South
Chapple Falls/Glasgow Falls Walk
– Sunday 1 March 2015 – 1st day of
Autumn
Leader :- Kim
Attard. Walkers :- Rosemary Vince, Linda Carter, Odette Sheills, Helen
Cuell, Joan McMahon, Margaret Lennox, Sarah Coll, Alan Dow, Jenny Gna, Chris
Barr, Louise Kemp, Andrew Hackett, Les
Roe, Tim Cobb, Marion Bakker, Sue Mackay, Tilly Brynton, Cody Mills, Gile Behn.
The heavy rain the night before was no
deterrent for 20 eager walkers who travelled from all directions (and countries
– our 2 American’s) to arrive at Lavers Hill for a 9.30 start. The weather was
looking threatening, but when isn’t it in the Otway’s?
After a briefing from Kim, we set off
for our first destination – South Chapple Falls. We walked along a dirt track
and then down into the forest on a slightly overgrown track which received some
housekeeping by the one and only Allan followed by 19 pairs of feet to finish
off the job. We had plenty of time to
take in the magnificent rain forest in all its glory and the smells of the
fresh rain within.
Right on cue as we arrived at the falls
– the rain too arrived. This did not impede on the beautiful view. From here we re-traced our steps back up to
the road and headed down Morris track for around 6 kilometers.
A bridge was our marker to enter, once
again, into the forest heading to Glasgow Falls. We were not far in when a very
apparent obstacle was to stop us in our tracks. There sunning itself on a tree
which lay across the track - was a 1mtr tiger snake. The snake was not too happy to see us and we were
not too happy to see it, so with a little encouragement from our fearless
leader it went on its merry way.
The tree ferns we saw in this part of
the forest were so tall – “as big as they ever grow “, we were told.
The final decent down to the falls
required some handy work on a rope which had been very skillfully tied to a
network of trees. We mostly arrived at the bottom unscathed with a bit of
slipping and sliding on the way down. The Glasgow Falls are magnificent – such
beautiful scenery - huge boulders, rocks, ferns, moss and of course - the water
fall. STUNNING!!!
For the not so faint-hearted and with
a lot of help from Alan (thank you Alan we do hope your knee is still operating
after providing it to us as a step) - we were treated to a stunning view as we
sat (balancing precariously) on a ledge IN BEHIND the waterfall.
After enjoying our lunch in this very
special setting, we made our way out of the forest the same way we came in –
onto the Road and after quite a long drudge we stopped at the Lavers Hill
Swimming Pool for an afternoon snack.
Many years ago -this pool was used by the Lavers Hill School as their
only swimming pool. We were told “it was very cold” – surprise, surprise…
We arrived back at Lavers Hill at 4pm
to say our goodbyes.
Linda
Carter
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