Nepean Dam

Big Dam Reservoir, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

On my first weekend back in Sydney for 2009, Cheryl took me down to a region called the Southern Highlands. This is about a 90 minute drive south of Sydney where the terrain gets pretty rugged as the mountain ridge that rises up along the east coast of Australia gets closer to the coast. On our way to visit a waterfall that Cheryl remembered from a previous trip, we found this dam called the Nepean Dam. It was very peaceful, although a bit overcast early in the day.




The dam was completed in April of 1935 and supplies water to the Sydney metro. It can hold back 18 million gallons of water at a maximum depth of 225 feet. The dam itself is 247.5 feet tall and 710 feet long. When fully supplied, the water is 1,051 feet above sea level. The lake has an area of 882 acres.

We even saw a wild kangaroo on our way leaving the dam!!