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.

Otways Camping and 4WDing

This was both Henric's and my first trip to the Otways, well at least our first trip off road.  I'd been this way many times travelling the Great Ocean Road, but had never really ventured inland, let alone off road inland.  So this was pretty much an exploratory trip.  We headed inland via Winchelsea and then onto the coast at Lorne.  From here we followed the Great Ocean Road to Wye River, where soon after crossing the river we headed off the main road and up a steep narrow residential street climbing the hillside.  We then found the start of Kennett Wye Jeep Track.

We continued along the top of the ridge and through a burnt area of forest, soon coming to our first bog hole.  We passed through uneventfully and continued on along, soon coming to further bog holes, all traversed without any incident.

As we continued, we passed Wye River Falls, which would have been some 750 metres from the track through the thickets densest impenetrable scrub and bush.  There was no obvious walking track or other sign of it's existence, apart from it being marked on the map.

As we neared the end of Kennett Wye River Jeep Track, the bush opened up more and we saw a number of Black Faced Wallabies jump across the track out of our way.  We drove to the car part for Mt Sabine Falls.  The original plan had been to walk to the falls, but the distance was much further than thought (3.6km, 2.5 hours return), so we setup for lunch and left the walk for another trip.  There had been extensive logging on the East side of the road, which though giving views to the sea was a most unattractive sight.

We backtracked along Mt Sabine Road and made our way to Curtis Road, which I had heard much of as a 4WD destination.  The track was a bit scratchy at the top of the hill, and the descent down to the river certainly was on the steeper side of steep.  Not a track to be happily tackled in the wet.

There was a small river crossing at the bottom of the track across the Cumberland River and the track back out of the valley was of a totally different standard; a 2WD car would be able to pass along easily.  We also saw a few more wallabies along the track as we continued our ascent.

We stopped of at the site of the Curtis Homestead, which was a beautiful location; huge trees, lots of greenery and a mystical feel to the area.  There was one huge Myrtle Beech tree, and I'd have liked to spend more time exploring the forest here.

We turned off into Thompson Track; the plan being to drive down to Lake Elizabeth.  However the side tracks were gated.  A number of cars were parked at the gates, indicating walkers had continued on but that was not our intentions today.  Thompson Track was a good quality track, pretty well OK for 2WD which travelled through reasonably open Eucalypt Forest.

We found a side track not marked on the map so decided to follow it to see where it went.  We were hopeful it was a shortcut to our intended campsite at Lake Elizabeth.  It did take us down to the Barwon River, near a small weir.  A very scenic, peaceful and isolated place.  A Rufous Flycatcher darted in and out between the ferns and down stream, too quick for a clear photo.

We setup camp at the Lake Elizabeth camp ground.  This is a very nice campsite with good clean toilets.  A few other people shared the site, including a girl from England who was travelling around Australia in a hired campervan.  We set up camp, and relaxed under the tarp wasting away the rest of the afternoon.  The campfire took a number of attempts to get going with little suitable wood that wasn't damp, but diesel is a wonderful versatile fuel.

Sunday 1st February 2004

In the morning, we headed out on the walk to Lake Elizabeth, which is a reasonable distance from the campground; approximately a one hour return walk.  There were a number of birds to be seen along the way as we continued upstream of the Barwon River.  The walk was generally quite flat, but nearing the landslip site the path meandered up the mountain side, through tree ferns and amongst the tall timbers.  Lake Elizabeth was discovered by an exploratory party sent upstream to investigate why the Barwon River had stopped flowing.  Unusually heavy rain in 1952 resulted in a huge landslip which dammed the river creating the remote lake in the Barwon Valley.

We packed up camp and headed down Noonday Track, which is truly a most beautiful track with huge trees and lots of greenery as it gently weaves through the forest.  There were a number of muddy bog holes along our journey as we continued along No 1 Spur Track and West Barwon Track.  The original plan had been to drive down Fork Paddocks Track, but the only turnoff that appeared to be the right track was too narrow, slippery and included a 1 metre drop off into the river.  The track was pretty badly churned up by some true dirt pigs, who we nearly came to grief with as they came screaming up the hill.  I was able to stop quickly as they came flying around the corner; the leader however slid right off the track, luckily harmlessly into the long grass on the track verge.

We then visited Stevenson Falls, an easy walk from the car park to the base of the falls which were in good flow.  We found a nice spot along the Gellibrand River for lunch and then turned off the main road onto a 4WD side track up the hill side.  We explored around the forests, basically doing a loop along Upper Gellibrand Road, Bridge Track and Sayers Track which with some very tight manoeuvres between trees on slippery mud brought us back near the falls.  The campsite here was quite popular, with new toilets and large trees to provide shade in summer.  Time was against us now, so we headed on home uneventfully through Forrest and back along the freeway.

Great Ocean Road, Mt Eccles and Mt Gambier Region

Thursday

The first part of this holiday was an extended family holiday in Apollo Bay.  We rented a unit in the back of Apollo Bay which served as our base and we had a relaxing 4 days exploring Apollo Bay, relaxing on the beaches, visiting the craft market and also exploring some of the Otway National Park.

James spotted a penguin playing in the swell off the jetty at the boat harbour one evening, which he was quite chuffed about.

Friday

We also went on the Mait's Rest Rainforest walk where we spotted an unusual black snail slithering across the path, which we lifted up and placed in the bracken at the path edge to protect him from being trodden on.  An information sign further on indicated that this was a rare Otway Black Snail, so we wandered back up the trail in search of the snail for a photo!

We also drove along the Barham River Scenic Drive, and came to Paradise Point, which is a magical picnic location on the river, with tables under the tall tree ferns.  We came back here after dark and saw a number of glow worms on the embankments of the path edges, which the kids, and the adults thought fantastic.

We also drove along some of the back country roads behind Apollo Bay, where we enjoyed some great views of the rolling hills, ocean and rainforest, and Liam and I walked along the rocks at Marengo to the incoming tide.

Saturday

Saturday Shazzy, Clark, Arthur & Glenda, Gards and myself went on a fishing trip with Moonlight Fishing Charters, where we fished for Snapper off the Lighthouse at Cape Otway.  The fishing wasn't too great, with only a few undersized Snapper and Flatties being caught, and a decent sized Blue Throated Wrasse that I caught.  We baked this for dinner, but it wasn't particularly tasty.  Though the fishing wasn't too great, the views and the boat ride where enjoyable, except for a couple others who suffered sea-sickness!

Sunday

Sunday we had Easter lunch at the pub, and then Michelle, Sharon, Glenda, James, Liam, Shannon and myself drove along the Great Ocean Road to visit the Twelve Apostles and some of the other sites.  The Twelve Apostles was quite different to the last time we visited, some 15 years earlier, being very touristy now.  Gone is the small carpark on the side of the road and the dirt walking tracks meandering through the salty scrub; replaced with a large tourist information centre, hoards of tourists, landscaped paths and highway underpass and the constant thrumming of the helicopter joy flights.  We also visited Loch Ard Gorge and walked down on the beach, as well as the Thunder Cave and Blowhole.

On through to ANZAC Day

Monday

With ANZAC Day falling straight after Easter this year, it was the perfect opportunity for an extended break without using up much Annual Leave.

We said our goodbyes to all of the Tuffens, and Michelle, I and our kids continued onto the next leg of our holidays.

Our first stop was the lighthouse at Cape Otway, very historic with the lighthouse built in 1848, powered originally by whale oil, and the old buildings and various artefacts on display including the anchor from Eric the Red, a ship wrecked on the reef 3 kilometres offshore on it's way to Melbourne, laden with exhibits for an exhibition at the newly opened Melbourne Exhibition Buildings.

After exploring the grounds, the views from the lighthouse and a nice morning tea at the cafe we set off exploring some of the tracks in the area for future campsites.

There was a nice campsite at Parker Hill, near where the stone that the lighthouse and buildings was quarried.  There were toilets here, but the walk down to the beach was a very long way; still this was a nice sheltered camping site.  A better site close to the beach was at Crayfish Bay, but this lacked any facilities.  We spent some time here exploring the rock pools which were quite good, with a number of colourful pink starfish, glass shrimp, anemones, gobies and other critters spotted.  We also found the other anchor for the Eric the Red, embedded in the rocks!

We also drove down to Johanna Beach campground, which too seemed a very nice beach campsite with the added advantage of toilets.  No fires are allowed here, same as the other campsites along the coast.

Having seen a number of the sites along the Shipwreck coast the day before, we were able to drive past Port Campbell before our next stop, The Arch.  As well as viewing some scenic rugged coastline, there also was an echidna walking along the path!

From here we had to visit London Bridge.  The last time Michelle and I saw London Bridge it was still a bridge, so we had to see it with the collapsed arch.  All signs of the arch had vanished into the sea, and the kids were pretty impressed that we had walked on the new island, something I guess they will never be able to do.

Time was now running short.  We drove past the Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands past Peterborough and headed into Warrnambool for fuel and food supplies.

We arrived at Mt. Eccles just before dusk and quickly had the tent set up.  A chat with another camper identified a farm house down the road where firewood could be purchased, so it wasn't long before we were relaxing around the campfire and entertained by Brush Tail Possums, as well as having a close encounter with a Boobook Owl!

Tuesday

Tuesday we woke to kookaburras and other bird calls, and after a campfire cooked Bacon & Eggs breakfast, we walked around the Mt Eccles crater rim and explored the lava cave, and the kids made some friends with some kids who camp at Mt. Eccles each Christmas and Easter.  Lunch was an easy cold meat and salad sandwiches amongst the Superb Fairy Wrens, who were totally oblivious to us, hopping around our feet through the campsite.  After lunch, we drove to the Natural Arch, a section of un-collapsed lava tube.

For dinner we roasted a chicken in the camp oven, which we are still getting the hang of.  A small chicken could easily be done in about an hour; while some of it and some vegies were overdone, it was still generally a very tasty roast dinner, and being prepared for the possums tonight we had some apple ready which they very much enjoyed.

Wednesday

Wednesday we walked down and around Lake Surprise after another Bacon & Egg breakfast, spotting a koala and a number of other noisy kids on our way, then returned to camp to pack up and head to Mt. Gambier.

At Mt. Gambier, we explored a few lookouts before looking for a caravan park for the night, settling on Pine Country Caravan Park, in a comfortable cabin.  We cooked up a big BBQ dinner and then at dusk headed to the Umpherston Sinkhole to feed the friendly and cheeky possums.

Thursday

Thursday morning we circumnavigated Blue Lake, which was still a strong blue colour given the time of year, and also drove down into the other crater for a quick explore.  We then drove down to Mt. Schank, where James, Liam and I climbed the summit and descended into the crater to leave our mark.  From the crater rim, I had a magnificent close up view of a goshawk as it flew across the rim just metres in front of me.

From Mt. Schank we continued on down to Port MacDonnell for some Fish & Chips, and a quick explore along the coast here.  We lunched on Shelly Beach, and the kids and I had a quick snorkel, though it was getting quite cold!  We also went to Port Northumberland, the southern most point in S.A. where we viewed the site of an old lighthouse, which was removed for fear of it collapsing into the sea.

From Port MacDonnell, we left around 2:00pm for our long drive home, arriving in Ballarat about 6:30 for dinner at Mum's and eventually getting home late Thursday night.