Late evening on May 24th I set out to tackle the Moorabool Falls Trail. It had been an overcast and horrible day, so I had been putting off heading into the bush until the clouds departed. When it didn't look like that was going to happen, I finally decided to head out in the late afternoon heading into early evening.
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| Not surprisingly, this led into the car park. |
I arrived with roughly an hour of sunlight and it didn't look like the moon was going to be very bright that night. Given that the track was not familiar to me, I had not packed the appropriate lighting gear and the track ran next to cliff faces for much of the way, I decided to turn back and tackle the track first thing in the morning. I had decided to do this regardless of the conditions the following morning, as this is what had kept from going initially.
I went home initially feeling deflated and defeated, but had decided to prepare my gear that night, set an alarm and even went to the extent of laying out my clothes for the next day. When the following morning came, I was not only excited and prepared but I felt as if I was about to conquer an enemy that had previously gotten the better of me. Whilst this may seem a little dramatic, there is a strange sense defeat after a failed walk that only drives an individual further towards completion the next time.
I arrived the following morning right on sunrise, grabbed my pack out of the boot and got straight to it. I had walked around half of the trail previously, though I had turned back due to the appearance of dense bushland that would need to be cleared. I had returned this time with a machete strapped to my pack, should I need it.
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| Small for a machete, but light, reliable and tough where it counts. |
The terrain was mostly flat, a welcomed change to the hills and mountains that I had become accustomed to in the Ballarat area. As I had stated previously, the track ran parallel to cliff faces for almost the entire track, giving fantastic views of both Lal Lal Falls and Lal Lal Reservoir. Some of the area was fenced off, though it is worth mentioning that the fence was only erected in an area easily accessible by foot.
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| Whilst it was flat, it was also easy to traverse and still very pretty |
There were three park benches along the way, all easily accessible from the track, that were supposed to give a view of the reservoir. All these served as were unneeded rest stops along a well-defined trail that is relatively easy to traverse.
The trail did not start to become difficult or uneven until I reached The Salt Creek at around the half way mark. This gave me two options, to either stay on the track that I was on, or to take the less defined track along the creek. Given that my hands were still recovering from my adventure on the road less travelled, I opted to stay on the path that I was currently on.
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| The Alternate Circuit was covered in brambles. Probably best I opted not to take it |
Once the initial hill leading to the second leg of the track was dealt with, the rest was as flat as the first leg. It followed the same pattern of having cliff faces parallel to the track, though rather than being surrounded by open paddock on the other side, it was more of a pine forest. This was before the track opened up to a stair way that made it's way down to a viewing platform at Moorabool Falls itself.
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| The sign tells the story of both the Indigenous Australians that inhabited the area, what the falls meant to them and how it changed after European settlement. |
I stood on the viewing platform for quite some time, both admiring the falls and filming video footage for my YouTube channel. Hopefully when I come back in the Spring, the water will still be flowing and I will be able to spend more time at the falls.
I had initially attempted to walk back via the Salt Track, however this proved much more painful than I had first thought as the track was not only difficult to define, but it was also slippery and covered in thorny brambles. I decided against heading down the alternate track and headed back the way I came, that is not without a decent amount of cuts and bruises.
All in all, it was a very successful trip without too many mishaps. My main take away point is to make sure I head out early in the day so that I'm not worried about making it home before the sun sets. Alternatively, if I am going to head out just before night fall, ensure that I have the right lighting gear, make sure it's on terrain I'm familiar with and check the weather before I leave.
