Sabine Falls

Cool temperate rainforest, tree ferns and small creek crossings make the approach feel different from the coastal lookouts. Steps and crossings can be slippery after rain; Parks Victoria also warns about uneven ground and unstable cliffs. Dogs aren't allowed.

From the platform, the falls descend in several narrow sections through the forested gorge. You won't reach the base, and the cascades can look small from that distance, so come for the full forest-and-waterfall walk rather than a close-up view. Include some of the surrounding forest in a photo; a tight crop can make the distant falls feel even smaller.

Sabine Falls lies near the headwaters of Smythe Creek, close to Mount Sabine. It's a stepped cascade, with three sections visible from the viewing platform. The falls are often described as the tallest waterfall complex in the Otways, though published height estimates differ, so the three-stage shape is the more useful thing to look for.

Mount Sabine may be named for Major-General Sabine, a president of the Royal Society while geologist Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn led Victoria's Geological Survey. The connection is plausible rather than certain; Mount Sabine appears on maps by 1865. An official walking track was built in the 1990s. In 2000–01, proposed clear-felling of two forest areas west of the falls, about 0.77 square kilometres together, drew local opposition.