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  • Length: 14km

  • Duration: 4hrs

  • Grade: 3

  • Style: Circuit

  • Start: Woolrich Lookout

  • End: Woolrich Lookout

  • Location: Dandenong Ranges

  • Closest Town: Olinda

  • Distance from CBD: 46km

  • State: VIC

  • Latitude: -37.86000217

  • Longitude: 145.3815684

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2WD Access
Large Car Park
Gravel Road
Public Toilets
Picnic Table
BBQ Facilities
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Dandenong Ranges...

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Olinda Falls and Valley is a 14km, grade 3 circuit hike, located in Dandenong Ranges, Victoria. The hike should take approximately 4hrs to complete.

Hike Summary

The Olinda Falls and Valley Circuit is a very picturesque walk through the Olinda Forest area. This is a highly varied walk through some really beautiful native bush, but the R.J. Hamer Forest Arboretum provides some highly varied introduced trees. It can almost feel like a walk around the world. This version includes a short side trip to the Olinda Falls. You'll likely hear and see a lot of birdlife here as well, especially the Lyrebird.

Start at Woolrich Lookout, near the toilet block you'll see the Dam Rd track, follow that then follow Sequoia, Rock, KC, Rifle Range Gully and then Bartlett to reach the road. Follow that briefly looking out for Cascade Track on the right. Follow this until you see the side track off to the Olinda Falls to the right. The falls are quite small, but a worthwhile short visit. Return back to Cascade Track to follow that north until you reach Barbers Road. Turn right and shortly you'll see VW Track to your right. This is a fairly gentle walk uphill until you reach Barges. Take this left, follow to the junction to continue on Barges until you reach the junction with Georges. Continue along this, note it passes some junctions and eventually meets Eagle Track to take you to Valley Picnic Ground. From here you can take Black Hole Track, then Yallambee Way to join Matthias then back up to Woolrich Lookout.

About the region

Less than an hour from Melbourne, the Dandenong Ranges is a whole life experience away, offering breathtaking scenery, romantic hideaways and indulgent adventures. The Dandenong Ranges is a haven of hidden delights with scenic winding roads to quaint hilltop villages. There is an abundance of artist studios, craft stores and renowned gardens to explore as well as walking and cycling trails through mountain ash forests and clean, refreshing air.

Getting there

Make your way to Olinda, follow the Olinda-Monbulk Road for 900 metres approx, turn left onto Chalet Road. Look for the carpark at the lookout.

Tips

The area is a real maze of trails with many possible combinations to take. It is essential to take a map to ensure you don't get lost.

  • There tends to be a lot of vandalism of signs, so don't rely on these being there.
  • Leeches can be encountered so bring your favourite leech repellent/remedy.

GPX File

Total distance: 14237 m
Max elevation: 508 m
Min elevation: 254 m
Total climbing: 1085 m
Total descent: -1087 m
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15 thoughts on “Olinda Falls and Valley (14km)”

  5. I agree – it is a lovely walk, very varied scenery and quite challenging with the regular elevation changes. Beautiful scenery at the start especially. A little confusing at the KC track as there were fallen trees and we somehow stumbled inadvertently onto the boundary track and got a little lost. All in all, lots of fun though. Definitely need a map/enable gps with the route to keep on track. Thank you for the recommendation!

  7. This hike is really nice- it’s mostly shaded and on a mix of wide, well packed tracks and small, winding almost overgrown ones. These directions are good but you’ll need a good map – I recommend Maps.me – it’s free and works offline and all the tracks are on there.
    You can easily mix it up by taking other tracks and just exploring the area. It’s very beautiful.
    No water or toilets at the Valley Picnic Ground btw.

  8. Very grateful for the GPX map as a few times I wasn’t certain which route to take.
    Completed mid May 2018 – there are sections of fire trail that were very slippery and sticky clay that you’ll benefit from trekking poles or a good stick.
    I enjoyed this a lot but my favourite sections were definitely the more narrow foot trail parts through forest and when I go back I’d modify my route to include more of them.
    The arboretum is quite lovely in Autumn with the deciduous trees being all sorts of colours and the leaf confetti underfoot.
    No leeches encountered, but many interesting fungi to be observed.
    Saw a deceased dunnart (?), or other native small animal near the falls (not a rat, long nose).
    Pretty tired after this one!

  9. Hi all, did this hike today, has become a new favourite. Great variety, and trails, though definitely need a map/nav. I used the ViewRanger app with my Apple Watch 3, works so well using the Gpx from here, thanks.

  10. Any way of posting photos on here from the hike? I tried it today. After the rains it was quite nice! Definitely a reminder I need to keep fit haha.

    1. Hi Mikaela. I used to have that facility but unfortunately spammers forced me to turn it off. You can always email me the pics so I can include them.

  12. I did this hike today for the first time – I can’t believe I have not done it before.
    Beautiful!
    Great trails and a few muddy ones for fun.
    And a stunning variety of trees.
    However my GPS said 16km at the end not 14km as per the notes.

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