Mt St Leonard, Yarra Ranges National Park - January 2015

Following Condons Track up towards Monda Road.

The last Saturday in January promised to be a mild day with the chance of late showers so, with one eye on an up coming walk in Peru and the need to keep up some kind of fitness, I decided to head up to Healesville and walk a circuit up and over Mt St Leonard. I've walked this circuit before, although last time was in the opposite direction, and I remember it as being a bit of a ball breaker, just what I need for a training walk. One concession I made was to head off fairly early, I was at the trail head and ready to go by 9:30am, about the time I'm usually contemplating my second coffee on a normal Saturday morning.

The start of the walk at Donnelly Weir.

The first issue for the day was to find the correct trail, after scratching my head for a bit and looking at the GPS I figured that I should have a look at my notes, sure enough all was soon clear and I was on my way. Initially my route followed an open water race in the direction of Maroondah Reservoir, when the water race buried through the side of a hill I started to climb. I was aiming for a walking track called Condons Track but to get there I had to negotiate a maze of service tracks, I was walking through the catchment area for the reservoir which meant that most of the tracks were closed to the public. Luckily the route is fairly well signposted and on the couple of occasions that it wasn't obvious I just avoided the tracks that had no public access.

Easy walking initially along this water race.

Time to start climbing, the centre track is mine.

About an hour after leaving the ute I was at the start of Condons Track, I now would leave the service tracks and head up a walking pad for a while, this was also where the degree of difficulty might ramp up a bit if my hazy memory was correct. Immediately on starting up Condons Track the vegetation closes in, this isn't a bad thing however as its the soft and lush type of flora and not the hard and scratchy type that typifies a lot of the scrub in Australia. Its also prime habitat for lyrebirds and after hearing quite a few I was rewarded when I spotted one in the scrub, unfortunately there was too much flora between me and him (I think he was a 'him' because of the sexy tail feathers) to get a photo. Trudging on up the steepening track I got a few views through the trees to Maroondah Reservoir down in the valley to my right.

The start of Condons Track, the little stick figure walker looks a bit to jaunty to me.

The bottom of Condons Track has a bit of hardware to make it a bit easier.

The Mountain Ash has an under story of ferns.

Halfway up Condons Track I decided to have a blow for a couple of minutes and get some water into me. Putting the pack down something orange on the ground caught my eye, on closer inspection I found a yabbie (if anyone knows the correct name let me know) making its way through the leaf litter on the ground. So now instead of having a relaxing drink I spent the next ten minutes crawling around the bush on my hands and knees trying to get a photo of the yabbie, I'm glad his old mate Mr Tiger Snake wasn't around as I shimmied around on my knees. Pulling myself away from the yabbie I continued on up Condons Track, the gradient easing towards the top, and after meeting an old fire track I soon popped out on the large fire break that is Monda Road.

A yabbie on the track.

More climbing on Condons Track, the ground is dug up by Lyrebirds.

Near the top of Condons Track.

Nearing Monda Road the track gets easy.

Monda Road doesn't sound very inspiring for walking but its actually pretty good. The road is closed to traffic and you can either walk the gravel surface or the wide grassy verges on either side. Monda Road essentially follows the top of The Great Divide more or less staying on the crest, the only negative is the sections to the north that have been clear felled. After a bit of a break I headed off along the undulating road, in the distance I could see some dark clouds building but for the time being I walked along in bright sun shine. I left Monda Road near its intersection with Hardy Creek Road and took a wide grassy fire break up and over a hill, shaving a few hundred metres off the walk but adding a few metres of climbing at the same time, on rejoining Monda Road over the hill I only had a little while to go before I left it for good and turned to the south towards the summit of Mt St Leonard. The last section along Monda Road is actually part of the Bicentennial National Trail that runs from Cooktown in far north Queensland to Healesville in Victoria, I think that one will have to wait till I retire!

Monda Road, clear felled to the right, water catchment to the left.

Monda Road.

I headed straight up the grassy fire break.

A BNT marker.

The summit of Mt St Leonard was now in site and within reach but there would be no view today, as I was stumbling up the last climb from the north the cloud was overtaking the summit from the south, I'd missed getting a view by a few minutes, oh well. On getting to the summit I climbed up the old fire spotters tower ignoring the huge new tower and telecommunication structure looming above me in the mist. Sitting on top of my pint sized tower in the cloud I was hoping for a break in the weather however the longer I stayed the wetter it became, so after scoffing down some lunch and giving Sam a call (who was sitting in a cafe on the Mornington Peninsula having lunch with Belinda) I figured that it was time to start the descent.

The large fire tower on Mt St Leonard.

On top of the old tower, the weather wasn't getting any better so I thought that I'd better head off.

Finding an old overgrown track heading down the spur to the north I quickly lost height, I was pretty keen to get down before it got too wet as the track was fairly steep and slippery and a bit of rain wasn't going to improve the situation. I'd dropped out of the cloud when my old track met up with Road Eleven coming in from my right, the gradient now lessoned a bit making for easier walking, only the occasional shower scudding through added to my discomfort. Road Eleven  like Monda Road makes for good walking being closed to traffic and having a wide grassy verge to walk along. It was on this grassy verge that I had the highlight of the walk, I had another Echidna sighting but this time I managed to get a photo of the Echidna's head, it was only a couple of posts ago that I was lamenting my inability to get a photo of anything but an Echidna's bum. After my Echidna encounter it was less than an hour down the road and I was back at the car park at Donnelly Weir.

The Mountain Ash near the top of Mt St Leonard.

It took me about twenty minutes to drop down out of the cloud.

Hey Hey, I've finally got a photo of a whole Echidna.

And another one.

The Dirt.
I walked 26.1 kilometres and climbed 1218 metres according to the GPS and was on the track for 7 hours. I used the maps in the GPS as well as the VICMAP 1:25,000 Juliet North & Juliet South topo map. I also used Chapman's notes from the first edition of his Day Walks Victoria book, the walk is #33 in the book, the walk isn't written up in the later edition. Its a fairly hard walk with a lot of climbing and Condons Track is particularly steep and can be slippery and overgrown. All that said the walk goes through an increasingly rare thing, some un-burn't Mountain Ash forest, the Mountain Ash are a beautiful majestic tree that don't like being repeatedly burnt in hot bushfires, unfortunately a lot of our Mountain Ash trees are now having to be re seeded by helicopter due to the frequent hot bushfires that now tear through the hills.

At Bingley View on Road Eleven, I'd come down from the tops that are covered in cloud.

The Coast Track, Royal National Park - August 1999

I'm writing this post up on Australia Day and seeing that our PM is trying to take us back to the 1950's with his Australia Day Knighthoods I figured that I'd take us back to the last century as well. While it may not be the Menzie's era that our PM yearns for, 1999 was a good year for us. This was our first walk on The Coast Track in Royal National Park. We drove up from Melbourne overnight in the 'Troopie', and after arriving at the Bundeena end at 4:00 in the morning we jumped into the back for a few hours sleep, at 8:00am my mate Dave turned up to transport us down the coast to Otford where we shouldered our packs and set off.

Who is that fool with all the hair, oh wait....

Day 1       17 kilometres         Curracurrang
This was our first walk in Royal National Park and immediately we noticed the difference in  the flora between here and Melbourne. The most notable plant was the huge flowering the Gymea Lily, from where I stood they looked pre historic and they have become a favourite of mine. The track headed through dry forest for a while skirting around the valley that leads down to Werrong Beach, the clothing optional beach, unfortunately there was no convincing Sam that we should go down for a swim. After the Werrong Lookout the track descended to Palm Jungle, the route getting a bit indistinct as it made its way through the sub tropical Jungle.

Sam at the lookout above Werrong Beach.

After Palm Jungle the track comes out onto some open grass land on a headland above Figure Eight Pools, in those days the track wasn't to bad, now its a metre deep trench although I think there are plans to fix it up a bit. The day was cool but reasonably fine as we then made our way past the old shacks at Burning Palms, climbing and descending a few times we continued past South Era and then North Era, the currant camping area for the walk. We had a while to go back in 1999 however, first up we rock hopped around Thelma Head (now days you are encouraged to climb over the headland due to falling rocks on the coastal route), then we passed the old surf lifesaving club and kiosk at Garie Beach

Above The Figure Eight Pools.

Looking back towards Garie Beach from Curra Moor.

We then got into what I now know is the best part of the walk, The Curra Moors. The route from Garie to Wattamolla being mostly along the top of high sea cliffs through coastal heath. The views along this section are extensive and the walking fairly easy. I remember being particularly enthralled by the sight of Curracurrong Creek tumbling into the sea from the high cliffs. We pushed on in the now late afternoon light eventually arriving at sea level at Curracurrang and the official camping area, finding ourselves a flat grassy ledge just above the water level we quickly settled in for the night.

I'm not sure if this statue is still there, just after climbing up from Garie Beach.

Garie Beach.

Curra Brook.

Day 2       12 kilometres       Bundeena                  29 kilometres total.
We had a peaceful night on our own in this magic location, the only people to disturb us were a couple of rock fisherman who came past in the early hours of the morning. Sun rise lit up the small rocky cove in a golden light which I tried to do justice to with my cheap camera. After breakfast it was time to hit the track again. First stop for the day was Wattamolla and its kiosk and toilet, after grabbing a cool drink it was time to head off again.

Sunrise Curracurrang.

Notice the yellow tent, what a superb spot to spend the night.

Looking back towards Providential Head.

My old water filter.

From Wattamolla the track skirts inland for a bit before once again coming out on the cliff tops for some more superb walking. Once on the cliffs the track heads north towards the wild Little Marley and Marley Beaches, it was hard to believe that there was two wild uninhabited beaches like these probably only 20 kilometres as the crow fly's from the Sydney CBD. Climbing up around Marley Head the high rises of Sydney came into view for the first time across the heath land. Once again the Coast Track follows the cliffs making for stunning, easy walking with continual views. All good things  come to an end eventually however and after crossing over The Waterrun, with some reluctance we turned away from the coast and made our way up through the the low heathland towards the trail head in a quiet street in the back blocks of Bundeena. Arriving back at the troopie just after lunch we were soon packed up and on our way back to Melbourne.

There was a bit of weather off the coast.

The track follows the open tops on the high cliffs.

Looking south near The Waterrun.

The Dirt.
We have been back to Royal National Park quite a few times over the years doing numerous walks around the park, it's a stunning piece of Australia. We have also walked The Coast Track another couple of times, the last time I wrote up a crazy guy journal, which was in April 2012, no doubt we'll revisit the walk again sometime as its a classic. The Coast Walk over two days is easy, some people do it in a day which would be a solid walk. You can access both ends by public transport from Sydney, Otford by train and Bundeena by ferry. The official camping area is now North Era I think. There are a few creeks that flow off the escarpment that I've always taken water from although I definitely treat it.

Last break on the cliffs.

You could see the buildings in Sydney's CBD from here, although maybe not in the scanned photo.

Climbing up to Bundeena through the coastal heathland.

North West Circuit, Stewart Island, New Zealand - December 2014

Well I've finally finished writing up my North West Circuit (NWC) tramp on my crazy guy journal, so I figured that as usual I would do a quick synopsis and post a link on my blog. My trip down to the deep south of New Zealand started with a few days in Invercargill which I did a post about here. After sorting out all the logistics I made my way down to Oban on Stewart Island, and after fixing up a few last minute details at the Department of Conservation (DOC) office in town I headed to The South Seas Hotel for an early lunch, quite an appropriate way to start a ten day walk I thought.

Arriving in Oban, just as the sun came out.

Day 1.     Bungaree Hut     19 kilometres.
The weather had been crap to put it mildly since I'd arrived in New Zealand but almost on cue as soon as I jumped off the ferry in Oban patches of blue sky started to appear. So that's how my ten day tramp started, under blue sky with the occasional shower quickly passing through. Today's walk consisted of three distinct sections. The first hour or so out of Oban found me following quiet roads along beautiful beaches making for very easy walking. The second section had me walking the first day of The Rakuira Great Walk, again a fairly cruisey walk along a very well engineered track. The last distinct section for today had me turning onto NWC near Port William Hut and starting my mud tramp, the degree of difficulty going off the scale within 100 metres of leaving the Rakuira Great Walk. I now tramped through the mud and roots for a couple of hours until, in early evening I popped out of the scrub onto Big Bungaree Beach and in the distance saw my hut for the night.

Horseshoe Bay.

Day 2.     Christmas Village Hut    12 kilometres         31 kilometres total.
My first full day on the NWC was a microcosm for the whole tramp, a few hours slogging through the mud, a beautiful wild beach, and then some more time in the mud. Murray Beach was the highlight of the tramp today, a beautiful golden sand beach, after finishing the beach the track follows the route of an old tramway for a couple of kilometres providing for relatively easy walking. After some more muddy climbing and descending the track comes to the stony Christmas Village Bay and Christmas Village Hut, like Bungaree this hut was situated on a grassy terrace above the beach, a perfect spot to spend the rest of the day.

Sections of the track were on the damp side.

Murray Beach.

Day 3.     Yankee River Hut 12 kilometres           43 kilometres total.
More climbing and descending muddy slopes today, half way through today's tramp I broke out onto the stony Lucky Beach and could see the snow capped Southern Alps seemingly floating above the Foveaux Strait. After a sunny interlude on Lucky Beach the NWC circuit climbed some coastal terraces which provided some views through the bush making for pleasant if muddy walking. After a long descent I arrived at Yankee River Hut in the middle of the afternoon, situated on a grassy terrace above the Yankee River it was a great place to catch up with the washing and sit in the afternoon sun.

The Southern Alps from Lucky Beach.

Mud Cam.

Day 4 Long Harry Hut     9 kilometres      52 kilometres total.

Today I had a fairly short day, only 9 kilometres but it still took me 4.5 hours. Today started in light rain so I was walking in my waterproofs which meant that in about 3 seconds I was sweating up a storm. My beach interlude today was Smokey Beach where I had the great experience of having a New Zealand Fur Seal surf in to check me out, barking at me from a metre or two away. After a deep ford of Smoky Creek I headed back into the scrub for the final section over to Long Harry Hut. Arriving at the superbly located Long Harry Hut in the early afternoon I spent the rest of the day doing my usual daily chores, eating, drinking, checking out the coast below the hut, and going on a failed kiwi spotting expedition.

The creek below Long Harry Hut.

The view from Long Harry Hut.

Day 5       East Ruggedy Hut     10 kilometres          62 kilometres total.
I was now slowly making my way around to the wild west coast of Stewart Island and the scenery was cranking up a notch or two, and so was the mud. The highlight of the day was the lookout high above East Ruggedy Bay, with the Ruggedy Island just off shore. Descending to East Ruggedy Beach I crossed the incredibly soft sand of Ruggedy Stream without sinking in the quicksand and made my way up through the extensive dunes in bare feet, arriving at my days destination East Ruggedy Hut in the early afternoon.

East Ruggedy Beach.

Mud Cam.

Ruggedy Stream.

My suite in East Ruggedy Hut.

Day 6      Big Hellfire Hut      14 kilometres             72 kilometres total.
Today was one of my best days walking ever. the weather was stunning, the scenery ruggedy beautiful, the track got even more challenging, and there was a breeze to keep the sandflies at bay. The day started easy with a fairly level and dry section over to the stunning West Ruggedy Beach, with rocky crags and islands framing the beach it was a great place to spend a little time, it was hard to take a bad photo. After another muddy climb I descended to Waituna Bay, with its rocky shoreline it contrasted with the sand of West Ruggedy Beach. There was a beautiful tannin stained creek flowing though the driftwood choked beach. Climbing away from the coast I traversed the most sustained mud so far on my climb to Big Hellfire Hut.

West Ruggedy Beach.

Superb scenery on West Ruggedy Beach.

The rocky Waituna Bay.

Waituna Bay with the Ruggedy Mountains behind.

Slogging my way up to Big Hellfire Hut up a river of mud.

Day 7       Mason Bay Hut     15 kilometres              87 kilometres total.
Today turned out to be the crux of the tramp, the weather was wet all day, the climbs steep and long, and the mud deep and slippery. The NWC climbs onto a ridge after leaving Big Hellfire Hut and is muddy to start with and only gets worse. Descending off the ridge to Little Hellfire Beach I had my walking pole sink to its hand grip in one mud hole on the track, a depth of 1 metre at least, hmm.....
After Little Hellfire Beach I had another steep and slippery climb over Mason Head, the descent being aided by some old fixed ropes. Arriving on the extensive Mason Bay I then had an easy beach tramp up to Duck Creek which I more or less followed through the dunes to the dry Mason Bay Hut. Sharing the massive 28 bed hut with only one other punter.

Looking down to Little Hellfire Beach from the ridge.

I've just topped out on Mason Head in the rain.

Hey, I'm still smiling despite the rain and mud.

Mason Bay Hut.

Day 8      Freshwater Landing Hut    16 kilometres    103 kilometres total.
Today I crossed the famed Chocolate Swamp, with all yesterdays rain I had an idea that I may be getting wet feet today, as it turned out I did get wet feet but not crossing the Chocolate Swamp but instead on the long straight section of the track along the old drain that the early settlers built to drain the swamp. Apart from the one short section of shin deep water today's walk was easy being basically flat, so I was able to give my knees a rest after yesterdays grunt. I was visited by a White Tail Deer that night at Freshwater Landing Hut which was the highlight of my stay, Freshwater Landing Hut is the only hut on the NWC that didn't really have a view, situated near a landing on the Freshwater River in the Manuka forest.

Boot drying at Freshwater Landing Hut.

Day 9      North Arm Hut   11 kilometres           114 kilometres total.
According to my guide book today was going to be a bitch, it suggested that it may take 7 hours of walking for the 11 kilometres, reading the log book at Freshwater Landing Hut it appeared that a lot of trampers take the water taxi from Freshwater Landing back to Oban and miss the last two sections, where's the fun in that? You know what? It wasn't too bad. The climb up, over and down Thomson Ridge was steep and muddy with lots of roots but overall it was no worse than what had come before. The hardest section for me was the traverse along the edge of North Arm with the NWC constantly climbing and descending although it was enlivened by me spotting my sixth kiwi of the tramp, this one I managed to get a dodgy photo of. After 5 hours I was at the Rakuira Great Walk North Arm Hut, which I shared with around 30 of my newest friends.

A stream cascading down off Thomson Ridge.

North Arm through the window of North Arm Hut.

Day 10     Oban      13 kilometres               127 kilometres total.
After a hot and uncomfortable night in the North Arm Hut I was glad to be on my way. The weather for my last day was overcast which was a shame as the track now passed a succession of bays as it made its way towards Oban. Now I was back on the Rakuira Great Walk track I didn't have to worry about mud, roots and creek crossings anymore, but I was already missing the adventure that was the NWC. Just on lunch time I found myself once again on the quiet roads on the outskirts of Oban, the tramp finished with me arriving a The South Seas Hotel just in time to partake in a couple of servings of Blue Cod and chips, washed down with three handles of Speights (the local brew). I've had worse finishes to a walk.

Kidney Fern Arm.

Back at The South Seas Hotal.

The Dirt.
I travelled from Invercargill to Stewart Island with Real Journeys, they are a local kiwi company which run a fleet of boats and coaches into wild areas of the country. You need a NWC pass which I purchased at the Doc office in Oban which allows you to use the NWC huts for up to ten nights, it cost around $35. If your staying at one of the Rakuira Great Walk Huts you need to purchase a ticket for them, around $22 per night. The South Seas Hotel was a great place to bookend my tramp, the beers good and the Blue Cod is superb. The NWC is a hard tramp, there are long sections of deep mud, sometimes in very steep terrain, lots of slippery roots and rocks, three sections on the beaches which are tide dependent, and worst of all clouds of sandflies. The good however easily outweighs the bad, the scenery was stunning, the huts were located in picture perfect locations and were uncrowded and clean, the wildlife was abundant, and the tramping challenging enough to give me  a sense of satisfaction at the end of each day. I used notes out of Hiking and Tramping in New Zealand by Lonely Planet, the Rakiura/Stewart Island Parkmap, my GPS, and also carried my PLB. If I've wet your appetite check out my crazy guy journal  its got a lot more detail and over 200 photos which will give a better idea of what's involved and why I loved it!

Have I mentioned the Sandflies?

Or the mud?

That makes this one about a metre deep, might be some lost trampers down there.