#2 of 46 sights in Great Otway
Sight · Great Otway National Park
A fern-lined cascade rewards the steep stair descent to the rockpool.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Otway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Otway National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Otway audio tourRecorded for this place
Erskine Falls: Two Ways to See It“Erskine Falls is coming up, with a thirty-metre drop into a rockpool surrounded by ferns. For the closer view, take the stairs to the base platform and allow about half an hour for the return walk.”
Plays as you drive up to Erskine Falls in the Parkwolf Great Otway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Erskine Falls is a waterfall in a fern-filled gully inland from Lorne, dropping about 30 metres into a rockpool. It is one of the Otways’ signature natural stops. Allow about 30 minutes for the 700-metre return walk.
The upper platform gives you a quick, elevated look at the cascade. The base platform brings you closer to the pool and fern-lined walls, but reaching it means a steep stair descent and a strenuous climb back. Choose the lower route for the close-up view; the upper one is the easier stop.
From the base platform, include the rockpool beneath the cascade so the waterfall and fern gully read together. The upper viewpoint gives you a wider view of the full drop against the forest.
The falls are on Eastern Maar Country. Their name follows the Erskine River, named for James Augustus Erskine (1812–1885), a central figure in Melbourne’s administration in the 1840s. The river name appears in correspondence by 1849.
Wildlife
204 sightingsKoalaMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
35 sightingsGrey KangarooMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
109 sightingsEchidnaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
58 sightingsKookaburraMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
97 sightingsSwamp WallabyMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
20 sightingsBrushtail PossumMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Otway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateCora Lynn Cascades Walk4.2 km · 1.8 hr · 1.8 km awayFern shade and stepped shale cascades on a creek walk.
ModerateLemonade Creek Track4 km · 1.8 hr · 1.8 km awayTimber bridges cross fern gullies beneath tall eucalypts.
ChallengingPhantom Falls Walk: Blanket Leaf to Allenvale Mill8 km · 3.5 hr · 1.8 km awayA hard traverse from Blanket Leaf to Allenvale via Phantom Falls.
ModerateFive Mile Track8.2 km · 3 hr · 3.6 km awayRainforest shade, two river crossings, and a walk out to Lorne.
EasyLower Kalimna Falls Walk6.5 km · 2.5 hr · 5.9 km awayA modest waterfall with a view from behind the falling water
ModeratePhantom Falls and The Canyon Circuit9.2 km · 3.5 hr · 5.9 km awayThree waterfalls, fern forest and a ten-metre rock cleft.ModerateLower and Upper Kalimna Falls Walk8.8 km · 3.5 hr · 5.9 km awayA ferny falls loop with an old tramway on the return.
EasyWon Wondah and Henderson Falls Walk3.6 km · 1.5 hr · 5.9 km awayTwo waterfalls, a giant eucalypt, and a fern gully finish
Sight · 0.3 km awayStraw FallsA rain-fed waterfall detour with a tricky river crossing
Sight · 1.6 km awaySplitter FallsA broad ledge waterfall on a challenging walk above Lorne.
Picnic area · 1.8 km awayBlanket Leaf Picnic AreaA shaded picnic stop between Lorne and Erskine Falls.
Sight · 1.9 km awayCora Lynn CascadesA ferny forest walk to cascades spread across dark shale.
Campground · 2.4 km awayHerberts (Wymbooliel) CampgroundA simple 20-site campground for an overnight stay.
Campground · 3.9 km awayBig Hill CampgroundAn unpowered forest camp with parrots and close-spaced pitches
Sight · 5 km awayPhantom FallsA fern-lined climb ends at a 15-metre cascade.
Sight · 5.1 km awayHenderson FallsA fern-gully cascade that gains force after rain.Parkwolf’s Great Otway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
