Otways Waterfalls

Participants:

Smitha, Mahesh, Mark & Liam

This trip was designed to see some waterfalls in the Otways that were a little off the normal waterfall list, and to do a bit more exploring in this area of Victoria that i hadn't seen a lot of.  A number of people pulled out of the trip at the last minute, so it was scaled down a bit.  As it was an exploratory trip, there was no ral expectations or strict plans on where we would end up.  My research involved not much more that looking at maps I had of the area, and whatever I could find on the Internet.  As I had been down Curtis Road previously, I figured that the waterfalls in this area would be worth hunting out.  I found reference to Allambee Beek Falls on a walking page, so this was our first destination.

From Wye River we headed up Wye Track, which included a number of muddy bog holes and some very soft mud.  There was also a few very overgrown sections of track; damn, more scratches...

The internet research indicated that the walking track to Allambee Beek Falls was marked with ribbon.  I didn't have high hopes of finding the start easily, but expected it to be around where a 4WD side track marked on the map headed down to Amphitheatre Falls.  This proved correct, though the 4WD track was long overgrown, with fluorescent pink ribbons on the trees marking the walking track quite clearly.  The track made it's way from open forest into a tree fern filled valley, zig-zagging down towards the Cumberland River below.

We crossed the small river over slippery moss covered stones and headed up along the south bank towards the falls, the track still marked clearly with pink ribbon.

I picked up a couple of leeches along the way, but they were all easily flicked off before they managed to bite.  Damn leeches.

The waterfall was very scenic and also very rewarding to find, given it was off the sanitised tourist path.  We spent some time in the coolness of the falls before returning to the car for lunch.

Lunch was looking a bit on the dubious side, given I was not able to find any matches in the car, but eventually managed to get the trangia lit using the car cigarette lighter.  Phew.

The original plan was to continue along Benwerrin Mt Sabine Road and drive down TW Spur Track to visit the cascades on Garvey Creek, and the rock cairn on the Cumberland River, but this was thwarted by a locked gate at the start of the track, marked on the map but indicated as a Seasonal Closure gate.  Looks like the season extends all year now.

We drove down Mt Cowley Road, stopping briefly at the Fire lookout Tower on Mt Cowley.   We turned off and down Garvey Track at Garvey Clearing and started the steep walk down to Kalimna Creek to visit our last two waterfalls.  The walking along the valley was of an easy grade, and we visited Upper Kalimna Falls first.

Lower Kalimna Falls were most interesting, with a large rock overhang allowing the falls to be viewed from beneath.  This would be spectacular with the falls in full flow.