Ship Rock Picnic Ground — Attraction in Melbourne

Only a true waterfall enthusiast would go out of their way for this one, but if you're ticking Victorian waterfalls off your list, this one is within 1.5hours of Melbourne and there are other things to do in the area which means you can make a day of it.

Located a short drive out of Gembrook, there is a dump toilet at the picnic/campgrounds. It's only a 170m walk to the viewing platform but you can't really appreciate the falls from here. If you're able bodied you can scramble down for a closer look from this side, but the falls are much better admired from the OTHER side. So, after you follow the sign to the viewing platform, go back to it and walk straight ahead before veering down to the left. There's no formal path but you can carefully make your way down and appreciate the falls better from this side. 30-45 minutes is sufficient time here for someone who likes to take amateur pictures of these falls. I don't think it's suitable for little children but my 8 year old was capable of it. There is a goliath boulder on the way to the viewing platform and a way to climb it: I wasn't game enough to give it a try however!

We had lunch in Gembrook at Spencer's before doing an afternoon walk elsewhere. Bunyip State Park isn't far if you...

My partner and I walked the short distance from the carpark, past this amazing huge boulder/rock, that has climbing bits along its side, if you want to tackle the climb...we just kept walking past the rock and along the path down to the Ship Rock Falls...the platform looks out over the falls...which was flowing nicely due to the rainfall the area had had the night before...if you were brave enough, you could follow the tracks past the viewing platform down for a closer look of the falls...we were happy on the platform, as we guessed with the rain the night before, the track and rocks further down could have been wet and slippery, so we collected some wild flowers instead back up near the rock to take to family we were going to visit...there were a number of butterflies around on our walk...and the sounds of the birds surrounding us were great too...nice place to visit. Easy walk...slight up and downs along the way...if you just take your time, it's a nice walk to...

I had some people who regularly camp at Kurth Kiln take me to the falls and I was pretty stressed about the walk but they convinced me I would be fine. I’m glad they did. Even with my fibromyalgia and arthritis in my back the downhill slope was manageable. Any steeper though and I might have been in trouble on the way back. While the falls themselves aren’t huge, they are pretty and surrounded by beautiful vegetation and lovely rock formations. Well worth the short walk. I got some great photos of the area and my...