Minyon Falls
Encyclopedia
Minyon Falls is a waterfall
in the Nightcap National Park
, New South Wales
, Australia
. Standing at over 100 metres (328.1 ft) high, this waterfall is a popular visitor attraction and is located within easy reach of the nearby town of Byron Bay.
The falls themselves are the result of the water of Repentance Creek flowing over the huge rhyolite
cliffs which were once part of the Tweed Volcano
. The water flow eroded
the underlying basalt
away to create the 100-metre waterfall. Nightcap National Park was added to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Site
in 1986.
forest with some very tall Blackbutt
, Tallowwood and Flooded gum
trees. Visitors to the falls regularly observe wildlife such as Lace Monitor
(goanna), Kookaburra
, Satin Bowerbird
, Noisy Pitta
, Eastern Yellow Robin
, Peregrine Falcon
, Bobuck Possum, Northern and Long-nosed Bandicoot
, Tawny Frogmouth
, Stoney Creek Frog
, Red-eyed Green Tree Frog
, Red-necked Pademelon
and Carpet Python
. There are also occasional Koala
and Potoroo
sightings.
The Minyon valley is a sub-tropical rainforest
, vegetation includes: Bangalow Palm, Brushbox
, Strangler Fig
, Stream Lily
, Walking Stick Palm
, Rusty Rose Walnut
, Blue Quandong
, Broad Leaved Palm Lily
, Tree Fern
, Red Lilly Pilly
, White Bark
, Birds Nest Fern, Stag Horn Fern, Brushbox Orchid and Native Wisteria vine. Regular wildlife sightings include; Noisy Pitta
, Eastern Yellow Robin
, Eastern Whipbird
, Wonga Pigeon
, White-headed Pigeon
, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo, Little Shrike-thrush
and Tree-creeper -there are occasional Potoroo
and Green Tree Snake
sightings. In wet weather conditions, visitors may be encounter leech
es.
manages the area as part of the Nightcap National Park, and provides facilities for visitors, including a 50m boardwalk to the lookout which is wheelchair accessible, several picnic tables and barbecue
facilities at the top of the falls. The National Parks and Wildlife Service do not permit camping in the Minyon Falls area, but a camping ground is provided 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the falls at Rummery Park.
Visitors are able to explore the bottom of the falls and the sub-tropical rainforest
along designated walking trails, all of which involve steep hills, with some scrambling
over wet rocks at the base of the falls. One trail follows a route 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from the top of the falls, across the ridge, near Quandong Falls, down into the valley to the bottom of the Minyon falls, it continues 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to Minyon Grass, then joins the road for 1.2 kilometre (0.745647283979768 mi) back to the falls car park to form a loop. A shorter, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) track runs from Minyon Grass to the bottom of the falls. Another walking trail in the area is the Boggy Creek Walk from the Rummery Park Campground to the top of the Falls (2 km/45mins each way).
and Lismore
make it a popular attraction, and the falls can be reached by car in approximately 45 minutes (1 hour from Ballina or Lismore). The falls can also be visited from the Gold Coast
, which is a 2-hour journey via the Pacific Highway
. The road to the falls is an unsealed road
and can be difficult at times to drive.
Various local tour companies offer trips to the Minyon Falls, including several of the Nimbin
Tour buses; the day walks are available to the bottom of the falls and night-time walks at the top of the falls.
Waterfall
A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...
in the Nightcap National Park
Nightcap National Park
Nightcap National Park is in New South Wales, Australia, 35 km north of Lismore. It is classed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas as Category II...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Standing at over 100 metres (328.1 ft) high, this waterfall is a popular visitor attraction and is located within easy reach of the nearby town of Byron Bay.
The falls themselves are the result of the water of Repentance Creek flowing over the huge rhyolite
Rhyolite
This page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
cliffs which were once part of the Tweed Volcano
Tweed Volcano
Tweed Volcano was an early Miocene shield volcano in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. In the course of about three million years, Tweed Volcano was formed over the East Australia hotspot when this part of the continent passed over it around 23 million years ago...
. The water flow eroded
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
the underlying basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
away to create the 100-metre waterfall. Nightcap National Park was added to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
in 1986.
Flora & fauna
The top of the falls is surrounded by wet sclerophyllSclerophyll
Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
forest with some very tall Blackbutt
Eucalyptus pilularis
Eucalyptus pilularis, commonly known as Blackbutt, is a common and dominant tree of the myrtaceae family native to southeastern Australia. A large tree, it is identified by the stocking of rough bark, to about half way up the trunk, above this is white smooth bark. The leaves are a uniform glossy...
, Tallowwood and Flooded gum
Eucalyptus grandis
Eucalyptus grandis, commonly known as the Flooded gum or Rose gum, is a tall tree with smooth bark, rough at the base fibrous or flaky, grey to grey-brown...
trees. Visitors to the falls regularly observe wildlife such as Lace Monitor
Lace monitor
The Lace Monitor, or Lace Goanna, Varanus varius, is a member of the monitor lizard family, Australian members of which are commonly known as goannas. It belongs to the subgenus Varanus....
(goanna), Kookaburra
Kookaburra
Kookaburras are terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea. They are large to very large, with a total length of . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, and is onomatopoeic of its call...
, Satin Bowerbird
Satin Bowerbird
The Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.A rare natural intergeneric hybrid between the Satin Bowerbird and the Regent Bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's Bowerbird.-Distribution:...
, Noisy Pitta
Noisy Pitta
The Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor, is a species of bird in the Pittidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.It eats earthworms, insects and snails....
, Eastern Yellow Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
The Eastern Yellow Robin is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the Eastern Yellow Robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown...
, Peregrine Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
, Bobuck Possum, Northern and Long-nosed Bandicoot
Bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia.- Etymology :...
, Tawny Frogmouth
Tawny Frogmouth
The Tawny Frogmouth is an Australian species of frogmouth, a type of bird found throughout the Australian mainland, Tasmania and southern New Guinea. The Tawny Frogmouth is often mistaken to be an owl...
, Stoney Creek Frog
Stoney Creek Frog
The Stoney Creek Frog, is a ground dwelling tree frog , found in Eastern Australia.-Physical description:...
, Red-eyed Green Tree Frog
Litoria chloris
Litoria chloris, also commonly known as the Red-eyed Tree Frog or Orange Eyed Tree Frog, is a species of tree frog native to eastern Australia; ranging from north of Sydney to Proserpine in mid-northern Queensland.-Description:...
, Red-necked Pademelon
Red-necked Pademelon
The Red-necked Pademelon is a forest-dwelling marsupial living in the eastern coastal region of Australia. Mainly nocturnal, the Red-necked Pademelon is very shy and generally inhabits temperate forests near grassland, hiding in the forests by day and emerging into the grasslands to graze in the...
and Carpet Python
Carpet python
Morelia spilota is a large snake of the Pythonidae family found in Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. There are 6 subspecies listed by ITIS, commonly referred to as Carpet and Diamond pythons.-Description:...
. There are also occasional Koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
and Potoroo
Long-nosed Potoroo
The Long-nosed Potoroo is a species of Australian potoroo. It is listed as Endangered in Victoria , Vulnerable in Queensland and nationally , although the IUCN lists it as Lower Risk.At first glance the Long-nosed Potoroo with its...
sightings.
The Minyon valley is a sub-tropical rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
, vegetation includes: Bangalow Palm, Brushbox
Lophostemon confertus
The Brush Box, Lophostemon confertus, is a tree native to Australia, though it can be found in the United States and elsewhere. Quite frequently, it has been planted as a street tree, due to its hearty nature, its disease and pest resilience, high tolerance for smog, drought and poor drainage, as...
, Strangler Fig
Strangler Fig
Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including among many other species:* Ficus aurea, also known as the Florida Strangler Fig...
, Stream Lily
Helmholtzia glaberrima
Helmholtzia glaberrima, commonly referred to as Stream Lily, is a rhizomatous perennial plant which is native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia....
, Walking Stick Palm
Linospadix monostachya
Linospadix monostachya known as the Walking Stick Palm is a small palm growing in rainforest understorey in eastern Australia. It usually grows to 2 or 3 metres tall....
, Rusty Rose Walnut
Endiandra hayesii
Endiandra hayesii is an Australian rainforest tree. Despite the common name of Rusty Rose Walnut, this tree is unrelated to northern hemisphere walnuts, and is a laurel. The former habitat is lowland sub tropical rainforest, most of which has been cleared...
, Blue Quandong
Elaeocarpus angustifolius
Elaeocarpus angustifolius is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family, bearing bitter edible fruit. It is commonly known as Blue Marble Tree, and also as Blue Fig or Blue Quandong, although it is not closely related to figs and apart from both being Eudicots hardly related at all...
, Broad Leaved Palm Lily
Cordyline petiolaris
Cordyline petiolaris, known as the Broad leaved Palm Lily is an evergreen Australian plant. A shrub to around 5 metres tall. Found in warm rainforest and moist eucalyptus forest. The range of natural distribution is from the Nambucca River to near Gladstone, Queensland.Leaves 30 to 80 cm long, and...
, Tree Fern
Dicksonia youngiae
Dicksonia youngiae, common name Bristly Tree Fern, is a fern that comes from cool, sheltered rainforests in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. It is found north of the Bellinger River, in New South Wales, and can be seen in the wild at Nightcap National Park.Similar to D. squarrosa, it...
, Red Lilly Pilly
Syzygium hodgkinsoniae
Syzygium hodgkinsoniae is a rare subtropical rainforest tree, growing on alluvial soils by streams in the north east New South Wales and south east Queensland, Australia. The range of natural distribution is from the Richmond River, New South Wales to Gympie in south east Queensland. Common names...
, White Bark
Endiandra compressa
Endiandra compressa, the White Bark is a rainforest tree growing in eastern Australia. The habitat is rainforest growing near streams in valleys. The range of natural distribution is from the Nambucca River, New South Wales to Iron Range National Park, in north Queensland.- Description :A tree...
, Birds Nest Fern, Stag Horn Fern, Brushbox Orchid and Native Wisteria vine. Regular wildlife sightings include; Noisy Pitta
Noisy Pitta
The Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor, is a species of bird in the Pittidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.It eats earthworms, insects and snails....
, Eastern Yellow Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
The Eastern Yellow Robin is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the Eastern Yellow Robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown...
, Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Whipbird
The Eastern Whipbird is an insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia, its whip-crack call a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is a dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white...
, Wonga Pigeon
Wonga Pigeon
The Wonga Pigeon Leucosarcia melanoleuca is a pigeon that inhabits areas in eastern Australia with its range being from Central Queensland to Gippsland, eastern Victoria, Australia....
, White-headed Pigeon
White-headed Pigeon
The White-headed Pigeon is a pigeon native to the east coast of Australia, belonging to the same genus as the domestic pigeon C. livia....
, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo, Little Shrike-thrush
Little Shrike-thrush
The Little Shrikethrush is a species of bird in the Colluricinclidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea....
and Tree-creeper -there are occasional Potoroo
Long-nosed Potoroo
The Long-nosed Potoroo is a species of Australian potoroo. It is listed as Endangered in Victoria , Vulnerable in Queensland and nationally , although the IUCN lists it as Lower Risk.At first glance the Long-nosed Potoroo with its...
and Green Tree Snake
Dendrelaphis punctulata
The common tree snake Dendrelaphis punctulata is a slender, large-eyed, non-venomous, diurnal snake of many parts of Australia, especially in the northern and eastern coastal areas, and into Papua New Guinea. , This common snake is harmless, readily recognised as it is an agile snake with a very...
sightings. In wet weather conditions, visitors may be encounter leech
Leech
Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
es.
Visitor facilities & trails
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
manages the area as part of the Nightcap National Park, and provides facilities for visitors, including a 50m boardwalk to the lookout which is wheelchair accessible, several picnic tables and barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
facilities at the top of the falls. The National Parks and Wildlife Service do not permit camping in the Minyon Falls area, but a camping ground is provided 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of the falls at Rummery Park.
Visitors are able to explore the bottom of the falls and the sub-tropical rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
along designated walking trails, all of which involve steep hills, with some scrambling
Scrambling
Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...
over wet rocks at the base of the falls. One trail follows a route 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) from the top of the falls, across the ridge, near Quandong Falls, down into the valley to the bottom of the Minyon falls, it continues 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to Minyon Grass, then joins the road for 1.2 kilometre (0.745647283979768 mi) back to the falls car park to form a loop. A shorter, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) track runs from Minyon Grass to the bottom of the falls. Another walking trail in the area is the Boggy Creek Walk from the Rummery Park Campground to the top of the Falls (2 km/45mins each way).
Access
Minyon Falls' proximity to towns such as Byron Bay, BallinaBallina, New South Wales
Ballina is a town on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of the Ballina Shire Local Government Area. It had a population of 16,477 in the 2006 Census.-Location:...
and Lismore
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
make it a popular attraction, and the falls can be reached by car in approximately 45 minutes (1 hour from Ballina or Lismore). The falls can also be visited from the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, which is a 2-hour journey via the Pacific Highway
Pacific Highway (Australia)
The Pacific Highway is a major transport route along part of the east coast of Australia and is part of Australia's national route 1.It is 960 km long and links Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, along the coast, via Gosford, Newcastle, Taree, Port...
. The road to the falls is an unsealed road
Gravel road
A gravel road is a type of unpaved road surfaced with gravel that has been brought to the site from a quarry or stream bed. They are common in less-developed nations, and also in the rural areas of developed nations such as Canada and the United States. In New Zealand, they are known as 'metal roads'...
and can be difficult at times to drive.
Various local tour companies offer trips to the Minyon Falls, including several of the Nimbin
Nimbin, New South Wales
Nimbin is a village in the Northern Rivers area of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately 30 km north of Lismore, 33 km southeast of Kyogle, and 70 km west of Byron Bay....
Tour buses; the day walks are available to the bottom of the falls and night-time walks at the top of the falls.