Otways water availability over summer

[mudlark]

I'm thinking of doing a modified version of a multiday Otways walk that was proposed years ago, but never ended up being formalised (although most of the track already exists).

With regard to water sources, do many of the creeks and waterfalls tend to run dry over summer?

Thinking of the major ones eg Wye river, Cumberland river, Sabine falls, etc. I usually visit the Otways in the cooler months, so am only used to copping too much rain, rather than too little. But I'm fully aware that one should be prepared regardless!

I've checked monthly rainfall means for the area, but prefer to hear if anyone knows firsthand. Thank you

[oldpiscator]

You shouldn't have any problems with water in the areas you mention even though this has been a dry season.

[Biggles]

Sounds like you're on the scent of the Sabine Grand Falls Circuit that was surveyed, mapped and walked by the now-defunct Otway Ranges Walking Track Association c. 2001-2006. If you're starting this (now overgrown) tiger walk from Haines Junction you will soon be following (and getting stuck in deep pools from rock hopping) a reliable water source — minor creeks initially, then Tea House Junction Creek to its eventual confluence with Wild Dog Creek flowing off Wild Dog Falls at Jack Phillips Cascade. This walks, and two shorter others, are quite wild; need to be fully self-contained and prepared for anything (no phone reception anywhere). Dramatic weather changes in that part of the Otways are common, so need to be prepared for both heat and cold.

Nowt to speak of at Sabine Falls, the water at which isn't actually accessible unless you fancy getting filthy and rather *&%$#! as host to legions of enthusiastic leeches at Upper Sabine Falls (proper drop (above and before Sabine Falls), though these once pretty falls are now occluded by heavy fallen timber, but the falls still do run-off into a shallow creek, gurgling along to the leap over the cliff face as better known Sabine Falls. Cumberland River is always flowing, as is Wye River. Relying on small creeks in summer is risky as many do dry up. Aire River has several small, unmapped tributaries that dry up, but the river itself is always flowing, and especially accessible at Aire Crossing (free campsite here, but avoid in major holiday periods.

Camping in Otway Forest Park at Beauchamp Falls...well, no water at the actual campsite (free camping, toilets, shelter, etc.), but the Falls apart from being picture-perfect, are a gem for a swim on a stinking hot day. Easy downhill walk to the Falls, bit of a bugger coming up (all uphill!).

The Otways are big...both the National Park and the (fragmented) Forest Park; what areas specifically are you intended to explore?

[mudlark]

The Otways are big...both the National Park and the (fragmented) Forest Park; what areas specifically are you intended to explore?

I have stumbled across that circuit while reading, but actually it's the Trans Otway Waterfall Walk I'm looking to complete! Effectively a wilder prologue to the Great Ocean Walk, as it runs from Lorne to Apollo Bay (but only touches the coast at the mouth of Cumberland River, otherwise working inland and turning south around Sabine Falls).

The rivers/waterfalls I'd be looking to for water are:
- Cumberland River
- Cumberland River (upper)
- Any of the cluster of waterfalls in the vicinity of upper Cumberland River (eg Staircase, Allambee, Galliebarinda, Brunswick)
- Wye River (upper)
- Kennett River (upper)

Problem section: the area I foresee water being scarcer is between Mt Sabine and Apollo Bay, further solidified if Sabine Falls and upper aren't especially accessible without sacrificing flesh The walk follows Wild Dog Track south, sitting between Wild Dog Creek (passing the falls) and Barham River East Branch (i.e. upper Barham River). Any idea on how these two fare in warmer months? Otherwise, that section isn't especially long and could just make do carrying more (haven't done the maths yet though).

Also, that Serenity Beach looks beautiful... don't get me sidetracked before I've even begun this one...

[Biggles]

Now that you mentioned it, I do wonder what they did about the Trans Otway Waterfall Walk; it was a thing back in ... around 2008-2009, with a lot of walking and something wrong with the approach to Apollo Bay (private land traverse?). Much of the detail is now consigned to history or those with a better memory of the time.

Campsite at Mount Sabine is a good base to wander down to Upper Sabine Falls, track condition unknown (but expect it to be heavily congested).

Barham River branches are always flowing; you might know hidden in the wild and tangled nooks thereabouts is Marriners Falls (I suspect we are not even allowed to publicly mention those falls by name!), closed in 2011, and now inconveniently (and brutally) fenced off to prohibit access, in doing so, further infuriating A/Bay locals.

Allambee Beek, Staircase and Gallibarinda Falls normally fall to a gossamer or worse, a trickle in summer; just need good, steady rain, but if Curtis Track is your approach in said rain, it will be heavy going in what appears from a distance to be deep trenches of mud (thanks to 4WDs!).

Brunswick Falls, being on the Cumberland is a sure bet for water anytime. Lots of back and forth hopping across the Cumberland to get there, and further down the Cumberland being Yannathan Cascades and Yannathan Falls — again, lots of water, and scenery that is truly beautiful. I won't tell you how way too beautiful the middle section of the Cumberland is — decades ago it featured in what was then huge, lush green posters for Victoria's Conservation Forests & Lands Department (ancient forerunners of today's Parks Victoria et al.) I was so hopelessly smitten by those early, eyepopping scenes that 30+ years later I can't stop photographing those riverine rainforests!

Not Serenity Beach, but Serenity Reach — just beyond the flat rock strata you can see the glassy-calm pool — it is very deep and cold. A summer evening here with a chair to sit on with the obligatory (to me!) gin and lamingtons is ... well, I'm (still) lost for words...maybe you should go there.

Here's another pic to get you all a-flutter and start packing — this is much further away from your target areas, and so, in order not to sidetrack you, the location is top secret! Don't forget your camera!!

[Biggles]

Postscript:

A certain government department that gets its kicks and cookies butting heads with people who really care has now prohibited access to Serenity Reach on the Aire River (accessed from Aire Crossing Campsite). Says they who must be obeyed, visitors were killing the environment with their trampling...

[mudlark]

Biggles, you are a treasure trove. Fantastic to know about the Barham River branches, but especially exciting to hear about the loveliness of that section of the Cumberland. I was tossing up about passing by Yannathan and Upper Cumberland Falls, so your advocacy has put me squarely in the "to visit" camp!

The case of [redacted] Falls is a funny one. I wasn't even aware it had been a point of contention until I googled it directly the other day, as I have at least two recent maps on which it's marked with no indication of any closure. Unsurprising that the local opinions weren't taken into account. But the falls look quite pretty... say, how brutal are those fences?

Yes, I did try to figure out why the walk was never followed through with, in case it was something that might get in the way, but resigned myself to that it must just not have been a priority at the time. The approach to Apollo Bay does look iffy as you leave the national park—mostly private land between Wild Dog Track and Tuxion Rd—but worst case scenario, Wild Dog Track meets the road at that point and I can suffer road walking for the last stretch instead.

I wasn't sure whether the campsite at Mount Sabine was actually a campsite or not. Is this the one? (-38.6239599, 143.7297491) It would be nice to have an easy spot for that night!

And Serenity Reach is a far more fitting name A shame it's been closed; I could do with lamingtons and a drink by a mirror-glass river... but I can respect a closure for conservation purposes. Serenity Out Of Reach, then? I'm likely to be distracted fawning over moss and fungi anyhow, no time for serenity around here - I could spend quite a while looking over the trunk of that top secret tree!

[Biggles]

The sad, potted history is that Marriniers Falls was closed after a girl suffered severe head injuries by a falling tree a few metres short of the actual falls. PV requested Google remove all references — written and photographic — from or associated with, maps. Oh boy, did they open up the floodgates to a fight...

The government of the day employed geotechnical advisors who, curiously, determined the area to be too dangerous for walking in, and recommended either a) re-routing the walk (impossible due to the terrain) or b), closing it. It is true historically that timber falls occurred, particularly on the early riverside approach, but so do did tree falls occur onto cars parked along the foreshore of A/Bay, and nothing other than a trim here and there was done. Over time, tree falls have occurred most often at Beauchamp Falls (Otway Forest Park), Kaanglang Road and Benwerrin-Mount Sabine Road (outside Forrest, connecting road to Lorne) and Triplet Falls (the scene of criminal vandalism — "The Triplet Chainsaw Massacre" — by disgruntled, locked-out loggers who took their chainsaws to tall trees along the rainforest walk in 2003 ).

And so... Marriners Falls was quietly closed in 2011, and A/Bay erupted.
Rangers were confronted, their cars hit with eggs and paint, arguments broke out, fists almost came to blows. The danger of falling trees is no greater than at e.g. Triplet Falls (many tall timber falls!), Little Aire Falls, Beauchamp Falls (Otway Forest Park) and generally throughout the Otways, National Park or not (Kawarren being a hotspot for tall timber falls). The fence is an ugly steel cyclone with barbed wire (last I saw of it), and locals are not shy of pulling it down! A landslip a few years back that blocked the well-known left hand approach track, necessitated the locals make a crude track across the river, and cut a new track before re-crossing the river beyond the landslip. That initial crossing near the car park, which was facilitated with home-made steps down the cliff, has been obliterated and replaced by an large cliff to discourage investigative walkers. To add insult to injury, somewhat unfriendly locals who live down there right where the walk to the falls used to start, aren't particularly welcoming of visitors or stickybeaks.

It is likely the Highview section of the walk to A/Bay is through private land — not particularly interesting scenery wise; walkers (in the defunct group) have done that walk, presumably in full knowledge of the land owners; otherwise, a bit of road walking is in order, but the scenery will be just as vast looking out over A/Bay, unless per chance you happen to be struck by a bout of gloomy weather (hopefully not, it is summer!!).

You mustn't perve at the graceful curves!
It's a Sassafras in this case, festooned with ferns and mosses and fungi, growing in the peaty streamside soil beside Youngs Creek. Thousands of people have walked right past that tree, oblivious to how powerful it is as an image of an untouched rainforest. I stopped and stayed there almost 5 hours (I had a small flask of gin and lamingtons with me, so! ), sizing it up before committing the image to film and printing it to a metre tall. I do have photos of the middle section of the Cumberland River. Yannathan Cascades and Falls are accessed by TW Spur Track (GPS plot of route on alltrails). The track appears and disappears in many places; should be ribbons in place.

Serenity Reach can still be accessed by walking down the road from the campsite to the bridge (over which is Halls Ridge Road) and left, walking carefully (use a trekking pole) over variable depth sandstone-base river keeping close to the edge of the forest, and the scene I pictured will soon smack you in the face and command attention. The walk-on-water, rather akin to the great man hi'self, is 70m like this.

Yes, the coordinates tally (roughly) with the campsite on Sabine. There was nothing up there at all when I last visited (in a typical Otways pea-souper) in June.

Photo shows Marriners Falls a very long 21 years ago — printed then to Ilfochrome Classic ['Ciba'] print media, museum-grade conservation framed and in four private collections, the master 35mm transparency here.

[CraigVIC]

From a trip report (not mine)

"There is something of an informal camp site on top of Mt Sabine much used by the 4WD community. It offers no amenity other than a concrete picnic table and a reduced probability of having a tree fall on you during the night. There is no water and, on the night I was there, I can’t imagine there were many bleaker places in Victoria."

[Biggles]

From a trip report (not mine)

"There is something of an informal camp site on top of Mt Sabine much used by the 4WD community. It offers no amenity other than a concrete picnic table and a reduced probability of having a tree fall on you during the night. There is no water and, on the night I was there, I can’t imagine there were many bleaker places in Victoria."

Haha!
There are two campsites, one on the left of the track near the top that provides some shelter (N facing), the other on the right, which does not provide any shelter (south facing, which is where the bleakest weather can come from!)

You can also (rough) camp in the disused pine forest beside the old track from where one starts the hike to Upper Sabine Falls. I camped in that grove of pine in 2006 (my first visit to Upper Sabine Falls). It's pretty lonely along there — your only company will undoubtedly be wallabies, roos, echidnas, snakes and lizards and spoyders!

Meanwhile, The Bleakest Place in Victoria Award goes to the small informal campsite, roadside 1km from Guys Hut on the Snowy Plain in Gippsland. Bad weather rolling in here will have you scurrying for the comparatively more solid comforts of the hut, or sit it out (over multiple days!) under nylon! Once bitten, twice shy — bleak is an understatement!

[icefest]

You can also (rough) camp in the disused pine forest beside the old track from where one starts the hike to Upper Sabine Falls. I camped in that grove of pine in 2006 (my first visit to Upper Sabine Falls). It's pretty lonely along there — your only company will undoubtedly be wallabies, roos, echidnas, snakes and lizards and spoyders!

Pine trees have been logged. But the summit camp has nice shelter nowadays.

[Biggles]

Pine trees have been logged. But the summit camp has nice shelter nowadays.

Oh say, now.
I was unable to get my wagonwheels anywhere near that area in June to have a look with wet, cold and foggy conditions. Speaking of which, the wet and slippery access track from Sunnyside Road is a bit of an adventure if you're not endowed with 4WD!

Something I'd like to go back there and investigate is a large grove of huge tree ferns in a gully. From Sabine summit it is roughly west, logged area (clearing), then north for about 200m then ENE, and unseen until one clears post-logging detritus, the grove is sheltered initially by gums. Once clear of these the scene unfolds of a gully absolutely awash with treeferns. Item? The map I referenced in 2013 showed the presence of a rabbiter's hut; no such hut was found, not even ruins. Nothing is shown on Mapcarta about this either, so most likely very old map data.

[icefest]

Something I'd like to go back there and investigate is a large grove of huge tree ferns in a gully. From Sabine summit it is roughly west, logged area (clearing), then north for about 200m then ENE, and unseen until one clears post-logging detritus, the grove is sheltered initially by gums. Once clear of these the scene unfolds of a gully absolutely awash with treeferns. Item? The map I referenced in 2013 showed the presence of a rabbiter's hut; no such hut was found, not even ruins. Nothing is shown on Mapcarta about this either, so most likely very old map data.

I've done a fair bit of off track creeks in the otways and would love to discuss more, but this might be something better disused via PM - feel free to send a message.

[icefest]

Hey, biggles, you've disabled PM's, so I cant reply!

[Biggles]

Hey, biggles, you've disabled PM's, so I cant reply!

By the Lord Harry, how does that happen??
I did see in Control Panel a string of 'No' radio buttons selected; I have disabled them all — at least those than I can see!