Blue Mountain, Wombat State Forest - July 2019

The views from Blue Mountain is a little restricted by the trees (and the fire tower and communication installations).

This walk turned out to be a real surprise, I only really decided to do the walk as I was driving past the trail head on my way home after another little adventure in the area. With my walking notes over twenty years old I was thinking that this might be a bit of an exploratory stroll and that I may not even be able to complete the walk. Yes, you might say I went in with low expectations!

There's plenty of parking at the start of this walk - you definitely won't be overwhelmed by crowds.

Leaving the ute beside Kearney Road in the tiny town of Newbury I crossed the Greendale Trentham Road and headed off towards Blue Mountain. Initially I descended a little as I followed the quiet dirt road east passing a couple of country properties. Almost as soon as the rural land gave way to native scrub I arrived at my first point of interest, the old Amelia Gold Mine. The large mullock heaps slowly being reclaimed by nature were the ‘tell’ that I’d arrived at the old mine site and it was worth poking around the immediate area while, although the shack on the site looks like it’s been lived in since the mining operations ceased I’m thinking. Now while I said it’s worth poking around a bit exploring you need to be super careful of exposed mine shafts in these spots and with nature fighting back here I was even more cautious than ever of the hidden shafts.

The first couple of hundred metres had me walking down past mainly rural land.

If you squint you can see the fire tower on Blue Mountain poking out above the trees.

Entering the Wombat State Forest.

The old Amelia Gold Mine didn't actually look that old.

Mullock Heaps at the old Amelia Mine Site - I'd be very careful poking around here if anyone follows in my foot steps.

Back on the dirt road, now more of a 4wd track, I continued on in the direction of Blue Mountain. I was now looking for a lesser track heading off to the right (remember my notes and mud map were over 20 years old). My notes suggested that I needed to turn ‘at a right-angled fence corner’ and sure enough I arrived at the fairly nondescript track junction to find the fence I was looking for, all good! I now made my way across a shallow but damp gully, avoided an un mapped track to my right and climbed a bit through the dry forest to meet up with the Blue Mountain Fire Tower Access Track.

The right angle fence corner was the spot for me to head right...

...and head south-east along this this un-named and un-signposted track.

A fairly typical scene in Wombat State Forest.

Once on the access track I started what was a little bit more of a sustained climb. After following the access track for five minutes I arrived at a 4 way track junction at the spot where the access track started to climb steeply, my notes and maps only suggested that were 3 tracks. Not to worry, the track I was looking for was the one the left. Blue Mountain is an extinct volcano and the track I was now following gained height as it arced around the side of the mountain. Initially I passed through a gate crossing an area that looked like it was an old mine at some stage before passing above some private property below me. Now this house was fair way down the hill but on walks like this it’s sometimes not exactly obvious whether you are on private property or crown land, especially when using notes that are more than twenty years old so it pays to be a bit cautious. Climbing higher not only was the forest getting more impressive but I was also starting to get some good views down towards Mt Blackwood.

After climbing the Blue Mountain Access Track for a few minutes I arrived at a 4 way un-signposted track junction and took the left fork. It looks like this track passes through another are that may have been mined in the past, I'm thinking that this eroded gully is probably man made?

Above the track there was a series of terraces (or mulluck heaps?).

The track basically climbs around the slopes of the old volcano, the country opened up a bit as I got higher...and got more impressive I think.

This track climbs fairly easily and passes a couple of private houses that are off to the left.

I got some glimpses down towards Mt Blackwood as I climbed higher.

After passing another private house off to my left my track topped out. Something didn’t feel quite right here, the main track headed off to my right and looked like the obvious way to go but it was heading in the wrong direction, there was a very old and faint track heading the way I needed to go but it looked like it was pretty well unused. After wandering along the main track for a minute or two I soon confirmed that it was the wrong way when I walked into someones home paddock, hmm. Retracing my steps I headed off along the old track, at least I was heading in the right direction now and if things got too overgrown the open scrub would make it easy enough to scrub bash my was across to the access track. There was no need for any off-piste action this afternoon though as soon enough my track intersected with the access track again. At about the spot that I emerged back onto the main track I also arrived at another highlight of this walk, the historic Blue Mountain Cemetery. This cemetery dates back to the 1800’s and as is always generally the case these spots make for poignant places to check out. Things are slightly overgrown here but it’s worth poking around the bracken and long grass searching out the old headstones. I’d imagine that this old cemetery must be a pretty evocative place when the mist and cloud come down over the mountain.

I followed this older track west for a few minutes to meet back up with the access track near the historic Blue Mountain Cemetery. 

Blue Mountain Cemetery.

These cemeteries are always great places for reflection I think.

This must be an evocative place when the mist comes in over the mountain.

Leaving the cemetery I climbed fairly steeply up the last couple of hundred metres to the summit. The summit is crowned with a fire tower and numerous communication installations so it isn’t your wilderness kind of experience up here. After rock hopping around the summit area for awhile I managed to get a couple of photos that weren’t marred by the infrastructure, although to be truthful the trees largely blocked out anything that resembled a long range view anyway.

The climb up the last few metres to the summit is a little steeper.

Blue Mountain Trig.

Mr Thomas mentions in his notes that on leaving the summit I should pick up a left fork vehicle track that should lead me to a fence line bordering private property, so I spent a little time checking out possible old 4wd tracks as I left the summit, all to no avail. Dropping back down to the cemetery I did manage to find an old track heading in the direction that I wanted to go so I headed down it to check things out. The reason that I was looking for this old track was that Mr Thomas mentioned that from the fence line I’d be able to gaze down on a set from the television series The Man From Snowy River. Now keeping in mind the age of my notes I wasn’t overly confident that any of the old television set would still be there, however arriving at the fence line there was still an old building visible down in the valley which I’m guessing might of been the old chapel.

I found an old 4wd track heading left near the cemetery which dropped down to meet some private land.

Judging by the tin roof under the shingles I'm guessing that this building is probably a left over from The Man from Snowy River television set...although that's a Feral fact!

After scaring the roos and taking a photo of the old building it was time to start heading back to the ute. After a short 20 metre scrub bash I was back on the access track, the slippery and loose track now dropping steeply back towards the 4 way track junction that I mentioned earlier. Once back at the track junction I now followed my outward journey back to the ute, the changing late afternoon light now the main interest as I shuffled along.

Late afternoon...dropping down the access track off Blue Mountain....things could of been worse.

Being mid winter in Victoria some of the tracks were a little damp in spots.

Climbing back up to the ute  - this walk turned out better than I'd imagined.

The Dirt.
I walked 7.7 kilometres and climbed 203 metres on this easy-medium grade walk. This walk turned out to be a better than I’d imagined, for the most part my notes and mud map were still fairly accurate, the tracks were all pretty good and there is enough variety on the walk with everything from history to the flora and fauna to keep my interested. As I’ve already mentioned my notes were a little on the old side (much like your Feral correspondent!), the notes and mud map I used this afternoon were out of the 1998 edition of Tyrone Thomas’ old book 60 Walks in Central Victoria’s Gold Fields and Spa Country. There are a few extra tracks in the area now that aren’t mapped so I needed to concentrate a little, also the track that heads to the left to check out the Man From Snowy River Set heads off from near the cemetery and not the summit as shown on the map. Being such an old walk I also carried the SV Wombat State Forest 1:50000 topo map along with my GPS maps.

Relevant Posts.
Musk Walk, 2014.
The Old River, Lerderderg State Park, 2017.

A lot of the rural land up here has been gentrified with country residences!

Time to head home.