About Snobs Creek Falls
Snobs Creek Falls (also known as just Snobs Falls) was a surprisingly reliably flowing waterfall that seemed to have defied the drought-stricken conditions that plagued most of our first visit to Victoria in November 2006. In fact, not only was Snobs Creek possessing healthy flow, but the forest around its creek also seemed to have a healthy green instead of the sickly brown that was ubiquitous throughout the southeast of Australia. While the falls was officially said to have a drop of 100m, our views were limited to just the attractive main tier (pictured above) which was probably more like 15m or so. Thus, pictures really didn’t do this waterfall justice, and this was further reinforced by a new lookout closer to the top of the falls that limited the picture taking even more as of my last visit in November 2017.
From the parking bay alongside the unsealed access road, there were two paths to choose from. The path on the right led a mere 25m downhill to some small cascades further upstream of the Snobs Creek Falls. The path on the left descended and followed Snobs Creek for about 100m before reaching some newly-built metal walkway and viewing platform near the top of the main drop of the falls. Almost immediately downstream were more drops but there was no safe way to view them. On our first visit back in November 2006, this metal walkway wasn’t there, and we were actually able to get a more satisfying view of the upper drop of Snobs Creek Falls, which is pictured at the top of this page.
The old track used to keep going alongside the creek, but I suspect that for one reason or another, there were erosion problems. Thus, the scenic rating was reduced as a result of the reduced experience. Anyways, we were still able to get a partial scenic view of the valley further downstream of the falls from waterfall’s top. Overall, experiencing all of the lookouts and short walks here only took about 15 minutes making for a short detour as part of a longer drive in the Eildon area. It felt like I wound up spending more time waiting out the fine dust particles to settle after they were kicked up and suspended in the air for several minutes at a time whenever a logging truck would pass by the parking bay on the unsealed access road.
Finally, we learned that the name of this waterfall actually had to do with a West Indian bootmaker who operated a boot shop nearby. Apparently, the term snob was an old English word for someone who made or repaired boots. It had nothing to do with our first inclination of associating the name of the falls with some rich snob.
Since there were many ways of reaching Eildon and the Lake Eildon National Park vicinity from say Melbourne or Euroa, I’ll just focus on what I think would be the most straightforward and shortest route from Melbourne.
From the Melbourne CBD, I’d find my way north onto the start of the Maroondah Highway (Hwy 34) nearby the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Museum around the corner of Elgin St and Rathdowne St. Then head east on the Maroondah Highway (Hwy 34).
If pressed for time or can’t be bothered being mired in traffic, then it might be worth finding the way to Alexandra Parade further north or to Hoddle Street further to the east. Both streets have access to the M3 EastLink Tollway.
Eventually, the EastLink Tollway (M3) exits with the Maroondah Highway (still Hwy 34) at the suburb or Ringwood. The Maroondah Highway became the B300 Highway beyond the suburb of Lilydale. At around 5km or so northeast of Lilydale, I’d take the B360 fork on the right to continue on the Maroondah Highway. After about 41km, the B360 intersected with the C507 at Narbethong.
Overall, this drive would take on the order of 2.5 hours depending on the amount of traffic in Melbourne as well as the number of traffic light stops in its northeastern suburbs.
When leaving the area, given how narrow Snobs Creek Road was, you’re supposed to make a U-turn 600m further on Snobs Creek Rd instead of attempting a dangerous three-point turn at the trailhead.
Coming from the north, I was able to reach Snobs Creek Falls by way of Euroa, Merton, Yarck, Alexandra, and eventually Thornton to Snobs Creek Road.
If coming from Marysville, I was able to take the Buxton-Marysville Rd (C508) to join the Maroondah Highway (B360) due north, then follow the route to Taggerty and then to Thornton as described earlier.
For further geographical context, Eildon was 48km (over 30 minutes drive) north of Marysville, 89km (over an hour drive) south of Euroa, 139km (over 2 hours drive) northeast of Melbourne, 175km (about 2 hours drive) south-southwest of Wangaratta, and 587km (6 hours drive) southwest of Canberra.
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Checking out the falls from the metal walkway and lookout
Right to left sweep from the cascades lookout
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