Cora Lynn Cascades

Cora Lynn Cascades is a small group of falls on Cora Lynn Creek, reached from Blanket Leaf Picnic Ground in Great Otway National Park near Lorne. Allow about two hours. Published route descriptions range from a 4.5 km return to a 5.5 km loop; either way, the walk drops to the creek and climbs back out. Go for the shaded forest walk as much as the waterfall itself. The creekside track can be muddy after rain.

The signposted track descends through tall eucalypts and tree ferns. Two small bridges cross Parkinson Creek and Cora Lynn Creek. Vegetation screens much of the water until the bottom steps, where a natural rock platform opens onto cascades crossing exposed shale shelves. The platform is the easiest place to take in the stepped run; keep some energy for the uphill climb back to Blanket Leaf.

From the rock platform, include a few of the ledges below the water and leave the ferns at the edge of the frame. That gives a phone photo more depth than a tight crop of water alone. Visitors have reported fuller flow after rain, though those same wet conditions can muddy the creekside path.

Cora Lynn Creek rises from a permanent spring higher on the mountain before spilling over the shale ledges. Tall eucalypts, peppermints and tree ferns shade the route. The picnic area's name comes from Blanket Leaf, a local bush with soft dark-green leaves and woolly white hairs underneath. You may hear Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Spotted Pardalotes or New Holland Honeyeaters in the canopy.