Text by Meri Liddell, Featured image by JK. Images by JK and ML
Thirty-one happy bushwalkers headed to the Otway Ranges for a mini ‘week of walks’ soon after lockdown ended, despite dire weather predictions. We were rewarded with lovely weather, bookended by storms and heavy rain before and after. Yet again, the weather gods smiled.
On our first afternoon, while some were settling in, others headed to the lighthouse, and the longer walkers walked from Parker Inlet to Blanket Bay. We crossed the estuary with boots around our necks as the tide was rising, and walked on in the late afternoon light to meet our kindly drivers coming from the opposite direction. It’s a lovely section of track. On the check walk, we had come across an unusual white faced swamp wallaby, and a very relaxed koala, but unfortunately we didn’t see them again
Our first big day was primarily waterfalls and forests. But first the long walkers walked from Castle Cove to the quarries, negotiating some boggy bits. Then we went along a rather secretive and overgrown route to emerge on the cliffs overlooking Dinosaur Cove. Here fossilised dinosaur bones from over 100 million years ago were deposited as Australia separated from Antarctica.
During the day, our three groups of walkers ranged through a wonderful smorgasbord of waterfalls, the Triplet, Little Aire, and Hopetoun Falls, although not everyone made it to them all. The falls were at their spectacular best after all the rains. And the bush we were walking through was glorious rainforest, with majestic trees and lush fern gullies.
Another treat was visiting the trial plantation of Californian Redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens. These are already colossal trees, but only youngsters at 84 years old, when the species lives 1,200 – 2,200 years or more.It was like walking in a cathedral. Beechy Rail Trail gave us a pleasant walk through open country, finishing in a garden fairyland full of rhododendrons and exotics lovingly tended and shared with the public by a local.
The pub and some cafes in the area were still shut from covid, but the enthusiasts still located coffee and cake in a quirky little artists cafe at Beech Forest. You can’t keep a walker from his/her coffee!
The following day we divided up again to take in some Otway Ranges gems. The heroic hikers (smaller numbers now) took on 22.5 km of beach walking, steep sandhills, and cliff walking in a circuit walk from Bimbi Park, to the lighthouse, Station Beach, Rainbow Falls and Aire River. We saw a tiger snake, and tracks of birds and animals who had been there before us. We also discovered a few muscles we had forgotten we owned. The medium and shorter walkers visited Moonlight Head and Wreck Beach, and walked the Princetown to 12 Apostles section, some getting their kms up by walking it both ways. Melba Gully was another highlight. Gorgeous weather and gorgeous scenery made for a magic day out with friends.
The final day was looking stormy, and many headed home. But a few stalwarts took the opportunity to see some more gems, including Maits Rest and the Carisbrook Falls. Maits Rest is a quiet, undamaged cool temperate rainforest, with some trees over 300 years old. There are ancient mountain ash giants, and huge myrtle beech trees covered in mosses and epiphytes. It really is nourishment for the soul.
After 262 days in lockdown, we were so ready to get out into the bush. The Otway Ranges, with Bimbi Park as our base, most certainly did not disappoint.
