Mt Eccles Lava Tubes, Budj Bim National Park - July 2019

Things were looking pretty green on this visit.

It’s been awhile since I visited Mt Eccles, on my last visit up here the National Park was imaginatively titled Mt Eccles National Park however in recognition of the areas rich indigenous history the park has since been renamed Budj Bim National Park. Budj Bim is the name for Mt Eccles in the local Gunditjmara peoples language. Before the rich indigenous history of the area was well known this spot was probably best known for it’s volcanic history, like a lot of the western half of Victoria this area was once alive with smoking volcanos.

This spot was very recently in the news when it was accepted for World Heritage listing due to it’s Aboriginal cultural significance, our indigenous people having a continuous link to the land over the last 6600 years. Perhaps even more significantly the area was used for aquaculture with series of weirs and channels set up to harvest Eels, the significance of this being that it has been widely regarded that our indigenous people were nomadic and didn’t stay in one spot and harvest the land. Even more interesting (well for me anyway) is that this thinking was the basis for terra nullius (no one’s land)…..treaty anyone?

With the park being a good four and a half hour drive from Chateau Feral I’d decided to head down the night before and camp at the park. My long drive down was enlivened by some serious rain, though thankfully by the time I pulled up at the camping ground at Mt Eccles at around eleven thirty, the rain had more or less stopped. With the tent up I was soon drifting off to sleep with the occasional pitter patter of some passing showers on my tent fly, oh yeah, and the sound of the resident Koala grunting in the trees above me, hmm.

I was up fairly early....despite being serenaded by the local Koala population last night.

Next morning I was up and on my way by around 8am. The good news this morning was that last nights rain seemed to have passed through and I set off from the Visitor Centre under a clear blue sky. The first section of this stroll had me climbing up onto the lip of the old volcano, yes this walk is really a lesson in geology for most of it’s distance. After picking up the crater rim track I started off my clockwise walk around the cliff tops above Lake Surprise. After walking for a couple of minutes I arrived at the first point of interest on my stroll, a small wooden lookout perched high above the red tinged waters of the lake. I’m guessing that Lake Surprise’s red tinge is to do with the colour leaching from the red volcanic rock, although that’s a Feral fact. Whatever the reason for the colour of the water it makes a fairly striking sight, especially with the white trunks of some Manna Gums in the foreground and the cliffs on the other side of the crater in the back ground.

The small Budj Bim National Park Visitor Centre.

I picked up this track to the left of the visitor centre...

...and after a few minutes doubled back along this track on the along the rim of the crater.

The view across Lake Surprise to the western wall of the old volcano.

Leaving the lookout my track continued south, now heading towards the summit of Mt Eccles at the southern end of the lake. There were no other people around this morning but there was a large population of Kangaroos and Wallabies out enjoying the green grass and sunlight, so I wasn’t lonely. The track divides below Mt Eccles and I decided to take the direct grassy route up the crest of the crater, this little bit of the walk being easily the steepest bit of the walk. A trig and some partial views mark the 179 metre summit of Mt Eccles, wandering around a bit I was able to get some more nice views down to Lake Surprise in one direction and across the plains eastwards towards Mt Napier (another old volcano) in the other direction.

Heading along the crater rim towards Mt Eccles, there was no shortage of wildlife on this walk.

There was plenty of glimpses through the trees of the red tinged Lake Surprise.

Left or right will both get you up Mt Eccles...I went right.

Lake Surprise from Mt Eccles.

Leaving the Mt Eccles summit the track started to head north along the western lip of the crater, the views on this side of the lake being at least the equal as those on at the official lookout on the other side. After skirting away from the crater a bit my track dropped into an old, collapsed lava tube, I’d now be walking this lave tube for the next hour. First I followed the lava tube back in the direction of the lake on a short side trip to check out Tunnel Cave. Tunnel Cave is a very civilised affair with some wooden steps leading into the cave and making it easy to access the wide and flat bottomed cave. With my head torch on I was able to explore a little deeper into this big cave, although you’d need more skill with a camera than I’ve got to get a good photo in here!

Passing between Lake Surprise and Dry Crater the rim gets fairy acute.

This bloke was hopping down the walking track when he came over the hill and came face to face a red faced walker.

There are still lots of opportunities to view Lake Surprise from the western side.

There is a parcel of private farmland in the middle of the park.

Looking back towards Mt Eccles.

Lake Surprise

Lake Surprise

Emerging from my cave back into the sunlight I now set off on my long walk along the lava tube. Whilst the walking along the collapsed lava tube is basically dead flat it’s not easy, the further I went today the rougher the track got with the ground being covered with jagged volcanic rocks. To make things a little bit more tricky almost everything was covered in a slippery covering of moss so I had to be a little careful, falling on these rocks would be like falling on a cheese grater I think. While the walking was a bit slower than normal it was very scenic, the aforementioned coating of dark green moss giving this a bit of a lost world feel, while at the same time the numerous photogenic old dry stone fences also were drawing my attention.

Tunnel Cave... it was beyond my photographic skills unfortunately. 

The exit and entry to Tunnel Cave is pretty easy.

The walking along the lava tube is pretty easy to begin with but it got progressively rougher the further I went.

The lava tube is lined by dry stone walls for much of its length.

Heading further into the lava tube the track got fairly faint.

The rocks under the green moss and grass are very sharp.

After around an hour of walking in the lava tube I was reasonably happy to arrive at the exit point and climb the ragged rocks up out of my somewhat claustrophobic world. The exit point is marked by a sign and a couple of track markers which is pretty handy as there is little else giving away the spot. Climbing up the rocks I arrived at another cave, this time Smoko Cave. Unlike Tunnel Cave there is no infrastructure here to aid entry and egress to this cave. Dropping my pack and grabbing my head torch I was able to easily enough climb in though. Once through the initial narrow opening the cave opens up into a reasonable sized cavern and I was able to head fair way in to explore, a torch is reasonable important in here as the cave floor is very rough and rocky though.

This is the exit point... if you look really closely you might spot a track marker or two....maybe.

Smoko Cave

Smoko Cave is a little rougher than Tunnel Cave.

Clambering out of Smoko Cave I grabbed my pack and set off through the forest, now heading towards another cave called Natural Bridge. For the most part the walk across here follows old dry stone walls so navigation through the open forest wasn’t really an issue. The forest itself was looking very good this morning, after last nights rain everything was was shining in a luminescent green in this mornings weak winters sun. It wasn’t just me that was out enjoying things along here either as once again there was a lot of Kangaroos and Wallabies out and about. Half an hour after leaving Smoko Cave I arrived at the Natural Bridge and dropped in the western end via a rough informal pad.

My route now followed some old dry stone walls eastwards.

Last night rain and this mornings sun had the country looking good.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the winters sun.

The western entrance of Natural Bridge is a little informal.

Unlike the other two caves that I’d visited today it was possible to walk right through the Natural Bridge, emerging on the eastern side into a steep sided lave a tube again. These lave tubes certainly make for a different type of walk and I now followed this one east for a while before I climbed out of it, crossed a dirt road, skirted Dry Crater and then started to climb Mt Eccles again again, all in short order. After climbing a long series of wooden stairs I once again met up with my outward track above Lake Surprise, all that was really left to do was to more or less retrace my steps back to the ute.

The track along the lava tube on the eastern side of Natural Bridge is pretty defined.

Bluffs along the walls of Dry Crater.

Dry Crater

Climbing back up to meet my outward journey.

I say ‘more or less’ as I did actually vary my return walk a little. After passing over the summit of Mt Eccles again I took the zig zagging track down instead of following the steeper pad along the rim of the old volcano, the zig zags being a little easier on my ageing knees and ankles. Once back at the official lookout I dropped back down to arrive at the back of the visitor centre via some steps, cutting a couple of hundred metres off my return walk. Now I’d seen numerous macropods this morning but I hadn’t managed to spot a Koala unfortunately, I’m sure there was plenty of then sitting high up in the Manna Gums but it was too hard walking and looking up at the branches on the rough uneven ground at the same time. I did know where there was a Koala though…so instead of heading off towards home I jumped in the ute and headed back to the camping area. Sure enough after a couple of minutes wandering around I spotted my friend from last night wedged comfortably in the fork of a gently swaying Manna Gum…mission complete.

Back up at the Mt Eccles Trig.

Mt Napier (another extinct volcano) is visible across the lava plains from Mt Eccles.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 9.5 kilometres and climbed 230 metres on this medium grade walk. This is a nice walk if wildlife and volcanic history are your thing. Now while this walk hasn’t got any big climbs on it but that doesn’t make things easy, the ground in the lava tubes can be very rough and uneven and a fall on these rocks wouldn’t be pleasant so the walking can be a little slow as a consequence (well it was for me anyway). One other thing to on this walk is to remember to bring a torch if you want to explore the caves. This walk has been written up by a few walking guide book authors over the years including, Mr Thomas, the Daly’s, Mr Tempest and Ms Ball. Parks Vic also have some free stuff on-line. For what it’s worth I used Mr Tempest’s notes this morning.

Relevant Posts.

Mt Napier Circuit, Mt Napier State Park, 2019.
Moleside to Bridgewater Bay, Great South West Walk, 2007.
Bridgewater Bay to Portland, Great South West Walk, 2009.

I took the zig zag track down from Mt Eccles.

I tried to get a decent photo of Lake Surprise from the official lookout but over head conditions weren't helping me much .... it looks better in real life.

This is the bloke (blokette?) that serenaded me last night.