Beauchamp Falls, Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia

9 February 2019

Beauchamp Falls, Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia.

You'd be forgiven for thinking we only have Waterfalls and beaches here in Victoria. And you wouldn't be wrong. I ride my kangaroo to work every day at the waterfall only stopping to lie on a beach drinking lattes. Melbourne life.

Beauchamp Falls is probably the prettiest waterfall we've visited so far. The walk to the waterfall isn't too shabby either. Depending on dawdle time it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to hike to the falls. The bush is dense cool temperate rain forest. Lots of Mountain Ash, ferns and myrtle. I had to google the myrtle. I wouldn't know one from a eucalyptus tree if you poked it with a wattle stick. But it is a lovely forest with many hidden gems... except actual gems.

We found one of the rare carnivorous Otway Black Snails (Victaphanta Compacta). They are very rare and only endemic to the Otway Ranges. They have a distinctive shiny black shell. Usually when we see signs saying keep an eye out for the platypus or koalas or yowies it usually means you definitely won't see one. But on this walk we did see the snail. To be fair it wasn't as if it could out run us.

The waterfall is beautiful with fairly high 20 metre drop to the cool billabong below. There is an absolute plethora of scenic waterfalls in the Great Otway National Park, but this may be the pick of the bunch. Erskine Falls, see our previous video, is spectacular but it is too accessible for tourists who tend to sully the experience. Beauchamp has a moderately strenuous 45 minute hike to get there so tends to dissuade the fast food wrapper littering crowd.

We probably saw a half dozen or so other hikers at the falls. A few went if for a swim including a lovely German couple we met. I should mention that it was freezing on the day we went. February temps usually hover around the 30 degree mark but on this day the temp had dropped to 8 degrees. Yes, 8 degrees, in the middle of summer. It made for a lovely walk but the water was freezing. So a big no from me as far as taking a dip at the falls.

The falls are set amongst rocks, beautiful ferns and tall eucalyptus. It is quite a lush rain forest. It is only a couple of hundred steps down from the upper observation deck into the cool gully at the base of the falls.

Beauchamp Falls is an easy trip for a family day trip from Melbourne. Dog's aren't allowed so we had to leave Cassie home. Beauchamp Falls is in the Great Otway National Park just outside of Beech Forest in Victoria about 2 hours from Melbourne. The falls are on a Dappeler Creek.

There's loads of other places to see in the area too, including the Great Ocean Road, a bunch of other waterfalls including the nearby Hopetoun Falls, Lake Elizabeth, beaches and the beautiful Otway Ranges.

Check out Beauchamp Falls on Visit Victoria

Check out our Youtube video below: