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Fosters Gully
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I’ve never featured a walk from Morwell National Park on my blog. The reason for the lack of information about walking over here is twofold, the first reason that I haven’t featured a walk here is that it’s a park that I normally pass by on my way to more romantic walking destinations. The second reason is that most of the walks are a little on the anorexic side here (particularly if I exclude the Grand Strzelecki Track) so I’ve struggled to justify the 90 minute drive down here just for a short walk. The planets aligned this afternoon though, I found myself heading home from destinations further afield with a couple of hours to spare so I decided to make the short detour off the Princess Highway and do the short Fosters Gully Walk.
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Yes this wasn't going to be a long walk.
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Actually the hardest thing about this walk is probably finding your way off the highway to the start, once I’d successfully navigated my way to the start of the walk everything was pretty straight forward. The Fosters Gully Walk starts at the car park and picnic area off Kerry Road and with it’s free electric BBQ it would make a good spot for a pre or post walk picnic I guess. I wasn’t for eating this afternoon though, so after pulling on my boots I reset the GPS and set off deeper into the park.
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Dropping down to Fosters Gully.
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After safely negotiating a couple of short sections of management tracks I picked up the Fosters Gully Walking Track and the walking suddenly got a lot better. After passing by a huge old Grey Gum I continued my walk now climbing gently up, what I’m guessing is Fosters Gully. Being in a bit of a gully the vegetation is mostly of the lush and green types along here, with plenty of ferns and mosses. After walking for 15 minutes or so along the gully I arrived at the very short side trip out to Lyndons Clearing, this open grassy clearing is named after Mrs Ellen Lyndon, a local environmentalist who was instrumental in the establishment of the Morwell National Park, the clearing feature a picnic table and would be another good spot for a break.
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I passed by a huge old Grey Gum.
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Fosters Gully.
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Fosters Gully
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The tall Grey and Blue Gum forest down in Fosters Gully.
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| This area was logged back in the old days. |
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Re-joining the main walking track along Fosters Gully I soon started to climb a little as my route headed into the hills and I started heading back in the general direction of the ute. As to be expected once I climbed away from the gully the country started to dry out a fair bit and I found myself walking through mostly Strinybark forest as I headed back to the car park. Now while the open Stringybark forest wasn’t as green and lush the ferny gully had been, it was still pretty nice walking. The open forest allowing for some longer views, the late afternoon summer sun lighting up the forest in a pleasant soft light.
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Lyndons Clearing
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Fosters Gully
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Eventually I started the easy climb out of the gully.
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When my walking track met up with a wide, mowed firebreak it meant that my nice easy ramble was almost over. Turning left down the mowed track I shuffled past the sign warning of the steep slippery descent (it’s not too bad really). Safely down the moderately steep section I picked up a sign posted management track on the right and within a few minutes found myself back at the car park…time to head home.
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Climbing higher I was passing through a lot of bracken....
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....and Stringybarks.
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| Meeting this firebreak my walk was nearly over. |
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The Dirt.
I walked 2.9 kilometres and climbed 77 metres on this very easy stroll. Now it is probably not worth the drive down from Melbourne just to complete this walk, however if you find yourself passing by, or if you live in the Latrobe Valley then it would be definitely worth making the small effort to come and check out this walk I think. The walk is suitable for young children and the picnic area at the carpark would be a good spot for BBQ. I used the notes and map out the Woodslane book
Best Walks East of Melbourne by Craig Sheather along with my GPS maps.
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