Yankee Gully, Brisbane Ranges National Park - October 2014

Spring is normally a good time to head into the Brisbane Ranges, the biting cold of winter has gone and summers baking heat has yet to arrive. Normally there is still a little water in some of the creeks and there are generally a few wildflowers to brighten up the dry forest. I've walked in the Brisbane Ranges a fair bit but always find it hard to capture the essence of the place in a photo, the dry eucalypt forest doesn't lend itself to a spectacular photo, or at least it doesn't when the camera is in my hands. It's an interesting area to visit however with all the gold mining history so I guess I'll just persevere with the photo's.

The walk begins at the old courthouse in Steiglitz.

So, after spending the morning organizing next years trip to Scotland and with Sam catching up with Bel and her new baby, I decided to head to Steiglitz and do the Yankee Gully walk as described by Chapman in his Day Walks Victoria book. As usual I didn't pull up at the start of the walk until well after 3pm, if there is one thing I'm good at its a late start. Pulling on my boots whilst sitting on a picnic table at the old court house I notice straight away that the temp was already getting to the 'it's pretty warm for a walk' range. Looks like it may be a short walking season in the dry forests to the north and west of Melbourne this year, I'd noticed on the drive in that most of the dams were very low, not a good sign in spring.

Climbing up and around a small gorge on Sutherland Creek.

Heading off from the old court house I tracked down towards Sutherland Creek past the signs marking out where various streets were located when Steiglitz was a thriving town in the gold rush, all that's left now were a few wheel tracks and some introduced trees. This first section up until The Crossing Picnic Ground used to be the start of the three day Burchell Trail, now parks have shortened the trail so that it start at The Crossing, I'm not sure why as the first bit was always enjoyable, and that's how it was today. On reaching Sutherland Creek the route almost immediately climbs high onto a bluff to bypass a small gorge (although you could easily rock hop through) giving me a good view of the creek below from the rocky bluffs.

Sutherland Creek.

Descending to Sutherland Creek again I was soon looking for the exit point where I new I had to leave the creek and head up towards the Meredith Road on Deadmans Track. I remember from past visits climbing a waterfall, so when I spotted a waterfall with an old cairn marking the spot up I went, now either I climbed the wrong waterfall or parks have realigned the track, as when I got into the gully above the falls there was no track. Oh well, no real drama, I figured that the track would be on a ridge to my west so I just climbed up through the open scrub until I intersected the track within a few minutes. Back on Deadmans Track I followed  it through a series of grassy valleys and open dry forest until I eventually popped out at Meredith-Steiglitz Road. From there it was straight down Hut Road to The Crossing Picnic Area.

The track slowly climbs to meet the Meredith-Steiglitz Road.

I didn't hang around the picnic area for too long as there were quite a few people there enjoying the balmy weather and I looked like a bit of a bushwalking dork with my gaiters and walking poles. I now headed off along Yankee Gully on the Burchell Trail, Yankee Gully showed plenty of signs of the mining that went on here 150 years ago, parks vic have placed a few signs at places of historical interest on this section of the walk. The walk up Yankee Gully was generally up hill but very easy, I even had a couple of wildlife encounters one with a shy wallaby and another with a koala grunting and growling in the trees.

A wallaby in Yankee Gully.

Some of the wildflowers that were out.

Durdidwarrah Road.

Popping out of the scrub at Durdidwarrah Road I was now at the high point of the walk, although at just over 500 metres it hardly counted as high. After walking down the road for a few minutes I turned to the east along Hay Track, this was a new track for me as I'd never explored down here before.  Hay Track descended towards Sutherland Creek beside farm land, nearing the bottom I took a pad marked by a cairn that led me to the open flats beside Sutherland Creek where the Italian Mine had been situated back in the day. A huge mullock heap on the other side of the creek being the most obvious reminder of the mine.

This is the small cairn that marks my foot track down to Sutherland Creek.

The old wooden bridge, coming into Steiglitz.

The large mullock heap left over from the Italian Mine.

Crossing over the old wooden bridge I was back in the (almost) ghost town of Steiglitz. I spent a little while checking out the old town and its old buildings before heading back to the ute at the court house. All that was left to do now was to give Sam a call and let her know that I'd be home in a couple of hours, kick off the boots, and then settle back for the drive home.

There is plenty of history if you poke around Steiglitz a bit.

Steiglitz

This building looked like an old church.

The Dirt.
I did walk number 15, Yankee Gully, out of John Chapman's Day Walks Victoria, the guy is a bushwalking guru. Parks Vic would no doubt have free stuff on line for the Brisbane Ranges or Steiglitz Historical Park. I would definitely recommend a decent map as the area is cris crossed with tracks and most aren't sign posted. There is generally very little surface water in the park and anything that is found should be treated, also be careful if exploring off rack as there are plenty of open mine shafts hidden in the scrub.
According to my GPS I did 9.2 kilometres and climbed 301 metres, that sounds about right as I did a little exploring off the route, I'd rate this walk as easy.

Someone's done a good job of renovating this cottage.

The old Steiglitz Courthouse.

It looked better in real life.

Back at the ute after another relaxing walk.