Ruby Falls Rubicon, Victoria, Australia
By
Clever Monkey, UVTorch and Mitchaaa on 01-Feb-15. Waypoint GC5M7R0
Cache Details
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By visiting the external cache listing you are leaving the Geocaching Australia website.
Geocaching Australia is not affiliated with the original listing site for this cache.
Please click here to view the caches listing.
If you wish to log this cache, you will need to log it on the external site.
This will require a separate user account on that site. (More Details)
Logs
Thanks for the location Clever Monkey,
Unfortunately after making the pond at the bottom of the waterfall, I failed to find the Cache, though I looked under plenty of rocks. . I could not find a trail, just bits here and there, but after a few false starts and sliding down the last bit, I found........, Paradise! I cannot imagine it would ever be hot enough for me to swim, but just sitting on a rock being cooled by the mist coming from the falls, is my idea of heaven.
I couldn't see myself returning the way I come but I saw a rockfall a little further downstream which led almost to the road. It turned out a good route except for the last 10 metres of black berries. Fortunately I had a good pair of gloves.
Then I rolled all the way back to camp on my Bicycle.
Regards from Victourer
Unfortunately after making the pond at the bottom of the waterfall, I failed to find the Cache, though I looked under plenty of rocks. . I could not find a trail, just bits here and there, but after a few false starts and sliding down the last bit, I found........, Paradise! I cannot imagine it would ever be hot enough for me to swim, but just sitting on a rock being cooled by the mist coming from the falls, is my idea of heaven.
I couldn't see myself returning the way I come but I saw a rockfall a little further downstream which led almost to the road. It turned out a good route except for the last 10 metres of black berries. Fortunately I had a good pair of gloves.
Then I rolled all the way back to camp on my Bicycle.
Regards from Victourer
Hard to get in. Easy way out. No Phone no GPS. Just going on instinct with some paperwork from God allowing the bananas to find it this time. No technology required because we had been here before
4 years 10 months 28 days. Is that how long since they locked the gate?
One of those really unloved caches just out of Melbourne.
Many visits to this area, including one of our favourite treasures ever, is hidden around the corner. Won't say what it is because it is the end of a fantastic adventure.
Three of these visits were for Ruby Falls. It does not disturb the bananas missing a treasure. What is an adventure without a little struggle? Now it seems with the gate locked only walkers are allowed on the track, for everyone else, it's too hard. It is a very pleasant walk up from the power station in dappled lights past yet another power station. For an engineer, very interesting indeed.
But the final path from the top of the waterfall was particularly difficult. About an hour to travel the last 50 meters. Waterfalls and dense bush does that.
And finally success.
With the exit path determined the way out was so much quicker. None of those ankle grabbing blackberries others experienced. Though a few of those sticky stranded vines did grab our attention.
This is a wonderful treasure, almost as good as the neighbour.
So thank God we had permission to find it today.
And of course, we will be back, for some more Clever Monkey adventure around this area.
4 years 10 months 28 days. Is that how long since they locked the gate?
One of those really unloved caches just out of Melbourne.
Many visits to this area, including one of our favourite treasures ever, is hidden around the corner. Won't say what it is because it is the end of a fantastic adventure.
Three of these visits were for Ruby Falls. It does not disturb the bananas missing a treasure. What is an adventure without a little struggle? Now it seems with the gate locked only walkers are allowed on the track, for everyone else, it's too hard. It is a very pleasant walk up from the power station in dappled lights past yet another power station. For an engineer, very interesting indeed.
But the final path from the top of the waterfall was particularly difficult. About an hour to travel the last 50 meters. Waterfalls and dense bush does that.
And finally success.
With the exit path determined the way out was so much quicker. None of those ankle grabbing blackberries others experienced. Though a few of those sticky stranded vines did grab our attention.
This is a wonderful treasure, almost as good as the neighbour.
So thank God we had permission to find it today.
And of course, we will be back, for some more Clever Monkey adventure around this area.
What an adventure! Even with a DNF this was a pretty good one. We headed down from the top of the track, as the contour lines looked a lot more steady than coming in from below. 7km hike from the car and back, not including the crazy Bush bashing and rock scrambling, blackberry avoiding and machete hacking just to get down closer to the base of the waterfall, only to find we couldn't go any further except back, and we still had some distance to go. The GPS and my phone were not helping much, and we did a bit of searching before heading back up to the top, and then I spotted a different approach and we tried that, still about the same distance from the cache.. We think we know where it is but could not get there. On the walk back to the car we tried yet another route, only to find the bush was even thicker.
We will be back with vengeance.
We will be back with vengeance.
I don't have much to add from ilukaperi's log. The walk in was nice and cool, the walk out was stunning and not too taxing. The hard part was the 50 meters to the waterfall. Even with a machette, this blackberry infested terrain is unforgiving. Literally blood, sweat and maybe tears. We pieced our way through the blackberries, under logs, over rocks, no where safe to place your hands when negotiating your way up and down. The vines wrapping themselves around your ankles. It's terrible in there. The spoiler photo taken from the bottom of the falls would be damn near impossible to get these days I am sure.
We never got closer than about 15m I think, no matter which way we tried to come in from, and we came in from three different ways. However, judging from ilukaperi's log, she's going to drag me back in here again. Kicking and screaming I presume.
We never got closer than about 15m I think, no matter which way we tried to come in from, and we came in from three different ways. However, judging from ilukaperi's log, she's going to drag me back in here again. Kicking and screaming I presume.
Be sure if you are going to go for a walk to attempt this cache that you check out the spoiler images that are on the cache page and have been there since the very beginning. Phone service is patchy at GZ so maybe print them out and take them with you.
So much unloved the bananas just had to visit.
Try our luck.
So after a pleasant afternoon stroll up the mountain we thought we were in for an easy kill. No way. Not that the terrain was particularly difficult. It is just that the science in the sky was not helping. Up top 1 meter away. Down the bottom 2 meters away.
But it is a lovely walk. With good company. Time travels quickly as the sun set on our adventure.
Images might help out if no one else has success.
So many great places to visit. Always wonderful to come to this part of the world. So many great adventures in such a small area.
Including our all time favorite. Superman.
Try our luck.
So after a pleasant afternoon stroll up the mountain we thought we were in for an easy kill. No way. Not that the terrain was particularly difficult. It is just that the science in the sky was not helping. Up top 1 meter away. Down the bottom 2 meters away.
But it is a lovely walk. With good company. Time travels quickly as the sun set on our adventure.
Images might help out if no one else has success.
So many great places to visit. Always wonderful to come to this part of the world. So many great adventures in such a small area.
Including our all time favorite. Superman.
Logging a NM (that’s “needs machete”) for this cache. The road remains closed-off, and seems likely to remain that way forever.
Undeterred we made the 3km wander up the hill in glorious dappled sunshine. Reached the vicinity of the cache, to be met with a decision - cross above the falls or below.
We chose wrong, made our way 50m upstream and across on the fallen tree trunks, then our troubles started. Hate hate hate blackberries, hate hate hate thistles and hate hate hate that sword grass.
We thrashed and crashed for 40 mins to make 20 metres progress before deciding that this just wasn’t going to work. Another 20 minutes saw us back at the edge of the falls, sore scratched and tired. So we decided discretion was the better path and returned to camp.
Clever Monkey and co, this is the second of your caches that has defeated us this weekend. Thanks for the adventure
Undeterred we made the 3km wander up the hill in glorious dappled sunshine. Reached the vicinity of the cache, to be met with a decision - cross above the falls or below.
We chose wrong, made our way 50m upstream and across on the fallen tree trunks, then our troubles started. Hate hate hate blackberries, hate hate hate thistles and hate hate hate that sword grass.
We thrashed and crashed for 40 mins to make 20 metres progress before deciding that this just wasn’t going to work. Another 20 minutes saw us back at the edge of the falls, sore scratched and tired. So we decided discretion was the better path and returned to camp.
Clever Monkey and co, this is the second of your caches that has defeated us this weekend. Thanks for the adventure
Please note the gate at either end is closed until further notice. Bicycle and foot travel still allowed.
Road appears to be permanently closed - should be open at the moment and not closes until after the long weekend, if someone here in summer could confirm then that'd be great 
We were camping in the Rubicon State Forest and were hoping to visit the falls, however the road is closed at the moment.... We unfortunately didn't get time to reach the cache,however we'll be back....
This is my second visit here with no success. I think I know where it is, but still can't get to it. May need some tools.
Wow loved this Cache! Sorry for the late log I'm only learning. We found this on Valentines day! Had a tough time getting to the cache once we spotted the location. TFTC
Today we explored Rubicon and surrounds using geocaching as a guide.
Once at the lookout we could see where GZ would be, but had to determine which way to cross the river, as previous logs show cross the river at the top or the bottom. I chose to climb down the steep embankment at the lookout site and cross the river at the bottom of the falls, while dodging those stinging nettles and blackberries. At time of writing this log the stinging nettles are a reminder of the decent. Once at the bottom I gingerly crossed the river, trying to keep the phone out of the high tide mark. Once accross a climb to GZ and the cache was in hand. Mrs"T" watched from above as she tried to umpire the trek I was taking down to the river. At GZ I could be easily seen with the cache in hand. Thanks for the cache, glad the river was not too high for wading! Enjoyed thhe waterfalls.
Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache for our enjoyment.
Once at the lookout we could see where GZ would be, but had to determine which way to cross the river, as previous logs show cross the river at the top or the bottom. I chose to climb down the steep embankment at the lookout site and cross the river at the bottom of the falls, while dodging those stinging nettles and blackberries. At time of writing this log the stinging nettles are a reminder of the decent. Once at the bottom I gingerly crossed the river, trying to keep the phone out of the high tide mark. Once accross a climb to GZ and the cache was in hand. Mrs"T" watched from above as she tried to umpire the trek I was taking down to the river. At GZ I could be easily seen with the cache in hand. Thanks for the cache, glad the river was not too high for wading! Enjoyed thhe waterfalls.
Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache for our enjoyment.
I'd been to this location before and knew how awesome it was, so I was definitely excited to come back here. It was a perfect day for it and I frequently stopped to splash water on my face to help cope with the bright sun. I suggested we take the same route I'd taken on a previous visit and I'm glad we did. It was fairly easy climbing down following a well worn track. Heading down to the bottom of the falls is always spectacular, although there was't quite as much water flowing over them this time. There were quite a few fisherman though! TFTC
I saw the CO post a picture of the falls on a Facebook group a couple of weeks back and thought I'd love to check it out so I planned a weekend camp out with Screma for Valentines Day.
We made our way from Tatong this morning worried that the day might be a wash out with all the rain we've had. We had the windscreen wipers on most of the drive but as we arrived at Rubicon the sun broke through the clouds for a delightful afternoon.
We drove up to the falls and found a little track which we followed to the top. We proceeded to take a heap of photos as there was an amazing amount of water flowing down this afternoon. Once I decided to refocus on the task at hand, finding the cache, I noticed my phone not playing nicely with the satellites which didn't help in locating the cache. We scaled down the falls as far as we could but the GPS wouldn't get us closer than 18m. I suddenly had a brainwave... It's on the other side!
The next hour and a half was an adventure. First I looked for options of crossing above the falls, but the water was flowing rather quickly and I'd made a few risky moves before deciding to turn back. There was a large fallen tree across the river further upstream which looked like a viable option apart from the considerable bush bash back around through the new regrowth. We decided to walk down the road and see what was there. We spotted a couple of spots to cross so all we needed was a way down the steep slope. We saw a spot an made our decent on the soft soil and fallen trees, dodging blackberries and loose boulder as best we could. Now for the hard part, heading upstream through the scrub. This is the point where we sustained much pain from blackberry prickles and stinging nestle vines (it's hours later as I write this and I'm still feeling the stings). Half way through I asked Screma where her phone was... It was that hard going that she's not noticed it dropped from her hands. I headed back retracing our steps and somehow managed to spot it lying in the scrub.
Onward we went until we arrive at a point where there were a number of rocks just above the water level and thought this could be the crossing we need, but there was still a significant few meters of water to get over first. I summoned all the strength I had and pulled a few of the nearby logs from the debris and hurled them into the river. Luckily one got wedged which allowed the others to bank up. A crossing was made!
Over we went and shortly after arrived at GZ where the cache found quickly by Screma. Great spot, which a few more photos were taken at.
The return was a lot less epic as we spotted a steed but manageable exit from the river which had seemed to steep and slippery from the road. We scaled the hillside in no time and before we knew it we were celebrating our effort back at the car and remarking on all the scratches we'd earned. We even found a couple of leaches for our troubles.
This is a great location and I'm sure with less water this would be a lot less adventurous than our experience today. Lots of fun and the best valentines we've ever had!
TFTC
We made our way from Tatong this morning worried that the day might be a wash out with all the rain we've had. We had the windscreen wipers on most of the drive but as we arrived at Rubicon the sun broke through the clouds for a delightful afternoon.
We drove up to the falls and found a little track which we followed to the top. We proceeded to take a heap of photos as there was an amazing amount of water flowing down this afternoon. Once I decided to refocus on the task at hand, finding the cache, I noticed my phone not playing nicely with the satellites which didn't help in locating the cache. We scaled down the falls as far as we could but the GPS wouldn't get us closer than 18m. I suddenly had a brainwave... It's on the other side!
The next hour and a half was an adventure. First I looked for options of crossing above the falls, but the water was flowing rather quickly and I'd made a few risky moves before deciding to turn back. There was a large fallen tree across the river further upstream which looked like a viable option apart from the considerable bush bash back around through the new regrowth. We decided to walk down the road and see what was there. We spotted a couple of spots to cross so all we needed was a way down the steep slope. We saw a spot an made our decent on the soft soil and fallen trees, dodging blackberries and loose boulder as best we could. Now for the hard part, heading upstream through the scrub. This is the point where we sustained much pain from blackberry prickles and stinging nestle vines (it's hours later as I write this and I'm still feeling the stings). Half way through I asked Screma where her phone was... It was that hard going that she's not noticed it dropped from her hands. I headed back retracing our steps and somehow managed to spot it lying in the scrub.
Onward we went until we arrive at a point where there were a number of rocks just above the water level and thought this could be the crossing we need, but there was still a significant few meters of water to get over first. I summoned all the strength I had and pulled a few of the nearby logs from the debris and hurled them into the river. Luckily one got wedged which allowed the others to bank up. A crossing was made!
Over we went and shortly after arrived at GZ where the cache found quickly by Screma. Great spot, which a few more photos were taken at.
The return was a lot less epic as we spotted a steed but manageable exit from the river which had seemed to steep and slippery from the road. We scaled the hillside in no time and before we knew it we were celebrating our effort back at the car and remarking on all the scratches we'd earned. We even found a couple of leaches for our troubles.
This is a great location and I'm sure with less water this would be a lot less adventurous than our experience today. Lots of fun and the best valentines we've ever had!
TFTC
Joint FTF with taz-bud/Inkle and nannac-superpops
Great location, loved the view.. Taz-bud/Inkle was keen to locate and not give up...
Good day out
TFTC
Great location, loved the view.. Taz-bud/Inkle was keen to locate and not give up...
Good day out
TFTC
out caching with inkle and mdtt. Lovely place, pleasant on a hot day. logged our joint ftf, tftc
When this cache popped up I thought I might be able to grab a solo FTF … wrong! As I neared the location I passed a 4WD heading towards me, but it turns out they were just there swimming. So, onwards and upwards I go and when I near the end of the drive I see some people milling around. I was pipped at the post—however, they say every cloud has a silver lining—there was no way I would even attempt this cache on my own—just in case I slipped heading to GZ and couldn't get back to the car. So thanks must go to taz-bud/inkle, without whom I would not have signed the log. Log signed at 2:10pm TFTC!
