Getting there
Hopetoun Falls is about a 20-minute drive from the very small town of Beech Forest in South Western Victoria. The drive takes you down into the Otway National Park along some logging roads (beware of fast driving logging trucks). From there you will need to walk for about 10 minutes down a steep staircase of about 200 steps. The walk is quite steep and narrow in places and a reasonable level of fitness is advised.
Bonus tip, fill up your car with fuel before you enter the Otways as fuel stations are few and far between. This forest is not the place you want to be stuck in with no transport.
Best times for photography
The falls face the west but they are in a steep gorge with plenty of tree cover behind the crest of the falls. For this reason, they will photograph well morning or evening. The image in this post was taken at 8 pm in January.
The falls can be packed with tourists in the evening too so a morning trip before dawn with a head torch is advised.