About Marriners Falls
Marriners Falls was a small but quaint 7m waterfall nestled in the forest lands in back of the coastal town of Apollo Bay.
It was the last waterfall we were able to squeeze in on a day when we visited at least five others before darkness fell.
Being on the Barham River East Branch, it seemed to have pretty reliable flow though we were also helped by a few consecutive days of a freak Antarctic storm that seemed to dump more rain in the Otways than anywhere else in Victoria.
That said, our visit here in November 2006 was in the midst of a major drought in the southeast of Australia so the waterflow we witnessed here was definitely not the norm compared to our other waterfalling experiences throughout the state.
The thing about accessing this waterfall was that we had to earn it with a relatively long one-hour walk (roughly 3.4km round trip) involving several stream crossings (we counted about 5).
We followed the signs and the track was pretty straightforward to follow so we knew exactly where we were supposed to cross the river each time.
Fortunately, most of these crossings involved just a bit of nifty boulder hopping to keep our feet dry though we did come prepared with some trekking poles to make these stream crossings even more of a breeze.
Given the fairly primitive nature of the track and even the unsealed access roads to get here, we felt like we were in an area that wasn’t very well visited.
The area was surrounded by a native growth rainforest more typical of the Otways and contrasted mightily with the beach town vibe of Apollo Bay.
Then again, given its close proximity to the coastal town, I reckon it ought to be a very popular spot.
We just happened to be there towards the end of the day when it was rather quiet.
Finally, one thing worth mentioning was that we tried to do this hike again on a visit in November 2017, but signs mentioned that it was closed indefinitely.
We are not sure whether there will be a re-opening of the track in the future, but it didn’t seem like Parks Victoria was interested in working on it from what we could tell.
Authorities
Marriners Falls resides in the Great Otway National Park near Apollo Bay, Victoria. It is administered by Parks Victoria, which has informed us that the trail is closed indefinitely. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
To reach Marriners Falls from the Great Ocean Road in Apollo Bay, we’ll describe the most straightforward route.
First, we took Nelson St (just south of the main drag through town) inland for a few blocks (about 600m) to MacLachlan St.
Turning left onto MacLachlan St, we then drove out of Apollo Bay as the road became the Barham River Rd.
We pretty much continued on the Barham River Road to its end about 12km later.
For the last 5-6km, the road was almost single-lane unsealed road so we had to be careful about blind turns and fast cars (usually locals who know these roads) going the other way.
This drive took us roughly about 20 minutes.
For geographical context, Apollo Bay was about 200km (over 2.5 hours drive) southwest of Melbourne along a more inland route, but it was about 189km (about 3 hours drive) southwest of Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road.
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