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| St Georges Lake. |
Two weeks ago I was climbing Mt Walsh in Queensland suffering with the heat, this week I was heading to Creswick and by the look of the ambient temperature read out in the ute, it looked like hyperthermia was going to be my main danger. Of course I dress appropriately for the conditions, in Queensland I'd warn the sensible boots, gaiters, shorts, long sleeve shirt and hat. With the ambient temperature 20+ degrees cooler today I'd adjusted well by wearing boots, gaiters, shorts, long sleeve shirt and a cap! Yeah riiiight. So I was a rather cold Feral Walker when I climbed out of the ute under a very grey and overcast sky in Crewsick. Pulling on my boots and gaiters and wishing that I'd bought my thermals, I quickly located the historic Town Hall, the start point of todays ramble.
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| 12 C in the middle of summer, lucky I was dressed appropriately! |
Now I'd done this walk years ago with Sam so I kind of had an idea what was in store for me. The thing is I'd penciled this walk in for a warm day as I figured St Georges Lake would make a great spot for a cooling swim, and indeed it would, but not today. Today's walk followed a section of the Dry Diggings Trail (DDT) out of town, this long distance walking track/mountain bike track is generally pretty well maintained and way marked so finding my way through the back blocks of Creswick wasn't much of an issue. The track follows Creswick Creek in a round about fashion all the way out of town to St Georges Lake.
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The first third of the walk more or less followed part of the DDT.
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Following Creswick Creek out of town.
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Soccers not big in Creswick.
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| The spillway at St Georges lake has had a bit of money spent on it. |
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The spillway area at St Georges lake has had an extensive re-modal since my last visit, I'm not sure whether that was just a regular maintenance thing or if it was something to do with some big floods that have gone through here in recent times. Whatever the reason there is a nice new concrete track crossing the spillway now, it would be interesting to see this area when it did flood over the spillway as it would look quite spectacular I would think. My route now contoured a few metres above the lake as it rounded the north and eastern ends of the St Georges Lake, it was this spot that I'd had filed in the dark recesses of my mind as a likely looking spot for a bit of wild swimming, maybe next time. After checking out an old boardwalk that led out to an overgrown lookout at the eastern end of the lake I headed off towards my next point of interest, the Koala Reserve.
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This would look pretty awesome in flood.
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The route around St Georges Lake stays very close to the waters edge.
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Just after leaving the environs of the lake the walk came to its first obstacle. It seems that the track from here to the Koala Reserve was closed due to fallen limbs or bridge damage, yes apparently the track was in a total mess judging by the warning signs, so I pushed on.....as you do. Managing to avoid the trip hazard that was the tape hung across the path I wandered along the old water race towards the Koala Reserve, expecting at any minute to be confronted with a forest giant over the track or a huge canyon with a washed away bridge. Actually the biggest obstacle that I confronted on this section would have been the old stile that use to gain entry to the Koala Reserve, although with all of the Koalas having long since climbed the border fence and escaped the reserve, there is now no need for the fence or the stile. Making my way through the old Koala Reserve I was still on the lookout for hazards and I did indeed come across a tree across the path although it wasn't exactly a forest giant, I was able to step over it without even braking the Feral shuffle! Descending down to cross a gully I finally came to a decent hazard, the bridge across the dry creek had copped it in a recent flood, while the bridge still looked in pretty good nick it now had about 4000kg of dead trees washed up onto its deck. As luck would have it though it was a fairly simple affair to just bypass the overloaded bridge and cross the dry creek bed, the biggest danger was probably from the black berries!
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Hmmm.....
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Damaged bridges eh....
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.....and fallen limbs, this sounds serious.
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I pushed on.
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I reckon this old stile might have been a legitimate hazard back before the koala's climbed over the fence.
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So this must be the fallen limb?
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And this is the damaged bridge, maybe all the fallen limbs landed on the bridge?
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| Luckily a short off piste section had me safely across the creek. |
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Hurdling (I may be embellishing the hurdling thing a bit) the warning tape that was closing this end of the track I left the Koala Reserve and headed off towards Eatons Dam. Like the section before I was largely following old water races left over from the mining days, these old water races make for great walking tracks nowadays as they contour their way through the dry forested hills. This section also passes through an area that was extensively mined and the ground is littered with old mine shafts, mullock heaps and sluicing scars, the route crossing numerous deep gullies with the aid of short bridges. Crossing over Jackass Road I continued on parallel to Creswick Creek for another few hundred metres until I arrived at the historic Eatons Dam. Eatons Dam was built by the miners to supply water to their diggings via the old water races that I'd been following and like the water races its been long since decommissioned. The stone work on the dam wall is worth checking out if just to see how much work these old timers put in with their search for gold.
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Back on the old water race heading towards Eatons Dam.
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| There are a lot of old scars left over from the mining along this section of the walk. |
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After admiring the stone work at Eatons Dam for awhile I retraced my route back to Jackass Road, which I descended to cross Niggl Bridge. Mr Chapman describes Niggl Bridge as slowly decaying but its been replaced with a very flash steel and concrete job, I thought this was a strange priority as I couldn't imagine a bridge in the middle off Creswick State Forest getting too much traffic. Walking on all became clear though as once again I came to the dreaded track closed sign, this time for logging. The old bridge had obviously been replaced so the logging trucks could get the timber out.....at least it was pine and not native forest. Once again I was faced with the dilemma of a closed track, only this time there was a couple of loggers sitting beside their ute 100 metres away, I pushed on....
Passing the road closed sigh I turned up East West Road for a couple of minutes before turning up Petries Road. This quiet dirt road gently climbed to the highest point of todays ramble, achieved when it intersected with the more major Port Phillip Road, instead of sharing the track with loggers I was now sharing with a fairly large mob or kangaroos. I was now well and truly off the DDT so I kept a closer eye on my notes and map as I started my descent down Port Phillip Road looking for the turn off onto Sawpit Road, although in the end it turned out to be clearly signed. The other good news that I had along here was that the sun finally made an appearance, while I hadn't really been in danger of hyperthermia it had still been a bit colder than I would have preferred and apart from the warmth I now also had a couple of patches of blue sky.
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I shared Petrie Road with a mob of kangaroos today.
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Good news, sun and blue sky, it was still pretty windy though.
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Sawpit Road drops gently down towards Sawpit Gully, this area has been extensively planted with introduced trees, a lot of them by the old forester La Gerche back in the late 1800's. With its thick canopy of green overhead this bit of the walk contrasts greatly with the more dry open native forests or the regimented pine plantations that I'd been walking through so far. Turning left off Sawpit Road I wandered along the La Gerche Walk for awhile, this short walk features information plaques on some of the notable trees, passing through a gully full of English Oak I got to something that I'm seeing on a lot of my walks nowadays, a humpy! The walk along here is a fairly convoluted affair so it pays to keep a close eye on your notes.
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It's a bit like walking in another country along here.
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La Gerche Walking Track.
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Passing this gully full of English Oak.....
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| ....I arrived at the Creswick Humpy. |
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Arriving at the small dam below the Landcare Centre I turned onto the Landcare Walk...to find it closed.... due to fallen limbs.....bugger me! I pushed on. It looks like the local children have put a lot of work into this Landcare Walk, the track had tiled mosaics embedded every few metres along it with little environmental messages on them. There were also a couple of sculptures and a few indigenous totems to add to what was a very pleasant short stroll, oh and in case your wondering I couldn't find any trees down over the track, once again the biggest hazard seemed to be the tape strung across the track to stop errant walkers.
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Mr La Gerche
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Here we go again....I pushed on.
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There is plenty to hold your interest on the Landcare Walk.
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This pretty little dam is just below the Landcare Centre.
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| Hey, hey, more blue sky. |
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It was somewhere along here that I diverged from my notes a little, I'm not sure where I went wrong but I suspect the faint pad that Mr Chapman refers to maybe non existent nowadays. Whatever the case I popped out onto Sawpit Road and couldn't find the continuation of the track, not that it really mattered I just walked down the grassy verge of Sawpit Road until I met the Midland Highway where I picked up my described route again. The walk was now virtually over though, all that was left to do was sidle around behind a ornamental lake and then make my way through the back streets of Creswick. Crossing Creswick Creek into town I meandered my way up the main street back to the ute after what had been a lot more adventurous walk than I had planned, oh well at least I didn't get hyperthermia I suppose!
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The Landcare Walk.
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| I hit Sawpit Road but couldn't find the continuation of the track, it didn't matter much as I just descended down to the Midland Highway and picked the route up again. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 15.8 kilometres and climbed 286 metres on this medium grade walk. This is a pretty good walk normally, with a fair variety of eco systems and attractions to see.....except a fair few sections of it are closed. As with a lot of our walking tracks nowadays, in my experience don't expect the tracks to be open any time soon, the parks people just don't seem to have the resources and budget to keep everything up to scratch and I think they are very cautious in this age of litigation. As I mentioned I used the notes out of one of Mr Chapman's books, this walk was out of his
Day Walks Melbourne book. He has a
walk update page on his web site but there is nothing on the page about all the closures on this stroll, so I'll email him the details. The Day Walks Melbourne book dates back to 2005 so I wouldn't be surprised if the House of Chapman don't have an updated version coming up soon, maybe?
Relevant Posts.
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| The small ornamental lake beside the Midland Highway in Creswick. |
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| Crossing Creswick Creek into town. |
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| The old town hall marked my start and finish point today. |
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