Grey Mountain Mishap/Top of Pelverata Falls Surprise

16/06/2015

Top of the Falls

Nine of us met on a dreary Tuesday morning to either celebrate finishing exams or procrastinate from actually studying.  The plan was to summit the mighty Grey Mountain, located in the Snug Tiers.  However, some navigational errors resulted in a last minute change of plan and saw us reach the top of Pelverata Falls instead!

Some of the road art encountered

Access to the walk starts at Van Morley's Road, Margate.  Just past the primary school in Margate turn right onto Van Morley's Rd and basically drive along until you no longer feel comfortable driving.  The road is initially in very good condition, but deteriorates rapidly.  We made it 7.5 km along the road until a convenient  parking spot was found.  We jumped out of the cars and continued to follow the road.  We were glad we left the cars where we did as the road got particularly bad, full of pot holes and boggy.


We followed the road ignoring minor side roads.  We thought that it was best to just follow the main road all the way to the top....turns out this wasn't quite right.  We should have made a left turn at one of the intersection.  However, not really paying attention and just blindly following the leader we ended up at swampy area that seemed to be a dead end.  Confused, we eventually found another road with 4WD marks, so decided to follow that.  After a while we realised that we were off track.  We eventually got out a GPS and realised that we were in the completely wrong spot.  We discussed about whether we should go back and find the turn off, but that plan was dismissed as it was unlikely we would have enough day light to get to the top of Grey Mountain and back to the cars.  We then thought about going off track and cutting through to the road that would take us to Grey Mountain, but given how boggy the area was this seemed like a bit of a ridiculous plan.  Instead we saw that Pelverata Falls was marked on the map and was just at the end of the road we were on, so that became the new plan!

Bridge to the swamp

The track leads you right to the top of the Falls and its quite a dramatic drop!  Reminded me of the top of Cathedral Rock.  Given the amount of rain we have had recently the falls were full.  We took a lunch break at the top and explored the area at the top of the falls.  We also spent some time trying to get the attention of people at the viewing platform at the base of the falls...but to no avail.

More Road art.

We wandered back to the cars happy with our discovery of a way to the top of Pelverata Falls.  It started to rain on our way back, so we were glad that we skipped trying to find the top of Grey Mountain. Anyone planning on doing this walk may find using a GPS that shows the roads useful. And of course carry a map and do a bit of research online first. Also be aware that you do need to turn off the main road.  Gaiters are also a good idea as the area is very muddy!

All up it took about 5 hours including a leisurely lunch break at the top of the falls.