Dandenong Ranges Walk, Dandenong Ranges National Park - November 2015

So after last weeks epic things returned to normal this week, instead of pushing through Grampians scrub I walked some nice clear trails in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The other thing that returned to normal was my Saturday morning routine, coffee, breakfast, the papers, more coffee and then lob at the trail head in the early afternoon. I suppose the one advantage of my sloth like starts is that I end up walking that late in the day that the low afternoon sun can help out with my photos a bit. Now before we get too far into this post I need to warn you that it is gong to feature a lot of big trees and impossibly green ferns, now I like big trees and ferns but if they are not your thing maybe this isn't the post for you.

Yeah, they'll be plenty of photos of trees in this post, this is Olinda Falls Picnic Area.

For todays ramble I decided to do one of the walks written up by Glenn Tempest, his Dandenong Ranges Walk, and while over the years I think I've walked all the tracks on the walk at sometime or another I'd never actually linked them together in this sequence, so I could claim that this was a new walk for me (not that I want to come across as a bushwalking nerd or anything!). Knowing the area fairly well has its advantages however, as when I arrived at the suggested start point of Olinda and found it overrun with day trippers from Melbourne, and with no parking options to be found, I was able to drive on a bit and park at the Olinda Falls Picnic Ground, a spot that I'd started numerous walks on over the years and I knew wouldn't be to busy. Sure enough the car park was only half full and I soon had the GPS re zeroed and my boots on, time to head off.

Plenty of ferns as well, this is on the climb up Mechanics Track.

Now if the photos have a bit of sameness about them, then the writing maybe a bit bland as well, basically everything went to plan so there is not much colour to fill in the post. Starting the walk at the 5.7 kilometre mark in my notes had me walking one of the most enjoyable sections first, the walk up Mechanics Track. The walk up Mechanics Track follows tributary of Olinda Creek upstream, the track can get a bit overgrown and crowded with ferns but today it was clear and pleasant to walk. The track stays in the shallow gully all the way up to Mechanics Reserve and the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, the gully being deep enough that for the most part I was unaware of the houses above while immersed in my green ferny world, the only noise I could hear for the most part were the local birds and the babbling creek.

Reaching Mount Dandenong Tourist Road the feel of the walk changes a bit, making my way across the busy road I entered the Mount Dandenong Arboretum. I now headed up through the arboretum and the introduced trees gave my photos a bit of colour, the walk now followed a gassy track all he way up through the arboretum until I met Ridge Road. Crossing Ridge Road I picked up the gravel Kyeema Track which contours around the western slopes of the Mount Dandenong summit, almost immediately I turned left up a steep un named track to visit the summit of Mount Dandenong. The steep climb had me puffing a bit but the camera around my neck gave me a legitimate reason to stop and get my breath back as I snapped away.

Mount Dandenong Arboretum.

Mount Dandenong is the highest hill closest to Melbourne, (yeah that makes sense you idiot!) well its the lookout most Melbournians visit for an aerial look at the city. Apart from a lookout the summit of Mount Dandenong also has a restaurant and reception centre, over the years it has had a bit of a chequered history, for a long period of time it fell into disrepair, now however its all go and the place was full of punters enjoying the nice weather while taking in the view and a meal. There is plenty of room to wander around up there though even if you don't want to go for a meal, I spent a few minutes trying to get a photo of the Melbourne CBD that looked half decent but the hazy sky didn't help me much.

The view to the CBD was a bit hazy today.

Sky High restaurant on Mount Dandenong.

Deciding that no matter what I tried I wasn't going to get the haze to clear I packed up and continued on my walk, where as the forest up to here had been towering Mountain Ash, the forest high up on the western slopes of Mount Dandenong was mainly Stringybark, like the Mountain Ash they too grow pretty much vertically straight up, although they are only about half as tall as the towering Mountain Ash. Returning back down to Kyeema Track I now followed the contouring track, first underneath the summit and then to the Kyeema Memorial Cairn. This is very near the spot where the DC-2 Kyeema crashed in poor visibility in 1938 on its journey from Adelaide to Essendon in Melbourne killing all 18 people on board, the spot is a little neglected now days and could probably use a little love.

The walk passes the Kyeema Memorial.

Leaving the Kyeema Memorial I passed the hang glider platform at Burkes Lookout and then passed underneath the transmission towers of Melbourne's commercial television stations, the channel 10 one is the biggest and also the closest to the track. Now I picked up Zig Zag Track and dropped steeply down the steep slippery gravel track before meeting up with Channel 10 Track and following that along to Dandenong Creek Track. Following the undulating Dandenong Creek Track I was now back in Mountain Ash and fern country which once again gave me plenty of excuses to stop and take photos. Since leaving the summit of Mount Dandenong I'd been walking along a succession of fire tracks but o meeting Olinda - Basin Road I picked up a bushwalkers pad that had me climbing to meet the wide grassy fire break of Ridge Road.

The Channel 10 transmission tower.

Climbing up the wide Ridge Road was the hardest climb of the walk, well at least initially. Putting my head down I trudged on and the hardest climbing was over in around 15 minutes when I arrived at the locked gate that marked my entry into Olinda. Passing through the gate I was still on Ridge Road but now it was a suburban bitumen street, the gradient a lot easier as I continued to climb for another 500 metres. Initially I thought that I would stop and re caffeinated in one of the many cafes in Olinda but as I made the short descent into town I could see that there was still way to many people around for my liking, so I decided to just walk straight through town a pass up the culinary temptations, I've probably got enough fat stored on me that I'd last a few weeks without eating anyway.

Lower down Ridge Road is a wide fire break, but it was a solid climb.

Ridge Road still climbing a little through the outskirts of Olinda.

Leaving town on Olinda - Monbulk Road made for an easy interlude on my stroll before, after passing the golf course I turned off and headed back into the towering forest along Golf Course Track. I was now heading towards Mathias Road through a section of the R.J.Hamer Forest Arboretum and once again the introduced trees, along with the wild flowers helped my photos a bit. Apart from the beauty of the trees I seem to remember that the R.J.Hamer Arboretum was established to help protect Olinda from bush fires as the introduced flora doesn't burn as fiercely as our native eucalyptus.

Turning onto the closed gravel Mathias Road the walk now contoured the slopes below the National Rhododendrum Gardens, although being surrounded by native bush you wouldn't even know that you were so close to the gardens unless you peruse your map. Now came the hardest navigational challenge of the walk, picking up the start of Predator Track, the track isn't marked and starts as a very faint pair of wheel tracks across a large grassy opening, once I hit the forest though the track was a lot more obvious and I followed it all the way down to Bartlett Track passing through another pretty grassy opening on the way. Meeting Bartlett Track it was a matter of turning west along it for a couple of minutes before making my way down to Doreys Bridge on Falls Road, yeah more ferns and Mountain Ash.

The route through the R.J.Hamer Forest Arboretum.

I now headed down to Olinda Falls to check them out, if you want to see a good photo of the falls don't look here, check out Mr Fiasco's work. If you want to see a dodgy photo with the camera resting on the safety rail you're in the right place. After checking out the top of the falls I trudged down to the base of the falls and attempted to take even dodgier photo's, this time using my knee as a tripod, who'd have guessed that wouldn't work out hey. While I was mucking around trying to use my knee as a tripod a group of tourists wandered down from the carpark, the old man posing for a photo while scooping up the water and drinking it, I suggested that maybe it wasn't a good idea to drink the water out of Olinda Creek seeing that there a a large number of houses in the catchment, I'm not sure how he has pulled up a few days later but he might want to google giardia.

Looking into the late afternoon sun at the top of Olinda Falls.

Like I said, check out Mr Fiasco's photos if you want to see how professionals do it!

All that was left to do now was to climb from the falls back up the the car park and the ute, throw my sweaty gear in the back and head home for a hot shower. An hour later I was walking in the door at home after another great days walking. Reading through this post before I click on the publish button it comes across to me as a bit like 'bushwalking by numbers' so I'll have to work on that in the future, I don't want to end up re-writing route notes.

The final climb of the day.

The Dirt.
As I mentioned at the start this walk was written up by Glenn Tempest in his 'Daywalks Around Victoria' book, its walk number 23 in his book. According to my GPS I walked 18.8 kilometres and climbed around 683 metres on this stroll. I'd rate this a medium grade walk. Starting the walk at the Olinda Falls Picnic Ground gives you a couple of options for food and drink, the first is Mount Dandenong about 3 kilometres in and the second is the Olinda township after about 12 kilometres. The walk follows well marked trails all the way, the only trick being to keep an eye out for the start of Predator Track, although if you miss it you can just wander down Falls Road and rejoin the route at Doreys Bridge, you're not going to get seriously bushed on this walk.

The Seven Dials, Grampians National Park - November 2015

In my last post I promised to toughen up the blog a little, I've been posting a lot of easy walks lately. I could almost hear people saying "that feral guy, I reckon he's a bit soft", not something that my middle aged ego is quite ready to accept just yet. So what to do, with limited (almost none) spare time at this time of the year that ruled out a multi day epic unless I went retro. That left me with a day walk, the forecast for Saturday in Melbourne was a little patchy and I figured that the mountains to our east would be even patchier and hey, I might want to harden up but I didn't mention anything about wanting to get wet! Gazing over to the wild west I decided that I would re visit a walk I did there around 13 years ago, The Seven Dials walk, from what I could recall this walk provided a fairly long off track section down a creek along with some fine views. Anyway that's how I eventually found myself laying flat on my back on the rocks in a creek bed, having just fallen around 2 metres as I'd tried to climb down a vertical log jam. Coincidentally it was about the same time that I muttered to myself "I'm to old for this shit", maybe I should listen to my aching body instead of taking any notice of my ego, which after all still thinks I'm an 18 year old boy!

Hey, some good news to start the walk, a new track that eliminated a bit of a road bash.

So anyway after visiting my parents, who happen to live an hour to the east of Melbourne, for our Christmas in November, I dropped Sam off at home and headed over to the Borough Huts Camp in the Grampians. Arriving at 1am I quickly had the tent up and drifted off to sleep with the pita patter of the occasional passing shower on the tent fly. The sun woke me next morning but I was slow to get up after yesterdays 20 hour day, preferring to listen to the odd shower passing through. Finally I decided to extract myself from my comfortable prone position and face the day. Within thirty minutes I was packed up and in Halls Gap for breakfast, I might be going hardcore but I still need coffee, now I'm crapping on about all this because I didn't actually get back to the start of the walk at Borough Huts until 10:30 in the morning, yeah the idea of driving up the night before was to get an early start so that worked well...

The new Grampians Peak Track.

The first section of the walk had me heading north along the bitumen Grampians Tourist Road and straight away I notice that things on the ground had changed, after about 50 metres I met the new Grampians Peaks Trail and it seemed to be heading in the direction that I wanted to go, sweet no road bash. The new trail transported me to the shores of Lake Bellfield, meandering through the dry eucalyptus forest, it was a nice start to the day. Following the substantial Boronia Trail above the eastern shore of Lake Bellfield I'd noticed plenty of Emu poo but hadn't actually sighted any yet, so I when I noticed a couple on the track a couple of hundred metres ahead of me I was keen to get a photo and for once they obliged, as I moved slowly towards them they stayed long enough that I was able to get a half reasonable shot.

Emus on Boronia Trail.

The sandy Boronia Trail.

The sandy Boronia Trail made for nice easy walking but eventually it was time to turn off and start what I figured would be some rougher stuff. First though I detoured down to the shore of Lake Bellfield to have a bit of a poke around, worryingly the lake looking quite low for spring. The view across the lake to the Serra and Wonderland Ranges is what draws the eye though with a succession of stunning peaks all demanding future exploration. So much to do so little time....

The Gums on the shore of Lake Bellfield were stunning.

Looking south over Lake Bellfield to the Serra Range

And looking north towards the Wonderland Range.

Climbing back to the Boronia Trail I crossed straight over and continued to climb up to an old tunnel that used to supply water to Stawell from the Grampians, taking the opportunity to have a drink while I tried to get a half decent photo of the tunnel. Now the fun would begin though, first up I had to find an old overgrown track heading along Long Gully, with no sign of any track though I decided to head across country in the general direction that I was meant to be heading and see if I could pick up a bit of a pad. After clambering over a fallen tree I did indeed come across a bit of an old track, the give away was a bit of benching into the hill. Walking a few more minutes I came across the remains of an old water pipe spanning the gully on a stone bridge, I was definitely in the right place.

The old tunnel that supplied water to Stawell in ye olde days.

Industrial chic bushwalking.

If your thinking of doing this route this fallen tree marks the spot to start heading up Long Gully.

Once you come across this old pipeline you're in the right gully.

My notes said to follow the partly overgrown Long Gully Track up over Long Gully Saddle before descending to meet Redman Road in around 4 kilometres. Now I knew I'd be doing a bit of off piste work on this walk, I'd worn my old work clothes in the hope that they would protect me a bit from the scratchy scrub. I didn't expect to be off track here though, my hazy memories of this walk involved a lot of scrub bashing along Bovine Creek towards the end of the walk but I recalled the start of the walk to be pretty clear. One of the reasons that I wanted to re visit this walk though was that the Grampians have endured floods and fires of biblical proportions over the last ten years and I was anxious to see how the bush had changed so I couldn't really complain if I found myself pushing through a bit of vegetation. Initially the walk up Long Gully was pretty easy even if the track had long since been swallowed up by nature, there was plenty of open leads through the scrub to follow and occasionally I'd find a bit of benching which indicated that I was still near my intended route.

Making my way up the old route of the Long Gully Track.

The scrub started to thicken as I climbed up Long Gully and by the time I got close to the high point at Long Gully Saddle I had to contour a little to the left (east) onto the lower slopes of Mt Cassell to avoid the worst of the scrub. Now for anyone who hasn't walked 'off track' in the Grampians its not always pleasant pushing through the scrub, and it was on my descent to Redman Road that I met my first large belt of the prickly scrub that the Grampians are famous (infamous?) for. Just how sharp is this scrub? I hear you ask (well I would if anyone actually reads this waffle), well along with my fetching hi-vis work wear I'd also bought some leather riggers gloves, and you know what, those little prickles could penetrate the leather.....fuck me. At least my navigation was going smoothly and after battling my way through the prickly scrub I popped out of the bush onto Redman Road opposite the Seven Dials Track, the exact spot that I'd hoped to.

The scrub as I descended from Long Gully Saddle got a little thicker and a little scratchier.

Barney Castle through the trees.

This is what I was pushing through, those pricks are sharp enough to go through leather riggers gloves.

The good news is that Seven Dials Track was as I remember it, well at least initially. The climb up Seven Dials Track was reasonably long but the grade is fairly gentle, the higher up I climbed the better the views became and I used the numerous open slabs to stop and get my breath back as well as get some photos of the rugged topography. Looking back the way I'd come the cliffs of Barney Castle drew the eye in the middle distance with the Mount Difficult Range visible in the distance. Visible through the trees above me to the west were the rocky turrets of the Seven Dials although they are hard to get a good photo of from the track. To my left was the headwaters of Barney Creek and on the other side of the small gorge there were was more of the rocky territory of the Mount William Range of which I was now surrounded.

Rocky slabs beside the Seven Dials Track.

Looking back down towards Barney Castle in the middle distance, the Long Gully route goes up the valley to the right of the cliffs.

The 4th Dial.

Reaching the saddle on Seven Dials Track I stopped for a bit of a break and rang Sam, I was now well over half way and pretty confident that even accounting for the rough walking along the creek I wouldn't be too late home. I was using John Chapman's notes and in bushwalking circles there is a measurement called 'Chapman hours', like 'dog years' the normal constraints of time as we know it don't apply. I was doing a walk that would take 7.5 Chapman hours to complete but I foolishly didn't multiply by the 'fat bastard' factor, it would turn out that I wouldn't be home as early as anticipated.

The rocky slabs of the Mount William Range.

Almost immediately after talking to Sam the Seven Dials Track turned to the west and disappeared, yes, for all intents and purposes it was gone, occasionally I could notice some benching but I was pushing through saplings with trunks as thick as coke cans. I was looking for another minor track heading off to my left but seeing that the one that I was following was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding bush I wasn't overly confident of noticing a lesser track branching off. Oh well, time to break out the map and compass, which along with the GPS had me confident that I was heading in the right direction. I was now descending steeply into Bovine Creek, the trick being to hit the creek down stream of the falls where hopefully I could find a way through the cliffs to the creek bed. The scrub on the descent was horrendous, occasionally I'd find the remains of an old track but just as quickly I'd lose it, so I was quite happy when I noticed the bare rocky slabs of Bovine Falls through the trees, I was even happier to find that I was down stream of the falls. Ten minutes more scrub bashing and I found an opening in the cliffs that I was able to scramble down into the relative sanctuary of the rocky creek bed.

A bit of scrub bashing on my descent to Bovine Falls.

Bovine Falls were a lot prettier than I remember from years ago, I've got a feeling the massive floods from a few years ago must have scoured the creek bed clean of all its dirt and debris. The falls themselves reminded me of country further north, the red rock in the afternoon sun had me thinking of the Gammon Ranges, although the surrounding bush was a bit too thick for the Gammons. Dropping my pack I wandered over to the falls and took along drink, even though the day was fairly cool for this time of the year I was working up a bit of a sweat pushing through the head high scrub in my heavy work gear. After quenching my thirst and refilling a water bottle I sat back and surveyed the scene, I was now in a remote valley and the way out was quite clear but what was also clear was that the old track that runs along the valley was completely gone, years ago it was just a pad fading in and out but now it had totally been reclaimed by nature, oh well not to worry I'd walk down the creek instead.

Bovine Falls.

One thirsty walker.

The creek bed made for good walking.

So, after a bit of a rest I set off down the bed of Bovine Creek, the floods had cleaned all the rubbish out and I found myself either rock hoping or walking over large slabs of rock. With the creek barely flowing the going was fairly easy though, I think that it was actually easier walking the creek bed than it was last time I was here trying to follow the old track. In a couple of spots the creek had scoured out huge over hangs with the late afternoon sun causing the cliffs towering above me to glow red. There was one problem with my creek bed adventure though and that was the log jams, they were a bitch, to get through them in the steep almost gorge like valley normally meant climbing over them and that is always fraught with danger. Sure enough I got to a big log jam that looked like giants had been playing pick up sticks, after having a bit of a look around I decided that the best option would be to climb over the top. So I picked my way across the dead wood at least 2 metres above the creek bed, being extremely careful where I stepped. I safely got across and was now faced with a 2 metre plus drop back down to the rocky bed of Bovine Creek, this was going to be dodgy. I spotted a couple of likely looking logs that looked like they might hold my weight but I really wasn't going to know until I was committed, oh well lets give it a go. Yeah, that's how I found myself lying on the rocks of Bovine Creek after it turned out that those logs were a little more rotted then I'd hoped, a 2 metre fall onto rocks, I'm getting to old for this, luckily my back and ribs broke the fall!

I presume that the floods had scoured out the creek bed, as the creek was relatively clear of debris.

More good walking.

These log jams almost did me in though, I ended up flat on my back climbing down from this one.

Slowly regaining my feet I was slightly surprised to notice that I seemed to still be in working order, my ribs were a bit sore but nothing too drastic. I pushed on down stream, the stunning scenery in this wild valley taking my mind off the pain in my ribs, my next problem didn't take long to rear its head though, first one leg then the other started to cramp, great. Now I used to swim competitively so I'm used to leg cramps but these bastards seemed to cramp all my leg muscles simultaneously, as I'd stretch one anther would go, oh what joy, all I could do is rest for a while and stretch and massage my legs, as I type this three days later my thighs still hurt! Eventually I got the cramps under control and resumed my journey, lower down the valley I got to a few sections where the creek was covering the whole of the small gorge, I probably could of climbed around the cliffs but by now I figured that the best course of action would be to just plough through, so I finished the last kilometres of my walk with wet feet.

With the valley opening up a bit I came across this old bridge that added a little interest and took my mind off my cramping legs.

The giant game of pick up sticks continued, although lower down the valley I could generally get around or over them a little easier.

I can see the road but it still required a little effort to make the last few metres.

I've just emerged like a Yowie from the thick scrub behind the sign.

The gymnastic walking continued all the way down Bovine Creek until I met the Grampians Tourist Road, the log jams lower down were generally a little easier to pass under or over but it was still slow walking. Meeting the Grampians Tourist Road I could see my walking nirvana of a clear road to walk on but the last few metre still required a serious scrub bash, climbing over the armco barrier I walked into the middle of the road, I never thought that walking along a bitumen road would be so enjoyable. I followed the road north for a couple of kilometres back to Borough Huts, the late afternoon sun lighting up the bush with golden glow, quite a pleasant end to my walk really. Chucking all my hot sweaty gear in the back of the ute I settled back for the four hour drive home, stopping only to get a photo of the sun setting behind the Major Mitchell Plateau. I finally arrived home at around 11 pm after what had been an adventurous day, I reckon that I hardened up the blog a bit but I think next weekend I'll be back to drinking coffee and reading the Saturday Paper.

The Grampians Tourist Road was a welcome sight.

The blue sign post indicates that I've arrived back at Borough Huts, totally stuffed but very happy.

The sun setting behind the Major Mitchell Plateau.

The Dirt.

I walked 25.9 kilometres on this walk and climbed 719 metres. As I mentioned earlier this walk was written up by John Chapman years ago, he has left it out of later editions of his book 'Day Walks in Victoria' probably because of the degree of difficulty on the overgrown route. Having said that I really enjoyed this walk, it was obvious that not many people get in here and the remote valley was stunning, also with the right gear the off track stuff wasn't too bad, although I'm still picking out prickles three days later:) If anyone wants to do this walk make sure that your navigational skills are up to scratch, I probably spent at least 50% of the walk distance off track, sometimes in prickly scrub over head height.

A couple of souvenirs from my adventure.