Any Way The Dingoes

Day: 319

Towns / Cities Visited: 214

Countries Visited: 31

Steps Taken Today: 11,943

Steps Taken Around the World: 5,032,882

Another sleep interrupted by the wind flapping the fly on the tent, followed by another morning woken by the ear-piercing screech of cockatoos, left us less than enthused about having to pack up the tent. The only upside was that with practice, came increased speed, and we’d finally got it down to just over an hour to get everything dismantled and back in the car.

Bidding farewell to Colac, we made our way to the trailhead of one last waterfall before we left Otway National Park behind. Of course, that’s as simple as it looked going by Google maps. In reality, when it said we had reached our destination, we were just on a narrow road in the middle of nowhere: no landmarks, no signs.

Doubling back, I did some frantic internet searching and, stumbling upon someone’s blog, discovered that we had actually been in the right place to begin with. You see, the trail to South Chapple Falls is not run by Parks Victoria, nor is it run by anyone at all. The trailhead, if you could call it that, is marked simply by a tree, the trunk of which has been roughed up a little. Luckily, the blogger had uploaded a photo, and by lining it up with what we saw, we managed to find the hidden path winding away into the roadside forest.

The blog may have said the path was marked by sporadic pink ribbons attached to trees, but if it ever was, it was some time ago, as no trace remains of them. Still, it seems a well-trod trail, and is fairly easy to recognise in the undergrowth.

One challenging gully crossing and a short walk later, and we were emerging to a view well worth the trouble. South Chapple Falls, much like The Confluence in Tasmania, is one of those hidden gems you have to work a bit to locate, but when you get there, it offers rewards in abundance. It had all the charm of Beauchamp Falls from the previous day but without the lengthy hike and swarm of other tourists. It was just us, the crashing cascade, and a whole lot of nature tucked into that little amphitheatre of stone. Note to self: if I ever plan on tossing aside modern life and living as a hermit in the woods, this place is…