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| Early morning, Wyperfeld National Park. |
I had a bit of a headache last night, I'm guessing it was a hangover from yesterday's baking heat. I wasn't dehydrated but I think that it was more just the body not being acclimatised to the heat, we've just come out of a Melbourne winter with temperatures generally having been in the low to mid teens for months, so to jump straight into the mid thirties took it's toll I think. I'm lucky in the fact that I don't tend to suffer from headaches too often so the dull throb in my temples kept me awake a little last night. Crawling out of the tent this morning my headache had largely gone and my spirits were buoyed by the blue sky and cooler temperatures. I had a fair day in front of me today so after eating breakfast I quickly (well relatively quickly!) packed up and headed off on my journey back down to Black Flat.
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| I was happy to crawl out of the tent into a cooler day today. |
Today I was making my way back down Meridian Track, after my first day's slog heading north up it I wasn't expecting great things this morning. The good news this morning though was it was at least 15˚ cooler than it had been on my walk up here on Friday. Not only did that mean that I wasn't getting slowly cooked by the radiant heat bouncing off the sand but it also meant that the sand was slightly firmer as well, a real win-win situation really. With the early morning light giving me a few opportunities to stop to take photos the walking this morning was actually quite pleasant, in what seemed like no time I arrived at the short side trip out to Lake Wonga.
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Yesterday's wind had erased my foot prints from Friday.
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Meridian Track was still a soft sandy slog....at least it wasn't hot this morning.
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The dry channel of Outlook Creek.
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I'd given this side trip a miss on the way up on Friday due to the heat, so feeling fresh enough this morning I decided to drop my pack and wander down for a look. Lake Wonga like all the other lakes up here is generally dry, not that it mattered much to me today as I enjoyed the relaxed grassy ramble down to the lake without the burden of my pack strapped to my shoulders. After checking out the lake and it's red gums I started back up towards Meridian Track. While taking a photo of a nice sand dune bordering the lake I copped a big thwack on the head...wtf! Looking around to see who was wanting to fight me all I could see was emptiness, however scanning the surrounding trees I spotted the likely culprit sitting with an innocent look, on a branch. Turning on my camera I continued my stroll, but now I was intently watching the ground for shadows. Sure enough I saw him (or was it a her?) coming, swinging the camera up above my head I snapped away as the magpie first went into a full attack dive only to suddenly have to quickly abort mid-dive when he realised that I'd scooped him out, hey, hey, I'd managed to outsmart a magpie:) Feeling pretty chuffed with myself I was soon safely back at my pack on Meridian Track.
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The bird life up at Wyperfeld is prolific.
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Lake Wonga, not exactly a scenic jewel but still a nice little interlude on my walk back to the ute.
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The scenery bordering Lake Wonga was pretty nice though.
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This blokes trying to look all innocent....
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Flying into his stealth position....
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Full attack dive bomb position...
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| Before he realises that I've got him scoped out and decides to abort. |
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The next section heading south on Meridian Track crosses the softest stretches of sand but I was still feeling pretty fresh and instead of baking heat today it looked like I was in more danger of getting wet from a passing shower of rain. With all yesterday's wind there was no sign of my foot prints from Friday in the soft sand although there were a lot of animal prints from last night. Not long after passing a huge red gum branch that had come down since my journey north I arrived at the water tank at the junction of Meridian Track and Everard Track. I didn't need any water today though so I kept trudging my way south, this section of the walk is actually on a walking track and not a 4wd track, this was the first dedicated walking track that I'd followed since the first few hundred metres on day one of the stroll.
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Back heading south on Meridian Track.
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| The ground cover was a riot of colour on this visit. |
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I was now on an extension of Meridian Track which is sign posted as Tyakil Nature Walk (although as far as I know the Tyakil Nature Walk actually starts another couple of kilometres down the track?). After a short over grown section through a field of daisies my arrow straight walking track started crossing a succession of sand dunes covered with mallee trees, this was actually the largest area of the scrappy mallee trees that I'd walked through in the three days that I'd been out, for an arid walk there is a lot of variety of flora and fauna on this walk. I was now back on a track that Sam and I had walked last year on a big day walk so I was in familiar territory, a sand blow providing me with another excuse to stop for awhile and pretend that I can take a decent photo.
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Heading south from the tank at the junction of Meridian Track and Everard Track I was on a dedicated walking track for the first time since early on day 1....well a fairly overgrown walking track anyway.
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Tunnelling through the Mallee and heath.
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Typical Mallee country.
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The walking track crosses this sand blow, the route is well marked though.
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Soon after crossing the sand blow I arrived onto the western end of Black Flat and the turn off to what I understand as the Tyakil Nature Walk. Parks Vic have thoughtfully provided a small bench here so I used this opportunity to stop and have a bit of a break for awhile, enjoying the ambiance of this nice spot before pushing onto the ute and heading home. With one eye on my watch though, I had to shoulder the pack and head off again. This last section winds around through the red gums on the shore of Black Flat Lake, the track through here was a grassy swathe in spots and with the spring growth it was sometimes almost indistinguishable from the surrounding bush. After passing an old wind mill, trough and dam left over from the pioneering days, I crossed over Outlook Creek for the last time at Cameron Track and retraced the last few hundred metres back to the ute. I'd arrived back at the ute before 12pm, all that was left to do now was the 6 hour drive back home where a hot shower and a soft bed was beckoning me.
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Black Flat is bordered by these nice dunes.
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Black Flat
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| Nearing Black Flat Car Park my route passed some remnants of our old pioneer history. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 14.7 kilometres and climbed around 176 metres on this medium grade days walk. The lower temperatures made a big difference today making the soft sandy slog down Meridian Track bearable. The only water after leaving Remote Camp is at the tank at the corner of Meridian Track and Everard Track.
Over the three days of this walk I walked 56 kilometres and climbed 559 metres. Due to soft sand I'd rate this as a medium grade overnight walk, although if it gets hot like it did for me then it's probably best to stay away unless you have a fair tolerance for heat. I roughly followed a set of notes published by John & Lyn Daly in their Take a Walk in Victoria's National Parks, although I reversed the first and last day. I also used the Wyperfeld Spatial Vision Map. The majority of this three day walk is spent walking on 4wd tracks, most of them are closed to the public and make for ok walking although Meridian Track, as I've mentioned, is a bit of a slog. There are quite a few chances to actually get off the tracks and walk through the open country around them thereby by passing some of the soft sections of sand. You don't need a permit for this walk but the rangers ask you to fill out a trip intentions form and leave it in the box at the Wonga Campground Visitor Centre, it makes sense to contact the rangers anyway to find out about the water situation.
Relevant Posts.
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| Less than 5 minutes to go.... |
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| The walkings over, now I've just got the six hour drive home in front of me. All good! |
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