Ferntree Gully Forest, Dandenong Ranges National Park - 14th June 2014

Like last Saturday the forecast for this Saturday was a bit ordinary, overcast with showers. What to do? Figuring that a rainforest was best seen in the rain I decided to head up to Ferntree Gully and do the Ferntree Gully Forest walk in Chapmans book, Day Walks in Victoria. The ranges were obscured by cloud on my drive up so I wasn't expecting much in the ways of views, I'd be relying on "atmosphere" to get any decent photos today.

The start at the picnic grounds in Ferntree Gully.

Parking at the base of the thousand steps I was relieved to see that the weather had thinned the number of "lycra digger's" that like to test themselves on the steps. Checking out the Kokoda memorials on the way I was soon at the start of the 1000 steps. The track from here up is made easy by the edition of concrete steps and is made enlightening by the plaques commemorating various points of interest on the real Kokoda Trail. The plaques also make a good excuse to stop and get your breath back.

Heading through the forest to the start of  the 1000 steps.

The plaques were a good excuse to stop .

Climbing higher the mist started to overtake the scenery, the DSLR was packed away warm and dry and all my photos are with my Canon waterproof camera. The walk up the 1000 steps was better than usual as the rain bought out the colours in the ferns and the mist added the hoped for atmosphere to the trees. The track itself was a bit wet and slippery but really it wasn't to bad considering the amount of traffic it gets.

A Rosella sitting in the ferns.

The 1000 steps were a little wet and slippery, but at least it wasn't crowded.

The mist is starting to close in as I go higher up towards One Tree Hill.

Popping out of the rainforest at the top of the steps I made my way through the cloud to the summit of One Tree Hill. Once I was of the steps the number of punters thinned dramatically, I would only encounter a dozen or so walkers for the rest of the walk. I now followed a series of fire tracks down towards The Basin, gradually losing all the height I'd gained, first up I followed Tyson Track, then Outlook Road, Mystic Track, before taking a unmarked short cut down to Hansen Track, which I followed all the way down until right on the edge of suburbia at The Basin.

One Tree Hill.

Heading down Tysons Track.

This is the short cut Chapman describes in his notes, head straight ahead down an old fire track.

The route now turns onto Chandlers Track and starts a 200 metre climb to Chandlers Hill. It was on this climb that the weather really turned shitty, it was now well and truly pouring down. I wasn't to worried though as I was well over half way back to the ute, a bit of rain wasn't going to kill me. Reaching View Track there were no views today instead I started another descent down to Macedon Track and another climb. If your getting the impression that there isn't a lot of level walking on this walk you'd be right.

The only patch of blue sky I saw on the whole walk.

Chandlers Track.

No views today.

To use that little used meteorological term, its pissing down!

Finally I met Bellview Terrace in the gloom, I now had a fairly easy walk downhill for about 2.5 kilometres back to the ute. The highlight of the trip down was a Kookaburra sitting in a tree beside the track, I scrambled around trying to get a decent photo of it but I was dealing with a pretty piss pour zoom on my camera, oh well. Dropping down lower, the houses of Upper Ferntree Gully started to come into view as I dropped out of the cloud, 15 minutes later I was back at the ute drying myself of for the short drive home, it was nice to be able to measure the drive home in minutes rather than the usual hours.

Ferns to the side of Macedon Track.

Bellview Terrace, its all down hill now.

The Dirt.
Like I mentioned earlier I used the notes from John Chapman's Day Walks Victoria, my GPS dropped a cog during the walk so I'll use his stats, I walked 9.9 kilometres and climbed 690 metres, I was on the track for around three hours. The Thousand Steps section of the walk is best avoided on sunny days as it looks like half of Melbourne's lycra set make the journey to test themselves, if you move at the pace of a Sloth like me it tends to create a traffic jam on the narrower parts of the steps. This is the second time I've done the walk, last time it was pretty hot, this time I definitely enjoyed it more in the rain.

A kookaburra beside Bellview Terrace.

Out of the cloud.

The end shot.