Blue Mountains: Empress Canyon Canyoning & 30m Waterfall Abseil
Abseil cliffs and swim through Empress Canyon’s wild waters
You’ll abseil sandstone cliffs in the Blue Mountains, share lunch under tall trees, then plunge into Empress Canyon for jumps and swims through cold pools. With all gear provided and a local guide leading every step (and laugh), you’ll finish by abseiling beside a roaring 30-meter waterfall — an experience that lingers long after you dry off.
What’s included
Your day includes private vehicle transport from Katoomba or nearby meeting points, all technical equipment like wetsuits and helmets for both canyoning and abseiling (so you don’t have to worry about bringing anything special), use of a waterproof camera for photos along the way, plus a gourmet lunch shared outdoors with your group before heading into Empress Canyon itself.
Traveler reviews
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8h
Step-by-step itinerary
Day 1 — Full-day Empress Canyon adventure
- Start abseiling on 5m cliff
- Progress to 30m cliff abseils
- Enjoy gourmet lunch
- Walk 20 minutes to canyon start
- Wade into creek and jump into rock pools
- Swim and slide through canyon
- Complete 30m waterfall abseil
We were already halfway down the first cliff before I remembered to breathe — you know that weird feeling when your legs are shaking but you’re grinning anyway? Our guide, Jamie, just laughed and said everyone does it. The Blue Mountains air was sharp and smelled like eucalyptus (or maybe nerves). Starting with a five-meter drop sounded small until I was actually leaning backwards over the edge. There’s something about hearing your own boots scrape on sandstone that makes everything suddenly real.
Lunch was this unexpected picnic spread — proper bread, not the supermarket kind, and salad that tasted like someone actually cared. We sat in a patch of sun swapping stories with two sisters from Melbourne who’d also never tried canyoning before. After eating, we hiked twenty minutes or so to the creek entrance; I kept stopping to watch light flicker through tree ferns. Wriggling into a wetsuit is always awkward (I definitely did it backwards at first), but once we hit the water I forgot all about looking silly.
The first jump into a rock pool woke me up better than coffee ever could. Cold water shot up my nose and Jamie yelled “welcome to Empress!” The canyon walls pressed close and every sound echoed — splashes, laughter, even my heart thumping. There were slides worn smooth by years of water, places where you just had to trust your feet and go for it. Honestly, I didn’t expect to feel so safe clipped into those ropes — maybe because Jamie double-checked every harness and didn’t mind my million questions about knots.
The last bit is what sticks with me: standing at the top of that thirty-meter waterfall, rope in hand, knees knocking together while mist drifted up from below. It was loud — like standing next to a train — but somehow peaceful too. Abseiling down beside all that whitewater felt unreal; I still think about how small I felt at the bottom looking back up through the spray. My hands were shaking but I couldn’t stop smiling for ages after.
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