Lower Kalimna Falls Walk

Lower Kalimna Falls Walk is a 6.5 km return from Sheoak Picnic Area through a creek valley to a modest waterfall under a broad, undercut rock ledge. Allow about 2½ hours. It is an easy walk when dry, with the unusual payoff of stepping into the recess behind the falling water and looking out across the pool. This route turns back at Lower Kalimna Falls; the Upper Falls extension is a separate, longer walk.

Start at the lower car park at Sheoak Picnic Area and follow the Lower Kalimna Falls Track beside Sheoak Creek. At the signed junction, take the spur to the right and descend to the base of the falls. The 6.5 km includes the full return to Sheoak; retrace the creekside route on the way back. Toilets, picnic tables, an information board and gas barbecues are at the picnic area. Dogs are not allowed on Great Otway National Park tracks.

The lower waterfall drops over a wide ledge into a pool edged with mossy logs and rocks. The overhang makes a cave-like recess where you can stand behind the curtain and look back across the water. From that recess, frame the falling water with the pool and ferns beyond; it shows why this modest drop feels different from a standard lookout.

Timber tramways carried wood from this forest to Lorne Pier from the 1890s until logging ended in the 1920s. Historical markers explain that work. A few very large trees escaped the logging and still rise above younger forest along the walk.

The path passes tall eucalypts, tree ferns, other ferns and wattles. Listen for white-throated treecreepers, grey shrikethrushes and eastern yellow robins; flowers and fungi vary with the season. The track can be muddy after rain, and the waterfall's flow changes with recent weather, so expect slicker footing on wet days and less water in drier spells.