Wye River ~ Kennett River Circuit Walk, Great Otway National Park - February 2022

The coastal section of this stroll was top notch.

This is a walk that I'd read about firstly in the House of Chapman's Walking the Otways book and then later found another similar walk on Alltrails, neither of these walks were a circuit however. With a late morning low tide this morning, a temperature in the mid twenties predicted and an early start I figured that a loop walk incorporating the coast was worth a shot. After leaving home just after 4am I was down at Wye River before 7am this morning which I was hoping would give me enough time to climb through the hills and then make it back along the coastline before the water got too high.

It was an early start again this morning.

My last look at the Wye River beach before I climbed into the hills. 

Leaving the ute near the Wye River pub I took the obligatory early morning photo out over the water before turning my back on Bass Strait and climbing very solidly into the hills. This walk started off a little ordinary really as I climbed my way through the deserted early morning streets of Wye River, there appears to be a few routes here as I made my way up to the crest of the east west running spur behind town. The Alltrails route goes through the caravan park, the Chapman book follows suburban streets, I followed some quiet streets and then a power line easement (that I almost had to crawl up it was so steep!). Once on the crest of the spur I arrived at a colourful fire fighting tank and joined Birds Road.

I climbed up the into the hills behind the Wye River pub.

Not all the locals were asleep this morning!

This little climb onto the spur crest got me warmed up.

Birds Road.

Once I was on the crest of the spur I set off on a fairly long walk west, initially I followed Birds Road before picking up the Kennett Wye Road. Now I'm not going to bullshit anyone and say that walking these quiet 4wd roads was top shelf, what I will say is that the climb up to meet Kennet Road wasn't too bad. The climb up this long spur was one of those roller coaster jobs, just as I was sure that I'd climbed to the highest spot in the surrounding mountains the track would suddenly lose height again and I'd find myself shuffling steeply up hill again. Thankfully there were enough glimpses through the trees that I got a few long range views and there was also plenty of wildlife around which helped take my mind off what was sometimes a very steep climb.

Climbing up the Kennett Wye Road.

Sections of this stroll were burnt in the Wye River fire back in 2015.

Climbing up the Kennet Wye Road I got the occasional long range view through the trees.

Kennet Wye Road, Great Otway National Park.

Thankfully the 2015 bushfire didn't make it this far.

Arriving at Kennett Road I swung left and started my long descent back down to the coast. Before starting my descent I dropped my pack for a couple of minutes for a quick break and was mugged by an army of the biggest and fattest leeches that I've ever had the displeasure to encounter, some of them were that big that I initially thought I had slugs crawling on me! Abandoning any crazy thoughts of a relaxing break I grabbed my pack and brushed off all my blood sucking mates (or so I thought!) and set off in earnest for the coast. Unlike my earlier climb up the Kennett Wye Road the descent down Kennett Road was a pretty good one, the quiet dirt road dropping at a fairly constant grade through the beautiful forest. An hour and a bit after starting down Kennet Road I crossed the busy Great Ocean Road just outside Kennett River, and after heading north beside the road for a couple of minutes I found an opening that allowed me to access the rock shelf that lines the coast along here.

The descent down Kennett Road was nice and easy.

Kennett Track, Greater Otway National Park.

Kennett Track, Greater Otway National Park.

Getting down towards the coast Kennett Track starts to drop off the north side of the spur.

Kennett Track - Bass Strait has just come into view.

I'm about to turn left.

Thankfully I didn't have to worry about leeches down here on the coast (I actually considered going for an swim as I had a leech on my shoulder blade that I couldn't reach and I was thinking that the salt water might finish him off - if my pack hadn't already done the job), yep, no leeches down here - it was March Flies that were feasting on my blood down here - you gotta love Australia! Swatting away the March Flies I once again shouldered my pack and set off along the coast heading back up to Wye River. It was now close to midday and the tide was on the way in, while at the same time the temperature was heading north so I wasn't expecting an easy stroll along here.

I really enjoy walking these rock shelfs.

There were a few small sections of sand to negotiate.

Heading up the coast towards Wye River, the Great Ocean Road is only around 50 metres away up on those low cliffs.

I'd jagged a beautiful day for this beach stroll.

Walking these rocks is a little harder than the shelfs.

Considering that the coastal section of this walk isn't written up as part of the actual walk on any of my notes and it was just an add on for me to make the walk into a circuit it was a pleasant surprise. The coast along here features mostly long rock shelfs with short sections across small bolthole beaches and the occasional rough rocky boulder hops. I really enjoy this type of rock shelf walking and today was no different in that respect. The other good thing about the walk along the coast here was that apart from as approached Wye River I was pretty well on my own along here - we'll if I ignored the traffic on the Great Ocean Road 50 metres away up the hill. By the time I arrived back at Wye River I was pretty cooked again this afternoon, I'm not sure if it's an age thing, a Covid lockdown hangover or what it is however I seem to be struggling with a lot of niggling injuries as well as my fitness at the moment.

The Wye River beach has just come into view.

Wye River

Looking out towards Bass Strait from Wye River.

Wye River - the ute was parked up near the hotel on the left of the photo.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 18.7 kilometres and climbed about 637 metres on what I'd call a medium-hard grade walk. To be honest this walk is really only for the enthusiasts I think, the inland loop is a fairly hard slog in spots and all along quiet dirt 4wd track and roads. The coastal section is quite good (at low to middling tides) and would be worth walking again I think, actually there is a new walking track linking Wye River with Kennet River that has been cut above the Great Ocean Road which I'll have to head back and walk so I will probably use the coast to make that one into a loop. As I mentioned earlier a version of this stroll is in the Walking the Otways book as well as on Alltrails. I used both the book and the app today along with freelancing occasionally with my GPS topos.

Relevant Posts.

Jamieson Track Walk, Greater Otway National Park.

I'd picked up a leech up in the forest on Kennett Road.

Unfortunately I've got the flexibility of an average 90 year old, so reaching it was out of the question! 

I'm hoping that I'll get a bit of rain on my next walk!