This was published 12 years ago
The perfect place, by gorge, to relax, cool off and get back to nature
By Miki Perkins
Ranger Peter Box at Werribee Gorge State Park, near Bacchus Marsh. Plentiful rains mean swimming conditions are ideal this summer.Credit: Pat Scala
THERE are not many places where you can see 500 million years of geological history spread across spectacular magenta and umber cliffs that rise up around you.
Or swim in the river that winds through the valley below them - gurgling through rushes and around boulders - without being worried that urban pollution means you're about to end up with a nasty ear infection.
Walk along the Werribee Gorge and you might be under a few misapprehensions. First, that you have somehow ended up in the Northern Territory - such is the palette and grandeur of the landscape - or that you are near the Melbourne suburb of Werribee.
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Neither is right. Werribee is about 40 kilometres away and the Werribee Gorge State Park, named for the Werribee River which runs through it, sits on the outskirts of the pretty market garden town of Bacchus Marsh, on the Western Highway about an hour from Melbourne.
''People like coming here because it seems so untouched,'' says ranger Peter Box. ''Often you're the only person here, you can just sit down and enjoy the quiet.''
Because of its rugged and steep slopes, the gorge has remained in a relatively natural state, with its steep cliffs covered in a creamy flush of hop bush and saltbush and the lower valley a mix of wattle, grey box and ironbark trees.
And now is the time to visit if you fancy a dip. Two years of good rain mean that the river has enough water in it for visitors to cool off, while in dry years it is reduced to a trickle.
The park is home to many animals, including platypus, koalas and peregrine falcons - Mr Box points out the distinctive white splashes of guano from their nests high up on the cliffs.
The name Werribee (originally spelt Wearibi) is thought to come from an Aboriginal word meaning ''swimming place'' or ''backbone''. Several geological surveys were carried out in the 1880s, and the area was reserved in 1907.
There was some timber felling and gold prospecting during the 1930s Depression and an aqueduct was built from the gorge to Bacchus Marsh, with remnants of this old water course still visible today.
Walk into the gorge from the Meikles Point car park and you pass a number of small paths that snake off to the river where you can choose a sandy beach or find a jumble of rocks on which to bask like a lizard.
Werribee Gorge is about eight kilometres west of Bacchus Marsh via the Western Freeway.
This reporter is on Twitter: @perkinsmiki
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