Angelsea Perimeter Walk~West - April 2016

Last weekend we headed over to the Great Ocean Road again to go for another stroll. I justified the two hour road trip due to the fact that we had to go up to the city anyway and pick-up Sam's boots that had been in for a bit of work, so seeing that we were already forty minutes in the right direction I figured that we may as well keep heading west, well that and the fact that there are some nice cafes in Angelsea that Sam and I wanted to check out. So after picking up her boots we motored on down to Angelsea and settled in for breakfast and an extensive reading of the Saturday papers. An hour and a half later somewhat better informed and a bit fatter (relax I'm only talking about me in relation to the fatter bit!) we figured that we better head off on our stroll the Angelsea Perimeter Walk-West (APWW), returning to the ute we swapped the papers for our walking boots and packs and headed off.

There are some nice boat sheds on the Angelsea River.

If the name of this walk looks a little familiar it might be because I did it's Eastern half back in February, on that occasion I walked on my own but on this occasion Sam was (mildly) keen to walk with me. With climate change in full swing down here in Victoria we were lucky enough to get a late Autumn day in the low twenties with a warm Northerly wind blowing, it feels like early summer and is all wrong but at least it makes for nice walking weather, I can't help thinking that we are living the End of Days in an environmental not religious sense, but anyway I digress. So making the most of the unseasonably warm day we wandered back up the west bank of the Angelsea River towards Coogoorah Park, the mouth of the river is obviously still closed to the sea as the river/inlet is lapping at the edge of the track in a lot of spots along here.

Hey, hey a pirate ship!

Coogoorah Park marks the spot where we would leave the banks of the Angelsea River and start our climb up to Angelsea Heath, but more importantly (for me) it has a pirate ship. Now apart from the promise of hours of fun playing on the pirate ship, the ship is your best indication of where to turn inland (climb the bank behind the pirate ship) as the route is a little on the vague side here. Climbing away from the river the described route has more twists and turns than Malcomn Turnball explaining why negative gearing is good for first home buyers (because their parents can buy them their first house in case you missed it, unfortunately for the kids most of the parents that I mix with are struggling to keep their heads above water and don't appear to be in a position to buy a house for their off-spring. oh well I must move in different circles to Mal). So anyway as I mentioned it pays to keep an eye on your map and notes along here as the route twists and turns as it slowly makes its way out of Angelsea. On meeting Messmate Track we made the side trip to check out the decommissioned Power Station and open cut coal mine, now I crapped on about this in my last post about Angelsea so I want go over old ground but I was slightly perturbed to be watched the whole time buy a security guard in his car as I took some photos of the environmental mess that is the derelict open cut, hmmm maybe they'd read my earlier waffle and were waiting for this feral trouble maker....?

Sam heading towards Angelsea Heath.

The Angelsea open cut.

We had a security guy watching us the whole time. This feral bloke he must be trouble!

Leaving the open-cut lookout to our mate in his security car (who left almost as soon as we did) we headed off along Messmate Track towards Mt Ingoldsby. Messmate Track is a 4wd track that has wide grassy verges and makes for nice side by side walking, with only the last 50 metres before Mt Ingoldsby getting a little steep. At 121 metres we are not talking oxygen to climb this one but even so Mt Ingoldsby has its own trig marker hidden in the forest which gave me an excuse to stop for a minute to get a photo. The APWW now slowly meanders its way down to the coast via the western extremities of town and while the walk is hardly remote you don't have to get far off the roads before you get swallowed up by the scrub.

The Mount Ingoldsby Trig, at 121m you hardly need oxygen though.

Heading through O'Donohue Reserve the APWW past close to some houses but was still good walking I thought.

There are a few peeks out towards Bass Strait.

Eventually the route starts to cross some open grassy sections which allowed us some extensive views to the west and Aireys Inlet, its light house and the cliffs beneath it standing out in the late afternoon sunshine. After crossing the Great Ocean Road the APWW starts the second costal phase of the walk, dropping down onto the sand at 99W we slowly beach combed our way east towards Point Roadnight. The sun passing in and out of the cloud making for ever changing light and photos, although patience was needed. The beach sand along here was pretty firm even with a fairly high tide forcing us higher up the sand so the section to Point Roadnight was easy walking, and after climbing over Point Roadnight the easy beach walking continued up to the Angelsea Motor Yacht Club.

The light house at Aireys Inlet standing out in the late afternoon sun.

Bass Strait was looking almost inviting on this warm Autumn day.

Beach combing our way towards Point Roadnight.

The APWW leaves the beach to cross over the low Point Roadnight.

From the Angelsea Motor Yacht Club it looked like we could of rock hopped the coastline around to the Angelsea Surf Club but we decided to stick to the signposted route of the APWW instead and stay on the cliff tops. The walking track along here is very well benched and constructed and is the best bit of the walk in my opinion, there are lots of places over the next couple of kilometres where you can gaze out over Bass Strait. Passing above Soapy Rocks the route starts to parallel the Great Ocean Road for a short while, the amount of litter indicating that we were close to the Great Ocean Road lookout above Middles Beach, its obviously too onerous for people in vehicles to take there rubbish with them. 

We left the beach at the yacht club and climbed the track up onto the cliff tops.

Looking back to Point Roadnight.

The walk was now rapidly coming to an end, leaving the lookout beside the road the APWW meanders its way down towards the Angelsea Surf Club, now thankfully far enough from the road that the litter had disappeared again. Passing behind the surf club we soon arrived back at the Angelsea River, the route keeping close to the edge of the inlet and sometimes taking to boardwalks over the water, the soft late afternoon sunlight allowing for some nice photos. Crossing over the river on the Great Ocean Road bridge we headed past the new skate park back to the ute, taking my boots off and slipping on my fine dining Havaianas we once again headed into town for our afternoon tea, this time at Cafe Daniela, which is probably the pick of the casual dining options in town that I've sampled. Now suitably re caffeinated we jumped back in the ute and headed off on our 2 hour drive home, pretty content with life after another nice walk.

The last descent of the walk, Sam heading down towards the Angelsea Surf Club.

Late afternoon on the Angelsea River.

The end (or the beginning) at Angelsea.

The Dirt.

This is another walk out of Walking The Otways from the House of Chapman written by the Geelong Bushwalking Club. I'd rate this as an easy walk, we walked 13.9 kilometres and climbed 262 metres on this easy stroll. The walk features a river and wetlands, a bit of urban walking, some heathland, and then some coastal walking all on good tracks, the route is easy to follow and well signposted except for the bit from the pirate ship until you get onto Messmate Track, its still easy to follow and you won't get seriously lost but you need to keep an eye on the notes and the map. Angelsea is a nice seaside town that has all the facilities you could need for a pleasant day out.

Three Falls Walk, Great Otway National Park - April 2016

Who would of thought that doing a waterfall walk at the tail end of a long drought maybe wouldn't be great for scenic highlights, what's that.....oh its just me. Well against every bodies better judgment I decided to head down to Lorne anyway and revisit the Three Waterfalls Walk, not being a total imbecile I figured that even if the waterfalls were somewhat barren at least I could get some photos of an interesting section of the track as it passed through The Canyon. So after dropping Sam's boots off to be re-soled in the city we motored on down to the waterfront in Geelong for breakfast.

The Geelong Waterfront.

The Geelong Waterfront is a spot that probably needs a post of its own one day, there's plenty of nice restaurants and bars. After breakfast we headed to the National Wool Museum where we checked out the visiting Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, it was slightly depressing to see that all the photos in the under 10 category were vastly superior to anything that I've ever taken! After checking out the exhibition we wandered around the National Wool Museum for awhile checking things out. The wool museum is a slightly strange place in that not only does it concentrate on our history of riding on the sheep's back but it also features other exhibitions like the aforementioned Wildlife Photographer of The Year as well as a dinosaur exhibition. The main game is wool though and it was interesting to check out all the old machinery, as well as the mock up of the shearing shed. Maybe its just me but there is nothing more Australian than the smell of a shearing shed, when I was a kid when I wasn't travelling Australia in the cab of a truck then I was spending time on relatives farms who ran cattle and sheep, so maybe once again it is just me!

The Geelong National Wool Museum even has its own Pauline Hanson bollard ( actually I may be embellishing that a bit:)

Inside the National Wool Museum.

The Demon Duck of Doom, sometimes also known as Bullockornis lived 26 million years ago. 

Yeah, I know, one dinosaur checking out another.

Leaving the Geelong Waterfront we headed down the Great Ocean Road bypassing the bright lights and earthly delights of Lorne, we instead made our way to Allenvale Mill Site Carpark. The Three falls Walk starts by passing through a small private orchard, it feels a bit wrong but so long as you keep an eye out for track markers then its the right track. Leaving the orchid the track starts to climb and will do so for the next three kilometres, initially we climbed on a foot track and then on a management track, now high above the steep valley of the Saint George River. Looking down into the river it was obvious that the country was pretty dry as instead of rushing water cascading down the rocky bed on its journey to the sea today we could only see the exposed rocky bed. Even though there was a lack of water in the river the walking high above the valley was still pleasant enough and soon enough we arrived at our first waterfall, Phantom Falls.

Passing through the orchid at the start of the walk feels wrong but its right.

Just follow the markers through the farm.

Phantom Falls lived up to their name today, they were indeed Phantom, actually they were bone dry. Not to worry, I was half expecting it as the falls rely on water being released from Allen Dam upstream to get any decent kind of a flow over them, every time that I can remember coming here they have been pretty dry so it was no surprise that in a drought they'd be pretty barren. Still I climbed down to the base of the falls to get a photo of the damp rock face, Sam not only having the looks but also the brains in the relationship decided to sit and wait for me at the top of the falls. After puffing my way back up to Sam we headed along Henderson Track, climbing solidly up the 4wd track towards the turnoff to The Canyon, the clay surface of Henderson Track sticking to my boots and giving me an extra inch of height.

Climbing up the side of the Saint George River valley.

Phantom Falls.

There was plenty of wet clay on Henderson Track.

Reaching the start of Canyon Track signals the start of the best bit of walking on this trip, the walking track contours down off the side of a spur before getting to some rocks and disappearing, well maybe not disappearing but you have to look carefully to notice that the walking track heads down through some rocks into what appears to be a cave in the ground. Climbing down we popped out into The Canyon, the walking was now a bit adventurous for a little while and we needed to use our hands in a few spots. The track through The Canyon climbs around and over a series of obstructions in the confined gorge, passing through a damp and ferny environment while above us we could see the dryer forest on the steep sided hills. 

Sam, heading down Canyon Track.

The entrance to The Canyon.

The Canyon has a bit of adventurous walking.

We could see the dryer forest on the hills above The Canyon.

There were some nice ferny sections along this bit of track.

A few switch backs later and after passing through some excellent ferny sections we arrived at our second waterfall of the walk, Henderson Falls. Well there was a few trickles of water here making their way down the mossy rock face but it wasn't exactly a gushing torrent, still I mucked around for awhile trying to do something with the scene in front of me, somewhat ironically I'd carried my little gorilla pod with me today in the hope of getting some shots of the flowing water, so where normally I'd be balancing my camera on the nearest rock to get long exposure shots (basically any waterfall shot on my blog) today I was prepared, yep I had everything but water:)

Henderson Falls.

There are a few big Mountain Ash as the track sidles the valley sides above Henderson Creek.

Heading back down the valley we visited our third waterfall of the walk, Won Wondah Falls. Now seeing as we were now downstream of Henderson Falls I didn't have high hopes for Won Wondah Falls and my expectations were met, the rocky chute appearing bone dry from our vantage point at the lookout....not to worry I'll take a couple of shots of the lookout instead, yeah you know I'm struggling when I take photos of the lookout instead of the falls. The consolation prize along here was that the walking track was quite nice, benched into the side of the hill high above the valley floor as it climbed up to meet Sharps Road. 

The lookout above Won Wondah Falls was more impressive than the falls today.

Climbing up towards Sharps Road.

A few metres after meeting Sharps Road we turned onto Allenvale Road and headed back down to the mill site and the ute. Interestingly when we were leaving Sharps Road we noticed that the road was officially closed due to storm damage, there was no sign though at the start of Canyon Track. Sharps Road is also notable as being the spot to camp if you want to devise an overnight bush walk in this part of the Great Otway National Park. We were heading down to the ute now though, the easy dirt road walking making for a pleasant finish to our walk, arriving back at the car park at the Allenvale Mill Site just on dusk we threw our boots in the back and headed off home after what had been a fairly long day.

Hmmm, it seems Sharps Road was actually closed.

Easy strolling in the early evening light back down Allenvale Road to Allenvale Mill Site Carpark.

The Dirt,

I used the notes and maps out of Walking The Otways from the house of Chapman, the book is written by the Geelong Bushwalking Club. I'd rate this as an easy walk, we walked 9.9 kilometres and climbed 297 metres, the whole walk is on good well marked tracks with only a short roughish section through The Canyon. Obviously this walk would be better in late winter or early spring when the waterfalls are hammering but even without the falls flowing the varied flora on the walk will keep most people interested, the section of the route through The Canyon is also geologically interesting as well. Like I mentioned above the Geelong Waterfront offers plenty of choices for breakfast, the National Wool Gallery houses visiting exhibitions as well as the very interesting permanent wool exhibition, its easy to spend a couple of hours poking around.

The Otways are famous for waterfalls and ferns.