Wye River Falls

This was a trip for travelling light... just a camera bag, and back pack with warm clothes, water proofs, lunch and snacks, cooking utensils, first aid, map, compass, GPS, EPIRB... and something's missing.  After a kilometre of walking thinking that my pack seemed very light I suddenly remembered the tripod sitting on the front seat of the car....  Oooops!

With a few days to kill I decided to head down to the Otways and finally do that walk I had been planning to Wye River Falls.  The terrain looked interesting on the map, a 1km long gorge forking into 3 small gorges with a waterfall at the top of one of them. With no tracks, and a very steep valley this was potentially a very difficult hike but as it turned out this was not the case.

The plan was to drive along the ridge to the west, and then walk down to the bottom of the gorge, then upstream to the waterfall.  There was a small gap in the cliffs which might be navigable but I decided to err on the side of caution and walk a little further along the river.

So much for the plan.  The track along the ridge was closed so there was a 3km walk to warm up with, on top of the return trip to the car to pick up the tripod. When I reached the point at which I was going to head off into the bush, there were two pieces of pink tape some branches.  As with Yarra Falls, I had luckily found someone else's trail markings, although this was more of a well defined track, with ample pink tape to mark the way and additional work such as steps cut into the ground on steep sections.

I guessed that there was nowhere else that the track could possibly go but to Wye River Falls so I followed it as it zigzagged down the ridge towards the river. There were only a few places where the track was obscured by grass and bushes, and the gradient was quite moderate. It did take a little of the adventure out of the walk but I wasn't complaining. My new steel-soled, steel-capped door-kicking-in mountain climbing boots had given me blisters which I had taped after only 2km of walking.

After a short, pleasant stroll I reached the final steep descent to the river and then walked along the bank to the junction of two streams. Turning left it was then a longish stretch of wet slippery rocks although once again there was plenty of pink tape to indicate the best route, getting you off the river whenever possible as it is much easier (and faster) on the bank than rock hopping along the river.

The walk up the gorge is quite an interesting one, although stinging nettles and blackberries can be annoying in places. There are two log jams across the gorge with very thick logs. The upper of the two holds back that much rubble that the river disappears beneath the rocks, reappearing at the log jam.

There are more large logs near the base of the falls, which were covered in fungi. The tightness of the gorge, with the waterfall flowing in from the side makes a nice little spot for a break as the spray from the falls is not directed down the gorge. There are more pics and panoramas on the way...