Colwells Hut to Cedar Creek Lodge, Green Gully Track, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park - August 2018

Most of the walk today was through fairly open forests.

As was my custom on my Green Gully stroll I woke up fairly early this morning, got a sense of how bloody cold it was and quickly retreated to my sleeping bag. Grabbing my watch I scrolled through the screens until I found the ambient temperature, -6˚ was pretty chilly. Before winter this year I’d bought myself a new Mont snow bag (thanks Hilly;) and thankfully I’d decided that the extra weight was worth lugging around on this walk. With my old Mountain Design snow bag now well over twenty years old it would of struggled a bit in these temperatures, my new Mont Brindabella sleeping bag coping very well, in fact maybe too well as, like I’ve mentioned, it was pretty hard to actually leave my toasty cocoon in the mornings.

Time to head off from Colwells Hut.

So as I mentioned, not wanting to break with tradition it was around 9am again this morning when I finally shouldered my pack and set off towards Cedar Creek Lodge. Today promised to be a very solid day as I’d be climbing out of Green Gully back up to the tops. Initially though all was good as I followed the grassy track gently up hill way from the creek, the old stockyards near the hut bathed in sunlight as I shuffled past. After passing an open grassy meadow the inevitable happened and my 4wd track started to rise more solidly, according to my notes the track would rise 600 metres over 3 kilometres so it’s not stupidly steep but it definitely gets the heart going.

Colwells Hut has it's own stockyards.

Things started off easily enough.

It wasn't long before I started climbing fairly seriously.

There was good news this morning, the higher I climbed the better the views that I was getting through the fairly sparse tree canopy were. The other good thing was once again it was a pearler of a day, I was climbing under blue sky and a weak sun, my fingers, which had been aching with the cold down in the valley had now even thawed out. Around 90 minutes after leaving Colwells Hut the 4wd track started to level off for a bit and then almost immediately it started descending steeply down to Birds Nest Creek, yeah there isn’t a lot in the way of flat ground on this walk!

Climbing higher I was getting some nice views through the trees.

I had another beautiful mid winters day.

Thankfully I only lost around 100 metres of height as I dropped down to the creek, but they had been hard won metres on my climb up from Colwells Hut this morning. Birds Nest Creek was a good spot to top up my water bottles and enjoy morning smoko, I’m thinking this spot would be very welcome if you were climbing in warm weather, the vegetation down in this little valley was a lot greener than the country I’d been climbing through this morning, it was certainly nice kicking back and enjoying this peaceful spot for awhile.

The dark green canopy is a remnant patch of dry rainforest.

I've just topped out and am about to drop down to Birds Nest Creek.

Birds Nest Creek.

The forest is a lot damper down near Birds Nest Creek.

Leaving Birds Nest Creek I was once again shuffling my way up hill. I was now walking the last section of the ‘circuit’ part of the Green Gully Walk, climbing up to re-join Kunderang Trail. The good news was that at least now the gradient had eased a bit and I was able to shuffle upwards with out too many ‘photo’ stops, it’s amazing how quickly I’ve lost the condition I got walking the AAWT last year. Reaching Kunderang Trail I was now back in familiar territory, now this was both a good and a bad thing as I knew that I didn’t have any big challenges to make it back to the luxury of Cedar Creek Lodge, but at the same time I also knew that I had a fair way to go with a lot of short sharp undulations to deal with.

Climbing away from Birds Nest Creek towards Kunderang Trail.

Reaching Kunderang Trail the circuit part of my walk was over.

Reaching the turn off to Colwells Yards again I decided it was time to finish of the last of my salami and cheese, sitting here in the sun enjoying a tasty lunch, life was pretty sweet! It’s days like this that I really love bushwalking, with the sun out and the sky blue, my pack now as light as it would get, the promise of a hot shower and comfortable bed tonight and to make things even better, it appeared that I’d almost shaken the last symptoms of the man flu that had been with me for the last 5 weeks. Heading off again I was once again walking along the ridge high above the valley of Kunderang Brook, only this afternoon there was no fog blanketing the bottom of the valley like there had been on my journey out a few days ago.

Toblerone walking again on Kunderang Trail.

Unlike on day one I could see all the way down Kunderang Brook this afternoon.

Passing Kunderang Brook View I climbed up what is probably the last short steep climb for the walk, the end was now in sight. With the ridge starting to broaden out I passed through an old gate and Kunderang Trail started to slowly descend towards the tree line, my phone beeping away in my pack as it picked up a signal. Emerging out of the trees blinking into the afternoon sun I could see the ute and Cedar Creek Lodge beckoning me across the plain, I even had another mob of kangaroo’s escorting me for the last few hundred metres. Like all my other nights on the Green Gully Track my night at Cedar Creek was a very pleasant affair, Cedar Creek Lodge is the flashiest hut on the walk,with 240v power, a fridge, instant hot water, inner-spring mattresses on the bunks, comfortable lounge suite and dining table, and a great deck and slow combustion fire, yeah it was a nice way to finish to the walk.

Passing through the old gate on Kunderang Trail, not far to go now.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 19.9 kilometres and climbed 1189 metres on a day that I’d rate as a medium-hard days walking. I thought that today was the the hardest day on the walk, but that was only because of the substantial climb involved, the route itself followed 4wd track for the whole day so navigation and scrub bashing wasn’t an issue. This leg of the walk would be tough on a hot day so if you are doing the walk in warm weather maybe head off a little earlier than my 9am start.

The trees on the other side of the clearing are actually in Werrikimbe National Park.

Cedar Creek Lodge on the left (partly obscured by the trees) and Cedar Creek Hut on the right (my first nights accommodation.

I'm guessing these are old contrails from the jets flying between Sydney and Brisbane?

And another great walk comes to it's end.

Alright, what’s the dirt on the whole Green Gully Walk? We’ll according to my GPS I walked 72.2 kilometres and climbed 2,752 metres including all my side trips and meanderings. There is a lot of climbing involved in this walk and there are also sections of the walk that are designated as off track. Apart from the climb away from Colwells Hut the climbing is generally over fairly quickly as a lot of the climbs are of the short and sharp variety, although the climb from Birds Nest Hut to Birds Nest Trig is fairly sustained but it’s pretty gentle for the most part. For a lot of the off track sections there is an obvious bushwalking pad that has developed, although some the sections of the walk along Green Gully Creek are definitely off piste. Green Gully Creek makes for both the roughest day but also the most enjoyable day, we’ll for me anyway. Taking all that into account I'd rate this as a medium-hard grade Multi Days Walk. I used my GPS and the topo map supplied by the national park people when I booked the walk. There is a 2 people minimum and 8 maximum on this stroll and the cost when I did it was $150 per person (so you are up for $300 at least), that sounds a little expensive but its worth every cent I think, remember the money buys you sole use of the five great huts.

Watching the wildlife from the balcony at Cedar Creek Lodge.

The historic cattleman's huts are what really make the Green Gully Walk stand out a little, the national parks people have done a great job renovating them and they are very comfortable spots to stop for the nights. The huts come complete with beds, chairs, fire places, gas cookers, cooking utensils, solar lights and 3 out of 5 have a hot shower. I’d recommend the Green Gully Walk to relatively fit people who aren’t necessarily experienced bushwalkers, or maybe walkers like me who have been around for awhile and appreciate a bit of luxury every now and again. The last night at Cedar Creek Lodge is very flash indeed, with a full kitchen, a fridge and 240v power it made a great spot to finish off my New England adventure.

Relevant Posts.
Green Gully Track, Day 1, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, 2018.
Green Gully Track, Day 2, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, 2018.
Green Gully Track, Day 3, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, 2018.

Once the sun goes down up here in winter the temperatures plummet, so these fire places were very welcome on this walk.

Heading back to Melbourne next morning I saw -8 near Walcha!