you across the occasional small but deep pools.
The walls surrounding the creek gradually get higher and the landscape more dramatic.
The first obstruction is a small waterfall, which drops into a narrow but deep slot. A slightly awkward clamber onto a narrow ledge allows us to stay (mostly) dry.
We soon reach one of the most impressive sections of the walk: Ethereal Canyon, a 50m long tunnel through the sandstone bedrock carved out by the water.
Ethereal Canyon was described by Keats and Fox as “a cathedral like transept with light shafts falling onto several tiny areas, illuminating them as special objects in an otherwise dark and mysterious place”.
Even on an overcast morning and without the shafts of light, it’s an impressive sight. (While less dramatic on an overcast day, it’s in some ways preferable photographically speaking; the contrast between the sunlit rocks and shadows on a sunny day makes it difficult to capture good photos.)
On the other side of Ethereal Canyon is an enormous fern-filled clearing, surrounded by towering cliffs.
From the narrow Ethereal Canyon, we continue under an enormous overhang…
…which soon becomes a wide ledge with a low ceiling, which we clamber along cautiously to avoid another deep pool below a small waterfall.
As we re-enter the creek, there’s a rock completely covered in Acrocarpous moss, a type of moss in which the reproductive structures (such as the sporophytes) grow upright from the tips of the shoots.
It’s then back into the creek, which is very pleasant walking with the water never more than knee-deep.
Although this section isn’t canyon-like, there are tall cliffs overhead and towering Coachwood trees and ferns shade the creek.
The creek enters another semi-canyon, where the sandstone walls get closer again to form another picturesque spot.
There is soon another another undercut cliff, and more beautiful sections of creek.
As the valley opens up a little, the creek disappears under large boulders; the tall cliffs on the western side provide a dry spot for a break. (The 1:25K topo maps omit many of the cliffs in this area.)
To avoid the constriction in the creek, we head higher up the cliffs on the western side of the creek…
…and then find a route down the steep slope back to our creek.
On the other side of the constriction which we’ve just walked around is a short section of canyon, with the walls barely a metre apart and covered in ferns. (An optional short swim takes you to a waterfall, which is far as you can go.)
A short detour up a side creek takes us to another waterfall.
This is as spectacular as Ethereal Canyon: a deep and clear pool in front of a small cascade, which tumbles from between the moss-covered rocks.
A scramble up the left-hand side of the pool provides an aerial view of the pool; you can exit via this creek to complete a shorter loop (and avoid some firetrail-walking) – but we have a few more sights to visit!
Backtracking a little along the side-creek, we continue along the main creek, which continues to delight with small cascades, enormous ferns and moss-covered rocks.
The topographic map shows cliffs on one side of the creek only, but there are steep walls on both sides of the creek.
At one point the walls close in, forming a cathedral-like chamber; you can clamber over the rocks in the middle… or crawl through one of the narrow gap on both sides of the boulders.
Beyond the cathedral is large and very picturesque, which glows in the early afternoon sun.
The valley eventually starts to open up, as our creek flows into a larger (unnamed creek).
Sadly, we leave our creek behind, and begin our exit via a smaller creek, which has only a trickle of water.
The last unexpected surprise is Midsummer Nights Grotto; unexpected as the last thing you’d expect after the fairly open valley is this dark and narrow cavern along the creek, which gets no direct sunlight light even in the middle of the day. It was named by Hugh Speirs in 2014, who saw in the rocks: “the shapes of two animals facing slightly away from us; on the left, a ram (or a lion; a unicorn perhaps?) nuzzles gently against another on the right. Wild imagination, true! but it made me think of the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. After decent rain, a small waterfall drops into the deep pool.
This is almost the end our Ethereal Canyon walk, as we head up the valley past small pagodas and low cliffs.
It’s not quite the end though… once we reach the top of the valley, multiple pagodas offer sweeping views back over the Gardens of Stone.
The elevated pagodas are easily climbed – there are a few to choose from – and provide a great view over both the rugged landscape, and the narrow valley we have just emerged from.
From the pagodas, an old timber logging track follows the ridge we are on, back to the firetrail where we left our car.
The entire Ethereal Canyon loop is about 7km in length, although the actual distance walked will be more like 10-12km due to the rough terrain. We took seven hours with many photo stops and a few breaks; you could complete the loop in about 5 hours, but you need to allow time for route-finding and negotiating the many obstacles.
Getting to Ethereal Canyon
Altough the Gardens of Stone / Newnes State Forest is a complicated warren of roads and firetrails, it’s fairly easy to get to the trailhead for the Ethereal Canyon route. It’s about 19km (35min drive) from Zig the Zag Railway carpark at Clarence, and about 150km (2:30min drive) from Sydney.
From the Zig Zag Railway, take the Old Bells Line of Road for 9km, then turn right onto the Glow Worm Tunnel Road. After 5.1km turn right onto the Waratah Ridge Trail. After another 3.6km, turn right onto the Eastern Boundary Road – you can park near the start of this firetrail (-33.40003, 150.26391) or continue 1.9km to -33.396920, 150.273430 to the start of the walk into the creek. All the roads are unsealed but are usually suitable for any vehicle; the last 2km along the Eastern Boundary Road is very rocky and a 4WD or a vehicle with some clearance is recommended.
More information
This bushwalk was first documented by MIchael Keats and Brian Fox in The Gardens of Stone and beyond: Book 4 (although the route taken was slightly different to the one we took):
- 4:10A Ethereal Canyon and Bungleboori Creek
- 4:10B Ethereal Canyon
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