Old River Steps
An old access point to a lovely part of the river. The Old River steps, also known as the 100 step walk, descend along the cliff line to an often completely deserted area of the Georges river perfect for swimming or just exploring along the river.
Whilst in the area be sure to keep an eye out for the “Minto monster” A creature reported to be sighted many times between the years of 1932 and 1987. “A creature of pointed ears, rust coloured with three large brown stripes”
Address: Duncan Street Minto Heights. Follow the road till the end and park near the locked fire trail access gate without blocking it.
Distance: No real set distance. It is a 500 metre walk down a tarred road from where you park and then a ten minute walk down some “Stairs” to access the river. Once there I genuinely believe you could follow the river as far as Kentlyn’s Basin or further, just not easily. I have made it as far as the creepy abandoned village about 2km up the river, maybe 500 metres short of the ford. Give yourself a good few hours for the return journey though as the walk is a little difficult and the path in places kinda scarce so it may take a while to find your way.
The old river access stairs, otherwise known as the 100 steps walk. Honestly the only mention I could find out about these old stairs is that there is no real information out there about who made them or when. There are signs that a house existed on the cliffs near where the stairs begin though..a cleared lot, a remaining panel of fencing, scattered bricks and the such, so perhaps they were for the homeowners access.
The stairs are in various stages of solidity and in some places are really no longer steps but a pile of roughly step shaped rocks placed in a roughly step like formation. It is an easy and direct enough route down to the river though as they fold their way around the cliffs and through the pretty bush, making their way down to the river laying in the gorge below.
When you reach the bottom of the stairs there is no real track to the river or following the river. There is a clearish track heading down river but I found I could only follow that for about a hundred metres before it disappeared completely even with Buffy’s pretty decent track finding skills. You can make it to the river in front of you with a little effort though if you want to stop here.
if you take a right after coming down the stairs you can find your way to and over the small creek and then there is a track of sorts that continues up river. It switches between rock shelves like this and some over grown track sections.
This strange structure was on one of the rock shelves. It is a solid circular item made of rocks, bricks and a ton of cement and it looks like it was put here just to hold up the electricity pole attached to it. Odd.
The river is also full of amazing places to play frisbee!
I marked this section of the river as “The Beach” on my map, it is just what I call it and really not a beach at all, just the tiniest bit of sand where you cross a tiny creek and then a nice rock to sit and enjoy the tranquility. We always stop at this spot when we are down here.
The river is deep, wide and calm here and the rocks are the perfect height for jumping in the river from and easy enough to scurry back on to.
Buffy enjoying a stop off at her favourite spot down here.
There is a place where you will pass by and hear the sound of water running over rocks (one of the areas marked rapids on the map, near the large rock shelf) If you push a little through the trees surrounding the river you can find this gorgeous little hideaway under the trees.
Relaxing under the trees at one of the beautiful rapids along the river!
There are several sections of the river that have beautiful rapid like sections to admire.
After about an hour of following the river and about 2km I came across this quite amazing cave with a chimney, bed and cupboards built in.
Very shortly after I made this rather stunning discovery.
A village abandoned and unused in the middle of no where. Tiny houses derelict and collapsing, the bush around taking back its land.
Some of the sheeting used to build the houses is timestamped with 1953. The naturalist colonies that have clubs above the cliff line have owned land here since the 50’s so the village was most likely built by them back in the day.
The sign warns about live munitions and lasers but might just have been stolen from the other side of the river.
A fascinating and unique area to explore and just one of many stunning places in the Georges river reserve. Be sure to check out my other guides for the area so you can plan your own trip to this amazing part of the country.
Have you visited..?
