Date: 12th of November 2025
Rating: ★★★★☆
Entrance: 3.6m
Materials: Concrete, Redbrick, Bluestone
Shapes: Round, Box, Balloon, Arch
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Date: 18th of December 2025
Entrance: 2m
Materials: Concrete, Redbrick, Bluestone
Shapes: Round, Balloon
Rating: ★★★★★
Como falls may be one of my favourite drains in melbourne. Start to finish it is about 3.5km long and takes a couple of hours to see all the good features so it makes for a good summer day expo.
What is now called Como falls used to be the second half of Prahran main drain, with the first half being Anzac. Sometime during the 1950s they cut the drain in half and diverted it north towards the river, and then later duplicated the diversion.
The first little feature of this drain I'm not really sure what it used to be. There is a small 1m pipe that quickly opens into an old section of 1.8m muddy RCP. Perhaps they moved the outflow when they duplicated the diversion.
This section of the drain may be the most boring, it is just straight RCP for about 800m before the drain turns to brick.
There are a few connecting pipes that link the old and new sections of drain together.
Here is where the drain used to connect to the bum of Anzac. The majority of the drain from here onwards is old redbrick dating back to atleast the 1920s.
The first redbrick junction has two pipes, the right one is the southern loop and almost immediately goes to a waterfall and continues on to the next junction.
The lower left pipe leads to the northern loop and has a few bluestone sections and can get pretty low. There is a grille that can supposedly be opened but I had no luck doing so.
Sadly I didnt get any photos of the bluestone but I did get some shots of the dry redbrick and concrete. This section of drain comes out at a concrete junction room at the end of the southern loop.
The image here is the grille that I have been told can be popped and used to exit. It's very heavy and looks like it hasnt been used in a long long time.
This is first of the three waterfalls that make up como falls, it is also the smallest of them too.
Being fully redbrick all of this might be a bit slippery so be careful with footing when climbing up.
Almost right after the last waterfall is the next one. This is a concrete fall with a bluestone base, much like the waterfall in the downstream section of maze.
The pipe to the right is what im guessing is the original main pipe of the drain. It stays redbrick for ages and has one of the scariest waterfalls I have seen in a drain.
This is the loop junction and it makes for a good spot to turn back if you dont feel like doing the crawl to get out, but there is still more to see further upstream.
The last time we went through this section there was a very strong gassy smell that made us a bit lightheaded so I would be weary here.
The waterfall itself is also pretty dangerous as the rungs are always a bit slimy. Further past the fall the drain continues as RBT for a pretty long time before eventually shrinking. There are a few grilles and if you venture long enough atleast one gutterbox you can exit from.
After some RCP the there is the last big junction of the drain. The right pipe continues and shortly becomes this redbrick pill shape like whats found in punctual and vampires cavern. The drain does get pretty shitty so I believe there is an open sewage connection somewhere up here. Ive heard there are some exits down here but have never bothered to go too far and check.
To exit the drain from here take the small pipe until it hits a junction then the exit grille pipe is right next to you. The small RCP next to the redbrick balloon will eventually lead to a guttebox but it is very public right on a main road.
