Victoria

Victoria’s 10 most magnificent waterfall walks

Hopetoun Falls in Victoria

Sue Hewitt

Posted June 04, 2020

Go chasing waterfalls. These are 10 of the best and most beautiful walks in Victoria.

You may be shivering as winter chills, but now is actually the best time to throw off the covers and go chasing waterfalls. Creeks and rivers swollen with rain are feeding spectacular, thunderous waterfalls around Victoria and give you the chance to stroll, hike or take wheelchair-friendly paths to see nature at its most magnificent.

You can listen to nature’s soundtrack as water crashes down a well-worn rockface or watch a rainbow shimmering in a misty spray.

Couple at Nigretta Falls

Nigretta Falls

10 of Victoria’s most magnificent waterfalls 

Here are 10 of our favourite waterfalls, but be sure to check on conditions with Parks Victoria before you go and ensure you comply with the 1.5-metre social-distancing rule. 

Daniel McLaughlin, regional director of Parks Victoria, says while waterfalls can be magnificent, they can also be dangerous, so it’s important to take care. 
 

  • Be careful: Respect safety barriers and warning signs and stay away from cliff edges. 
  • Check the weather forecast: Beware of sudden changes in weather and check if the area you’re going to is prone to flooding.
     

Agnes Falls

Agnes Falls Scenic Reserve, South Gippsland

Love a hidden gem? In the rolling green hills of the Strzelecki Ranges, the Agnes River feeds a powerhouse waterfall that cascades over rocks into a deep picturesque gorge. Torrents of water plunge 59 metres, making these the highest single-span falls in Victoria.

Stretch your legs and take a short stroll through a blue gum forest to the viewing area or lay down a picnic rug for a feast in the shade of trees. It’s about 200 kilometres from Melbourne near Toora, and about an hour’s drive from RACV’s Inverloch resort.

Triplet Falls

Great Otway National Park

Walking to the three impressive cascades that make up this Otway waterfall, which is about two hours' drive from RACV Torquay Resort, you sense the age of the surrounding rainforest in the smell of sweetly decaying vegetation feeding the earth. Stands of mountain ash and myrtle drip with water on the two-kilometre, one-hour walk to the falls where wildlife abounds. A series of elevated platforms give the best views and a spot for contemplation. (More: Best walks on the Surf Coast.)

Dights Falls

Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne

City bound? There are options close to home. What Dights Falls lacks in size, it makes up for in convenience because it’s only a few kilometres from the city. It’s an artificial weir built on a natural rock bar in the Yarra River complete with rapids and is just downstream from the river’s junction with the Merri Creek. The falls are set in Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne’s largest natural bushland park and a place for urban exploration.

A five-kilometre loop walking path starts at Kanes Bridge near the Studley Park Boathouse and passes the falls then returns, while a 6.3-kilometre walk takes you from the falls to the Hawthorn Rowing Club, the oldest in Victoria.

Cora Lynn Cascades Waterfall

Great Otway National Park

There are several remarkable waterfalls within cooee of the Great Ocean Road, such as Erskine Falls and Beauchamp Falls, but they can get crowded. The Cora Lynn Cascades Waterfall, however, requires a little bit of effort to get to, therefore weeding out the faint-hearted. (More: 11 of the best places to stop along Great Ocean Road.)

The 5.4-kilometre round hike over hilly terrain through a rainforest with tall eucalypts, giant tree ferns and wildlife like the bright-red king parrot, can build up a sweat. Although the waterfall isn’t big, it’s impressive with water spilling over shale ledges framed by lush moss and ferns.

Buckley Falls

Buckley Falls Reserve, Geelong

Take a walk and learn some history. This quiet slice of nature is named after the convict William Buckley who escaped Victoria’s penal colony in 1803 and lived with the Wadawurrung people in the Geelong region for 30 years.

The Barwon River, including the placid Bunyip Pool near the falls, was an important source of fish and eels for Indigenous people. Popular with families, it has gentle paths, picnic areas, car parks and a ‘rock hop’ for kids, with rocks to hop on to cross the Barwon River shallows.

Trentham Falls

Trentham Scenic Reserve Road, Trentham

Let it rain! These stunning falls, one of the longest single-drop waterfalls in Victoria, plunge 32 metres over ancient basalt columns, and come into their full glory in winter. It’s an easy walk from the carpark through lush bush to the viewing area but there is no access to the top or bottom of the falls due to unstable and steep cliffs.

Bottom view of Lady Bath Falls

Lady Bath Falls

Ladies Bath Falls

Mount Buffalo National Park

In the days when ladies preserved their modesty, the well-to-do took a refreshing but private dip in the waters of Ladies Bath Falls on the way to Mount Buffalo chalet. In the early 1900s travelling parties stopped a few kilometres from the base of the mountain and the men and women separated to bathe in different spots.

Ladies Bath Falls is a short 400-metre walk from the main road and plunges into a clear pool of icy water. A little further on are the Upper and Lower Eurobin Falls where Crystal Creek falls in sheets over granite rockfaces.

MacKenzie Falls

Grampians National Park

Fed by the pristine waters of Lake Wartook, these falls provide a spectacular show all year round. There’s the roaring cascade of water plummeting from a 40-metre-high cliff to a pool below, sending fine mist skyward, capturing rainbows.

Parks Victoria says the two-kilometre walk to the base is steep and includes 260 narrow steps, making for a difficult trek back up. It suggests an easy, wheelchair-friendly alternative – a trail of 1.9 kilometres through stringybark forest to the MacKenzie Falls lookout.

Hopkins Falls

Cudgee

So you’re a selfie addict? Well, Hopkins Falls about 15 kilometres from Warrnambool hits all the bases – amazing backdrop, jumping baby eels and camera stands on viewing platforms.

The falls are 90 metres wide and plunge 12 metres over dark basalt rocks in a curtain-like formation and at this time of year baby eels jump rocky ledges.

Steavenson Falls

Marysville

Bouncing back from bushfire and COVID-19, regional Victoria has numerous must-see waterfalls including Steavenson Falls in Marysville. It’s an easy walk to the falls, which opened to the public in 1866 and drop 84 metres into the Steavenson River Valley.

More: Victorian towns to visit on a revival road trip.