Cascade Reserve - Cockpit Waterfall

Cascade Reserve surrounds Cascade Jetty, which is used to launch fishing boats and for loading and unloading cargo. The reserve has spectacular coastal views and pastoral landscapes.

The waterfalls at Cockpit were named the “Cascades” by Captain Cook as he sailed along the coast after discovering Norfolk Island in October 1774.

Cascade Creek is one of Norfolk’s few permanent streams.

A number of dams and weirs have been constructed on Cascade Creek. It is likely that the creek was first dammed soon after Phillipsburgh was established in 1790 to provide a water supply for domestic use and for the experimental flax dressing industry.

The Cascade Creek valley upstream from the cascades is known as ‘Cockpit’. This name is thought to have originated in either the First or Second Settlement and may relate to a cock fighting pit or the shape of the valley below the first cascade, which is similar to a ship’s cockpit.

A dam was constructed in the 1920’s to provide a head or water to power a sawmill. The mill was driven by an overshot wheel fed by water form a dam constructed at the bend in the Cascade Creek upstream form the present weir. Two large sections of the stone and concrete dam wall that were washed away in the major flood in the 1930’s can be seen lying about 10m downstream form the dam site. The sawmill was built by Eddie Yeaman and operated by him and his sons. Logs cut in the forest on the slopes of Mt Bates were dragged down Red Road by horses. A deep groove in the ridge west of Cockpit is the remains of the last stretch of ‘log slide’ form the forest mill.

In 1955 a low concrete weir was constructed downstream from the site of the sawmill dam to enable water to be piped around the seaward side of cascade Hill to the Cascade whaling station, which operated from 1956 to 1962.

Nowadays, if you're expecting an impressive waterfall, you'll be disappointed unless it's been pouring rain, but the area is picturesque, with impressive views of the east coast and Cascade Bay.

In recent years, a boardwalk and viewing point have been constructed on the northern side of the creek and falls, but the best view of the "Cockpit" is from the southern side of the creek. To get here requires, a bit of rock-hopping to cross the creek, then following the cattle trails down into the "cockpit" and to the head of the falls on top of the cliff face.

When water levels in the creek are low and if you're steady on your feet and extremely careful, you can also walk out onto the rocks at the top of the "cockpit".

The road into Cockpit Reserve is unsealed and you park on the grass paddock.

Watch beautifully captured drone footage here ( Click Image Play Icon )

Worth a look

“I'm a sucker for a good waterfall so we decided to go see this. We did struggle to work out where to go from the map we had, but eventually worked it out. Due to mobility issues, we only viewed it from the boardwalk, which was a bit disappointing. If you could clamber down further you would get a much better view of the waterfall....but the whole area was quite pretty and just another nice, quiet spot to visit on Norfolk”.( Tripadvisor razza61 )

Better after heavy rain

“The waterfall is only a trickle for the majority of time but is a short pleasant and accessible walk to viewing platform. Taking the rough trail downstream is a good short diversion for more of the landscape and coast. In the parking area is a seat with a plaque in memory of the location where the body of Janelle Patton was found. Janelle, a 29-year-old Sydney woman was murdered on Norfolk Island on 31 March 2002, the first murder in 150 years”. ( Tripadvisor Emanpee )

Better on non-boardwalk side

“We walked along the boardwalk to the viewing platform to take in the Falls. It had rained recently so there was a reasonable flow. However, the viewing platform is poorly positioned. Take the effort to navigate across the creek and walk along the cattle paths on the opposite side to the boardwalk.

We were able to clamber along the hillsides to the cliff edge. We even managed to scramble down to the ocean-edge to see the water fall onto the rocks”. ( Tripadvisor danielkayelene )

Drone : IG Kiwi

Photo : Norfolk Island Tourism